Walter E. Lunsford v. Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas as Trustee

OPINION

BAKER, Judge.

In this case, we find the old adage “first in time is first in right,” 1 to be as instructive as it has been throughout 200 hundred years of property and debt collection jurisprudence. Appellant-defendant Walter E. Lunsford entered into a land contract with Elizabeth Cottier; however, it was not recorded until almost six years later. In the meantime, Cottier executed a promissory note secured by a mortgage to a financial institution, which promptly recorded its security interest before Lunsford’s interest was recorded.

Cottier defaulted on the loan, and the financial…