Taptelis

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Nonjudicial Foreclosure and the Wrongful Foreclosure Suit Taptelis borrowed $1.24 million from Recovco Mortgage Management, LLC (Recovco) to buy property located at Fennel Court. To secure the loan, he executed a Deed of Trust by which he conveyed the Fennel Court property to Stewart Title of California, Inc. (Stewart Title) as trustee with power of sale, to hold for the benefit of Recovco’s designee, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS). The deed of trust was recorded in June 2019.

Taptelis defaulted on the loan later in 2019. After his default, these documents concerning the Fennel Court property were recorded in Santa Clara County: (1) In April 2020, MERS executed an assignment of deed of trust, through which it purported to assign its beneficial interest under the deed of trust to Homeward;3 (2) in May 2020, Specialized Loan Servicing LLC (SLS), acting as attorney-in-fact for Homeward, executed a substitution of trustee, through which Homeward purported to substitute

Code, § 2924, subd. (a).) After a trustee’s deed has been recorded, a material violation of the same statutes gives rise to a claim for actual economic damages.…