in Hodges v. County of Placer, published October 29, 2019, the Third District Court of Appeal affirmed dismissal of a lawsuit after the trial court sustained a demurrer without leave to amend. The plaintiff is the general partner of a partnership that purchased real property and a home in which the plaintiff lived. The county sold the property in a tax sale. The plaintiff made a claim for the excess proceeds after the sale. A year and eight months later, the plaintiff received a warrant for the excess proceeds. The plaintiff contended the county did not adequately account for the funds it did not return. He sued the county for breach of fiduciary duty and conversion.
The appellate court agreed with the trial court that the plaintiff did not have a cause of action. Although the funds the county holds under statute after a tax sale, some of which are deposited in the general fund and others held for claimants such as plaintiff, are held in a "trust," there is no fiduciary duty between a property owner and the county regarding the funds. The relationship of trust that is the hallmark of a fiduciary relationship is absent. Neither the statutes nor the county charter impose a fiduciary duty upon the county. The elements of conversion are not present, because the plaintiff did not have ownership of or right to possess the funds the county held, and because the county did not engage in any wrongful act concerning the funds. It merely held and distributed the funds as provided by law.