Acton Ltd. v. Harsh

Full title: ACTON LIMITED, a British Virgin Islands corporation, Plaintiff-Appellant…

Court: United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

Date published: Feb 23, 2001

4 F. App'x 529 (9th Cir. 2001)

Opinion

4 Fed.Appx. 529 (9th Cir. 2001) ACTON LIMITED, a British Virgin Islands corporation, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Ethlyn E. HARSH, as Executrix of Harsh Estate on behalf of Edward J. Harsh, deceased, the heirs, beneficiaries, and devisees of Edward J. Harsh, deceased; The Edward J. Harsh Family Trust, under Trust Agreement dated 08/22/77; Nevada National Bank; Gary Michael O'Brien; Anita O'Brien, a/k/a Anita Gross, a/k/a Anita LeClerq; United States of America, the Internal Revenue Service, and any and all other persons unknown claiming any estate, right, title, interest or lien in the real property described in the complaint in the above entitled action, or any cloud upon Plaintiff's title thereto. Defendants-Appellees. No. 99-16608. D.C. No. CV-95-00472-HDM/RAM. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. February 23, 2001

Submitted February 13, 2001. ^*

* The panel finds this case appropriate for submission without oral argument pursuant to Fed. R.App. P. 34(a)(2).

NOT FOR PUBLICATION. (See Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure Rule 36-3)

Successive assignee of "beneficial interest" in land sales contract brought quiet title action. The United States District Court for the District of Nevada granted summary judgment to Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Successive assignee appealed. The Court of Appeals held that original assignment of "beneficial interest" in land sales contract resulted in conveyance of right to receive installment payments under contract, with assignor retaining bare legal title in land.

Affirmed.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada Howard D. McKibben, District Judge, Presiding.

Before ALARC ON, KOZINSKI, and HAWKINS, Circuit Judges.

MEMORANDUM ^**

** This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.

The district court properly granted summary judgment to the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") in the Nevada quiet title action brought by Acton Limited ("Acton"). Even assuming that the original assignment from Edward and Ethlyn Harsh to the Edward J. Harsh Family Trust (the "Trust") described the land sales contract with Gary and Anita O'Brien (the "O'Brien Contract"), it conveyed only a "beneficial interest" in such contract. This term refers to the "profit, benefit or advantage resulting from a contract or the ownership of an estate, as distinct from legal ownership or control." Black's Law Dictionary 156 (6th ed. 1990); see also General Electric Credit Corp. v. Andreen, 74 Nev. 199, 326 P.2d 731, 733 (Nev.1958) (drawing distinction between beneficial interest

Page 530.

and legal interest in the context of a conditional sale of personal property). Therefore, pursuant to the assignment, the Trust acquired the right to receive the installment payments under the O'Brien Contract, but the Harshes retained bare legal title in the land.

Although the Trust later assigned all of its "right, title and interest" in the O'Brien Contract to Acton, the Trust could not convey more than it owned, and all it received under the original assignment was the beneficial interest in the contract. As such, the Harshes continued to own legal title to the property at the time the IRS liens were filed, and the IRS was entitled to summary judgment.

AFFIRMED.