Gordon did not file a response to Madison's petition. Status as a bona fide purchaser is an affirmative defense to a title dispute. A bona fide purchaser is not subject to certain claims or defenses. To receive this special protection, one must acquire property in good faith, for value, and without notice of any third-party claim or interest. Notice may be constructive or actual.
Actual notice rests on personal information or knowledge.
Constructive notice is notice the law imputes to a person not having personal information or knowledge. One purchasing land may be charged with constructive notice of an occupant's claims. When this duty arises, the purchaser is charged with notice of all the occupant's claims the purchaser might have reasonably discovered on proper inquiry. The duty arises, however, only if the possession is visible, open, exclusive, and unequivocal. Gordon's possession as a tenant in a multi-unit structure did not satisfy the criteria necessary to give Madison constructive notice.