Pai

FACTS

The following facts are undisputed. Pai owned property located in Irvine, California (the Property). He purchased the Property in 2006 after borrowing $403,000 from Sierra Pacific Mortgage Company, Inc. (Sierra). The mortgage was secured by a deed of trust (DOT) on the Property. The deed listed the lender as Sierra and the trustee as Greenhead Investments, Inc. The DOT provided the following: “‘MERS’ is Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. MERS is a separate corporation that is acting solely as a nominee for lender and lender’s successors and assigns. MERS is the beneficiary under this security instrument.”1 On June 20, 2011, MERS recorded an assignment of the DOT to U.S. Bank National Association (US Bank). The assignment provided the following information: “For value received, the undersigned hereby grants, assigns and transfers to [US Bank] as trustee, successor in interest to Bank of America, National Association as successor by merger to LaSalle Bank NA as trustee for Washington Mutual Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates WMALT Series 2006-5 all beneficial interest under [the DOT] executed by [Pai], as trustor; to Greenhead . . . as trustee; and recorded [in…