Wong

BACKGROUND

In 2002, plaintiff and defendant bought a residence in Walnut, California for their aging parents. They took ownership as joint tenants each with an undivided one-half interest and invested roughly the same amount of money in the purchase with the agreement they would split expenses. In 2013, defendant recorded a “Declaration Severing Joint Tenancy,” transforming the ownership to tenancy in common but not changing the parties’ respective 50 percent ownership interests.1 Since the parties’ parents were now deceased, plaintiff wanted to sell her interest in the property, but defendant refused to either purchase her half or sell the property. Plaintiff filed a complaint for partition and other claims not at issue here. She then moved for summary adjudication on the partition claim, arguing there was no dispute of fact she accurately described the property in the complaint, she and defendant each owned half of the property, and sale was necessary rather than physical division due to the nature of the property. In opposition, defendant argued summary adjudication was inappropriate because plaintiff’s partition action was barred by waiver, estoppel, and laches, and because…