Cannefax v. Clement, 818 P.2d 546 (Utah 1991)
Legal information, not legal advice. Verify against the cited opinion.
- Citation: 818 P.2d 546 (Utah 1991), aff’g 786 P.2d 1377 (Utah Ct. App. 1990)
- Court / Year: Utah Supreme Court, 1991 (affirming the Utah Court of Appeals, 1990)
- Topic tags: equitable_conversion · vendor_interest_personalty · judgment_lien · equitable_interest
- Facts: In 1981 the Barkers agreed to sell property to Diane Hodge under an executory land sale contract. In 1985 the Clements docketed a judgment against the Barkers (the vendors). Later in 1985 Hodge made the final payment, the Barkers deeded the property to Hodge, and Hodge deeded it to the Cannefaxes. The Clements claimed their judgment had attached as a lien on the Barkers’ (vendors’) interest in the land under Utah’s judgment-lien statute (then Utah Code § 78-22-1).
- Holding: By the doctrine of equitable conversion, the vendor’s interest under an executory land sale contract is personal property (a right to receive the purchase money), not real property, and therefore not subject to a judgment lien on real property. The vendee, conversely, holds equitable title to the land.
- Reasoning: Once a land sale contract is binding, equity treats the buyer as the real-property owner and the seller’s interest as a chose in action — money to be paid. A judgment lien that attaches only to a debtor’s “real property” therefore does not reach the vendor’s converted (personal-property) interest. The Court of Appeals so held (786 P.2d 1377), and the Supreme Court affirmed.
- Practical impact for CFD operators/buyers: Confirms Utah’s robust equitable- conversion treatment of land contracts and protects a buyer against judgment creditors of the seller who try to attach the land mid-contract — the seller’s interest is merely the right to payment. Read with butler-v-wilkinson-1987 (judgment against the buyer does attach to the buyer’s equitable real-property interest), the two cases map the full lien picture. See equitable-conversion.
- Good-law status: Good law.
- Source (retrieved): https://law.justia.com/cases/utah/supreme-court/1991/900084.html · Verified: 2026-06-08
Jurisdictions that follow / cite: utah
Disclaimer. Legal information, not legal advice. Confirm the opinion is still good law before relying on it.