Angelica Maria Banales Rodriguez, et al. v. Slava Bosin

This appeal concerns ownership interests in real property located at 3015 Dothan Street in Memphis, Tennessee. In 2013, the original owner, Reinhold Taylor, conveyed the property by recorded quitclaim deed to a revocable trust, of which he was the beneficiary. In 2017, Taylor ostensibly entered into a lease purchase agreement with the Appellees for the property despite no longer having any personal ownership in it. Subsequently, Taylor took out a loan from Appellant and the trust executed a deed of trust on the property as collateral for Taylor’s loan. When Taylor defaulted the loan, the trust transferred its ownership interest in the property to Appellant. Litigation ensued between Appellant and Appellees regarding the parties’ respective interests in the property. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Appellees, holding that their lease purchase agreement with Taylor was valid and enforceable against Appellant. Upon review, we conclude that Taylor had no ownership or possessory interest in the property to convey to Appellees at the time he signed the lease purchase agreement, and that Appellant’s ownership interest properly passed from the trust to him. As such, we reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand for further proceedings.