As a Tennessee real estate litigation attorney, I read with interest a recent case by the Tennessee Court of Appeals: Bank of America, N.A. v. David F. Meyer, No. 2013CV19 (Tenn. Ct. App. Jan. 27, 2015). The Meyer case involved a deef of trust that allegedly incorporated only one of two parcels of land (the Trust Deed gave the address for a 2.0 acre tract that contained a home, but the legal description contained the description for a 16.8 acre tract without the home). Bank of American sued to reform the deed of trust. The homeowner opposed. The opinion looks at Tennessee Deed Reformation law.
I found the case interesting for a few reasons. First, the homeowner tried to argue Bank of America lacked standing to sue for reformation because the note was originally entered into with Countrywide. The Court of Appeals, however, took judicial notice of the 2008 takeover of Countrywide by Bank of America. Judicial notice was taken pursuant to Rule 201 of the Tennessee Rules of Evidence. Citing to Counts v. Bryan, 182 S.W.3d 288, 292 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2005), the Court held that the merger/takeover by Bank of America was an appropriate fact for judicial notice.
Second, the case looked at the ability to reform a deed of trust, such as the one at issue in the case. Citing the case of Wallace v. Chase, No. W1999-01987-COA-R3-CV, 2001 WL 394872, at *3 (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 17, 2001), the Court of Appeals noted:
[a] court of chancery in Tennessee has the power to reform and correct errors in deeds produced by fraud or mistake. To be the subject of reformation, a mistake in a deed must have been mutual or there must have been a unilateral mistake coupled with fraud by he other party, such that the deed does not embody the actual intention of the parties. Formation may be granted agains the original parties, their privies, those claiming under them with notice, and third person who will suffer no prejudice thereby.
Id. The Court of Appeals considered the error at issue a “drafting error,” which allowed correction. “[A] party’s failure to catch a drafting error when reading over a written contract does not normally rise to the level of ‘gross negligence’ that will bar reformation.” Sicker v. Vanderploeg, 212 S.W.3d 277, 290 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2006).
If you are in need of a lawyer to help with reformation to a deed, please contact me at (901) 527-2125 or E-mail Me.