Plaintiff, which contracted to purchase a large tract of vacant land from Hovbros Burlington, alleged in this action that defendant TD Bank tortiously interfered with that contract by foreclosing its mortgage on the property. The trial judge dismissed for failure to state a claim.
In affirming in part, the court held that the foreclosure sale cut off plaintiff's unrecorded contract interest and thereby eviscerated plaintiff's continuing claim of a legal or equitable interest in the property despite an assumption of TD Bank's knowledge of plaintiff's contract rights when TD Bank foreclosed. In this regard, the court rejected the holding of a published trial court decision, PNC Bank v. Axelsson, 373 N.J. Super. 186 (Ch. Div. 2004), which found relevance in the application of N.J.S.A. 2A:50-30 when a foreclosing party has knowledge of an unrecorded interest.
In reversing in part, the court held that plaintiff could continue to seek damages on its tortious interference claim against TD Bank based on its theory, which the court was obligated to assume as true, that TD Bank manipulated its rights as to Hovbros and its related companies so as to interfere with plaintiff's contract rights.