Citations
- 113 Cal. App. 4th 1315
Full opinion text
Opinion
BLEASE, Acting P. J.
Cathryn Pellandini Valadao appeals from a judgment for specific performance and declaratory relief entered after the trial court granted plaintiff James Pellandini’s motion for summary adjudication.
The trial court determined that Pellandini’s right of first refusal to purchase property owned by Valadao and her sister, Suzanne Wooldridge, as tenants in common, was triggered when Wooldridge gave Valadao a deed of her interest in the property in lieu of foreclosure after Wooldridge defaulted on a loan to Valadao secured by her interest.
We shall conclude that the deed in lieu of foreclosure did not trigger Pellandini’s right of first refusal because Wooldridge’s conveyance of her cotenant’s undivided one-half interest in the property as satisfaction of a debt owed her cotenant did not constitute a “bona fide offer for purchase of the property” by a third party as provided in the parties’ agreement.
Accordingly, we shall reverse the judgment.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Albert Pellandini, Sr. died in 1990, leaving 582 acres in trust to his grandchildren, consisting of four parcels. Three of the parcels were devised to James Pellandini. Half of parcel 4 was devised to James Pellandini, and the balance to James’s cousins, Suzanne Wooldridge and Cathryn Valadao.
Since Albert Pellandini, Sr.’s, death, the parties and their parents have been involved in a series of court actions. As part of a consolidated settlement agreement, the parties agreed to the creation by partition of a new parcel equivalent to the interests of Wooldridge and Valadao in the fourth parcel. The agreement stated the new parcel would be transferred in “fee simple to Cathryn and Suzanne, or their designee, as tenants in common.”
Pellandini, as trustee, agreed to pay the costs of partitioning parcel 4. In return, he was allowed to farm it during the then-current crop season. The agreement also provided: “The trustee [James Pellandini] will waive his right of first refusal on the property owned by Cathryn and Suzanne as granted in the trust as set forth in Paragraph One above. [