Well, not the Savior, but one of them, I suspect.
At least that's what they lady told me the other day when I pulled a rabbit out of her hat. That's right, a rabbit!
Seems lady was embroiled in a lawsuit. Seems she had bought a piece of property from Guy. Seems Guy had previously sold the property to another Guy (we'll call him Guy1). Guy1 bought the property but never recorded the deed. Oops.
For those not in the know, the problem with not recording the deed is that subsequent purchasers are not going to know whether there are any encumbrances on a property.
If you don't record the deed, there will be problems down the road. In this case, Guy sold the property (again - and fraudulently) to Lady who had done a title search but found nothing (because of Guy1 not recording his deed).
Fast forward a few years and Guy1 pops up on the scene claiming that the property is his. Lady, claiming to be a bona fide purchaser, is not a little freaked out and into the law library she walks.
The good thing is that I paid attention in law school when my property professor was going over the section dealing with the recording of deeds.
That's right, I was paying attention to what someone else was talking about (just, please, don't tell the wife that I can do that).
Seems there is an obscure case in Property, 2d Ed. by Dukeminier that deals with this scenario. In Sabo v. Horvath, 559 P.2d 1039 (1976), (which is on pp. 725-728 of Dukeminier) the court recognized this scenario and called the instrument in question a "wild deed."
It was just what Lady was looking for.
What is important to note here is that there is no reference to a "wild deed" in any other secondary authority in my law library (and I have been looking for a while - since this is not the first time this issue has arisen). Can you imagine that? No where else is the concept of a "wild deed" referenced.
No where! Well, maybe it is somewhere but I have not yet found it (and I'm still looking).
Good thing I was paying attention in law school. Good thing Lady was self-aware enough to know to come to my law library and ask this one question to me and that I knew the exact answer to her particular question.
Yep, funny how things work. It's kinda like Robert Frost's poem Design (as far as poems, go, this one is pretty deep).
When next you find you have a funky research question, why not let your local county law librarian take a stab at it. Who knows, just as you start to speak, the stars might align, the library gods may speak wisdom to the Librarian, and the exact answer may just come forth in perfect sequence.
Yep, that's what'll happen - stars, gods, sequence. All in perfect harmony (and who knew, but that that perfect harmony can only be found at your local county law library).
Who, indeed!?
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