Anthony J. Iemma v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. Successor by Merger with Bank One, N.A.

992 N.E.2d 732, 2013 WL 2643999, 2013 Ind. App. LEXIS 280
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 13, 2013
Docket20A03-1207-MF-326
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 992 N.E.2d 732 (Anthony J. Iemma v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. Successor by Merger with Bank One, N.A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anthony J. Iemma v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. Successor by Merger with Bank One, N.A., 992 N.E.2d 732, 2013 WL 2643999, 2013 Ind. App. LEXIS 280 (Ind. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION

PYLE, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

LRB Holdings, Inc. (“LRB”) appeals from the Elkhart Circuit Court’s orders in Cause No. 20C01-0911-MI-41 (“Cause No. 41”) granting the setting aside of tax deeds purchased by LRB on two lots with a common address of 1034 East Jackson Boulevard, Elkhart, IN 46516 and denying LRB’s motion to correct error. JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (“Chase Bank”), as mortgagee-by-merger of the two lots with a common address of 1034 East Jackson Boulevard, Elkhart, IN 46516, filed the motion to set aside the tax deeds on the common property. Other named parties are Anthony J. lemma (“Anthony”); Sandra lemma (“Sandra”) (collectively, “the lemmas”); Roswell Properties, LLC LTD (“Roswell”); Samuel J. lemma; and Lillian lemma.

Anthony and Sandra appeal from the Elkhart Circuit Court’s partial summary judgment and decree of foreclosure in Cause No. 20C01-0611-MF-188 (“Cause No. 188”), wherein the Court granted Chase Bank’s motion for partial summary judgment and foreclosure on the common *735 property consisting of two lots with a common address of 1034 East Jackson Boulevard, Elkhart, IN 46516.

On December 11, 2012, Chase Bank filed a motion requesting that the same panel of this Court decide both appeals. On January 11, 2013, this Court consolidated the appeals pursuant to Indiana Appellate Rule 38(B). 1

We reverse and remand.

ISSUES

1. Whether the trial court erred in determining that the tax deeds should be set aside in Cause No. 41 because LRB failed to comply with statutory notice requirements.

2. Whether the trial court erred in determining that the tax deeds should be set aside in Cause No. 41 because LRB failed to comply with due process requirements.

3. Whether the trial court erred in determining that the tax deeds should be set aside in Cause No. 41 because LRB failed to comply with statutory property description requirements.

4. Whether the trial court’s entry of partial summary judgment and decree of foreclosure in Cause No. 188 is of no effect because of our resolution of the issues presented in Cause No. 41.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On February 10, 1997, the lemmas entered into a $250,000 Home Equity Line of Credit Agreement (the “Note”) with Bank One-Merrillville. The Note was secured by a mortgage agreement (the “Mortgage”) with Bank One-Merrillville on real property with a common address of 1034 East Jackson Boulevard, Elkhart, IN 46516. The Mortgage was recorded on February 20, 1997, by the Elkhart County Recorder.

The legal description under the Mortgage for the common address 1034 East Jackson Boulevard, Elkhart, IN 46516, which actually contains two lots, is:

The East Fifty-seven and eighty-four hundredths (57.84) feet of Lot Number Three (3) and Lot Number (4) exception six (6) feet by parallel lines from off the East Side thereof, as the said Lots are known and designated on the recorded Plat of KENYON ADDITION to the City of Elkhart, Indiana; said Plat being recorded in Deed Record 60, page 502 of the record in the Office of the Recorder of Elkhart County, State of Indiana. SUBJECT to the overflow rights of the Indiana and Michigan Electric Company.

(lemmas’ App. 33).

The Mortgage on the two lots with a common address of 1034 East Jackson Boulevard, Elkhart, IN 46516 designates the lemmas collectively as the “Grantor” and Bank One-Merrillville, 1000 East 80th Place, Merrillville, IN 46410 as “Lender.” (lemmas’ App. 106). Two addresses with notations, one for Bank One-Merrillville and the other for Bank One, Indianapolis, NA (“Bank One-Indianapolis”), are listed at the top of the recorded mortgage above a line stating, “SPACE ABOVE THIS LINE IS FOR RECORDER’S USE ONLY.” (lemmas’ App. 106). The addresses and notations state the following:

RECORDATION REQUESTED BY:
[Bank One-Merrillville] 1000 East 80th Place Merrillville, IN 46410
*736 WHEN RECORDED MAIL TO:
[Bank One-Indianapolis] 1111 Monument Circle, Suite 431 Indianapolis, IN 46277

Id.

The Note and the Mortgage provide that the entire indebtedness may be accelerated by Bank One-Merrillville upon the lemmas’ default. The Mortgage further provides that Bank-One Merrillville has the right to foreclose its mortgage.

On July 1, 2004, Chase Bank became the successor-by-merger to Bank One-Merrill-ville and Bank One-Indianapolis through mergers with both entities, and on November 10, 2006, Chase Bank filed its “Complaint on Note and To Foreclose Mortgage” in the Elkhart Circuit Court under Cause No. 188 2 to foreclose the Mortgage for the two lots with a common address of East Jackson Boulevard, Elkhart, IN 46516. The complaint sought personal judgment against Sandra and an in rem judgment against Anthony on account of a bankruptcy filed by him.

Chase Bank moved for summary judgment on March 26, 2007. In their response to the motion, the lemmas designated Sandra’s affidavit, wherein she argued that the signatures on the Note and Mortgage were not hers. Thereafter, Chase Bank engaged in discovery as to the validity of Sandra’s signatures. However, Chase Bank waited until April of 2010 to depose the lemmas.

Meanwhile, the taxes on the two lots with a common address of 1034 East Jackson Boulevard, Elkhart, IN 46516 were not paid. On November 30, 2009, LRB was the successful bidder for the tax sale certificates that cover the two lots — Lots Number Three (“Lot 3”) and Number Four (“Lot 4”) — as described by the legal description in the Mortgage. The tax sale was the result of an order by the Elkhart Circuit Court in Cause No. 41. 3

LRB hired a title corporation to conduct a lien search, and the title corporation’s report indicated an unreleased mortgage for the two lots with a common address of 1034 East Jackson Boulevard, Elkhart, IN 46516 in favor of Bank One-Merrillville with an address of 1000 East 80th Place, Merrillville, IN 46410; an unreleased mortgage in favor of Roswell with an Ohio address; and a mortgage in favor of Lillian M. lemma. The report also indicated that Chase Bank had filed a pending suit on November 10, 2006, and that the “judgment creditor’s attorney of record is Mercer Belanger, c/o Jennifer R. Fitzwater ... [and] Bose McKinney & Evans, LLP, c/o Theodore J. Nowacki, Peyton L. Berg, 111 Monument Circle, Suite 2700, Indianapolis, IN 46204.” (LRB’s App. 253).

In August, 2010, LRB sent notices of sales and dates of expiration of the period of redemption to various parties pursuant to the tax sale certificates for the two lots at the common address of 1034 East Jackson Boulevard, Elkhart, IN 46516. Specifically, LRB sent notices by certified and regular mail to the lemmas and to Bank One-Merrillville at its Merrillville office. The lemmas received the notice; however, the notices sent to Bank One-Merrillville were returned as undeliverable.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
992 N.E.2d 732, 2013 WL 2643999, 2013 Ind. App. LEXIS 280, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anthony-j-iemma-v-jp-morgan-chase-bank-na-successor-by-merger-with-indctapp-2013.