Believe CA will be the same or similar to CT.
The attorney prosecuting the civil case for fraud should be serving a subpoena on whoever must hold the original notary's journal. In non-legalese, it is for Court purposes and comes with a deadline so if the evidence is properly stored there, it will be gotten faster. If not, hire an investigator to find the notary and subpoena the records. The subpoena will be the avenue to get it in the form needed to present in Court for a case of fraud for monetary damages.
If the person is not suing the person(s) for monetary damages for their loss of an interest in the property, what's the point? Also, there may be an issue of "time"; i.e., 15 years from the date the person "discovered the fraud" or from when the document was recorded. Again, his/her attorney should be hands on with this. The monetary recovery will be from the person(s) committing the fraud, if anything from the notary, it will only be his/her percentage of fault in the fraud; i.e., did the notary see proper identification (which could have been forged) and was there a signature or fingerprint in the journal. |
