California National Bank v. Havis

Opinion

CROSKEY, J.

Before escrow closed on the sale of a developed parcel of real property, California National Bank (Bank) sent a letter to the escrow agent handling the sale stating that it had received “payoff funds” for the secured promissory note that it then held. The trial court interpreted that letter as a payoff demand statement under Civil Code section 2943, 1 concluded that Bank had made a binding acknowledgement that its outstanding note had been paid off, and held that Bank’s secured interest in the property had been extinguished.

In this appeal by Bank from the resulting adverse…