Feng

INTRODUCTION

Appellants Zengpeng Feng and his sons Jixiang Feng and Yongxiang Feng1 sued respondents Lone Oak Fund, LLC (Lone Oak), Qualfax, Inc. (Qualfax), and Royal Business Bank (Royal) (among others), seeking to quiet title to two pieces of real property (one owned by Jixiang and one owned by Yongxiang) or, failing that, to establish an equitable lien against the properties. Appellants alleged that, without their knowledge or consent, both properties were encumbered with deeds of trust in favor of respondents, securing loans respondents made to entities unaffiliated with appellants. Additionally, in 2019, Qualfax initiated a

Because appellants share a surname, we refer to them by their first names.

2 nonjudicial foreclosure sale at which it purchased Jixiang’s property. In the proceedings below, Lone Oak and Qualfax moved for judgment on the pleadings and Royal demurred. Relying on documents they asked the court to judicially notice, all argued the operative complaint failed to state causes of action against them because they were bona fide encumbrancers. The court granted both motions, sustained the demurrer without leave to amend, and subsequently entered judgments…