Associates Home Equity Svcs. v. Franklin National Bank

In this appeal Associates, a mortgage company, appeals the trial court's holding that it was not entitled to equitable subrogation to the rights and priority of earlier mortgagees whose loans it paid off. Franklin, another mortgage company, made a loan to the same property owners one day before Associates made its loan and recorded its deed of trust three days before Associates recorded its deed of trust to the same real property. Associates claims that, although Franklin recorded first, Associates is entitled to priority pursuant to the doctrine of equitable subrogation. Franklin filed a Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, which the trial court granted. We find that because the remedy of equitable subrogation is an equitable one dependent upon the facts and circumstances of the situation and the equities between the parties, judgment on the pleadings was inappropriate.