Wells Fargo Files Suit Over Property Lien

Wells Fargo Bank filed suit Wednesday in U.S. District Court here to lift a week-old lien on its California real estate holdings.

The lien prevents Wells Fargo from selling any of its California real estate holdings with a clear title.

A hearing on the appeal is scheduled for this afternoon.

The disputed lien was obtained Dec. 27 by Ted Hays, a 78-year-old former developer who won a $700,000 Superior Court judgment against the bank on Sept. 14.

A jury found that Wells Fargo in 1984 had mistakenly issued checks for the refinancing of Hays’ Orange County residential development to the wrong person while Hays was in the hospital undergoing treatment for cancer.

When Hays left the hospital, his property was being foreclosed and his real estate business was in bankruptcy.

Wells Fargo is appealing that judgment but has refused to post the normally required bond on the ground that its federal charter exempted it from that requirement.

That spurred Hays’ attorney to return to court last week, where he persuaded Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert O’Brien to order a lien on the bank’s California real estate to protect Hays’ interests.

O’Brien initially approved the lien early in December but held off issuing it while he considered and then rejected motions by Wells Fargo for a stay and a new trial.