Citrus El Dorado, LLC v. Chi. Title Co.

*945 A commercial developer lost a parcel of real property in a trustee's sale following a nonjudicial foreclosure. It sued the title company that conducted the sale as a trustee. In this opinion, we conclude that a trustee in such a sale is subject to tort liability only for the violation of duties established by the deed of trust and governing statutes, unless the trustee has effectively taken on a different or modified duty by its actions. In this case, the developer, plaintiff and appellant Citrus El Dorado, LLC (Citrus), sued in part for failure to verify certain matters that the trustee, defendant and respondent Chicago Title Company (Chicago Title), had no contractual or statutory duty to verify. For this and other reasons discussed herein, we affirm the trial court's order sustaining without leave to amend Chicago Title's demurrer to Citrus's second amended complaint.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

According to Citrus's second amended complaint, it purchased the property-an unimproved 9.25-acre parcel in La Quinta, California-with the intention of developing it into a residential housing tract. In 2007, Citrus entered into a "Construction Loan Agreement" with First…