Bank of America, N.A. v. Cortez Heights Homeowners Association

CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedJuly 23, 2020
Docket2:16-cv-00604
StatusUnknown

This text of Bank of America, N.A. v. Cortez Heights Homeowners Association (Bank of America, N.A. v. Cortez Heights Homeowners Association) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bank of America, N.A. v. Cortez Heights Homeowners Association, (D. Nev. 2020).

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA

3 BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., ) 4 ) Plaintiff, ) Case No.: 2:16-cv-00604-GMN-CWH 5 vs. ) ) ORDER 6 CORTEZ HEIGHTS HOMEOWNERS ) 7 ASSOCIATION, et al., ) ) 8 Defendants. )

9 10 Pending before the Court is Plaintiff Bank of America, N.A.’s (“BANA’s”) Partial 11 Motion for Summary Judgment, (ECF No. 74). Defendants Cortez Heights Homeowners 12 Association (“HOA”) and Alvin Soriano filed Responses, (ECF Nos. 82, 84), and BANA filed 13 a Reply, (ECF No. 86). 14 Also pending before the Court is HOA’s Renewed Motion for Summary Judgment, 15 (ECF No. 76). BANA filed a Response, (ECF No. 85), and HOA filed a Reply, (ECF No. 88). 16 Also pending before the Court is Alvin Soriano’s Motion for Declaratory Judgment, 17 (ECF No. 83). BANA filed a Response, (ECF No. 87), and Alvin Soriano filed a Reply, (ECF 18 No. 89). 19 For the reasons discussed below, the Court GRANTS in part and DENIES in part 20 BANA’s Partial Motion for Summary Judgment, DENIES HOA’s Renewed Motion for 21 Summary Judgment Motion, and DENIES Alvin Soriano’s Motion for Declaratory Judgment. 22 I. BACKGROUND 23 This case arises from a non-judicial foreclosure sale on real property located at 5329 La 24 Quita Hills Street, Las Vegas, Nevada, 89081 (“the Property”). (Deed of Trust, Ex. A to 25 BANA’s MSJ, ECF No. 74-1). In 2009, Luafaletele Tutu’ila (“Borrower”) purchased the 1 Property with a $147,059.00 loan from Metrocities Mortgage, LLC secured by a deed of trust 2 (“the DOT”). (Id.). The DOT named Metrocities as the beneficiary with an address of 15301 3 Ventura Boulevard, Suite D300, Sherman Oaks, California 91403. (Id.). 4 Metrocities assigned all beneficial interest in the DOT to Countrywide Bank, FSB, on 5 April 13, 2009. (Assignment, Ex. C to BANA’s MSJ, ECF No. 74-3) (recorded on April 22, 6 2020). Two weeks after that Assignment, Countrywide merged into BANA and BANA 7 thereafter received mail addressed to Countrywide. (Decl. Amy Bernal, Ex. B to BANA’s MSJ, 8 ECF No. 74-2). 9 On October 5, 2012, HOA, through its agent Absolute Collection Services (“ACS”), 10 initiated foreclosure proceedings on the Property by recording a Notice of Delinquent 11 Assessment Lien due to Borrower’s default on owed homeowners’ association assessments. 12 (HOA’s Renewed Mot. Summ. J. (“MSJ”) 2:8–12, ECF No. 76); (Not. Delinquent Assessment 13 Lien, Ex. F to BANA’s MSJ, ECF No. 74-6) (listing a “total amount due as of 10/05/2012 . . . 14 $918.69”). Because the assessments remained unpaid, HOA, again through ACS, then 15 recorded a Notice of Default and Election to Sell in January 2013 followed by a Notice of 16 Trustee’s Sale recorded on May 23, 2013. (Not. Default, Ex. G to BANA’s MSJ, ECF No. 74- 17 7); (Not. Trustee’s Sale, Ex. H to BANA’s MSJ, ECF No. 74-8). With each of these Notices, 18 HOA and ACS mailed them to “Countrywide Bank c/o Metrocities” at Metrocities’ Ventura 19 Boulevard address. (ACS’s Resp. to Second Request for Admission, Ex. D to BANA’s MSJ, 20 ECF No. 74-4). HOA foreclosed on the Property in September 2013, and sold it to La Quinta 21 Family Trust for $12,600. (Trustee’s Deed upon Sale, Ex. I to BANA’s MSJ, ECF No. 74-9). 22 On March 18, 2016, BANA initiated this case by filing its Complaint against HOA,

23 ACS, and La Quinta Family Trust, asserting four causes of action: (1) quiet title; (2) breach of 24 Nevada Revised Statute (“NRS”) § 116.1113; (3) wrongful foreclosure; and (4) request for 25 injunctive relief. (See Compl. ¶¶ 28–79, ECF No. 1). In 2018—while proceedings in this case 1 were ongoing and after BANA filed a Notice of Lis Pendens on the Property—La Quinta sold 2 the Property to Alvin Soriano. (Trustee’s Deed, Ex. K to BANA’s MSJ, ECF No. 74-11); (Lis 3 Pendens, Ex. L to BANA’s MSJ, ECF No. 74-12). The Court permitted Alvin Soriano to 4 appear in this case based on that sale and transfer of interest. (Order, ECF No. 59). 5 On July 11, 2018, the Court entered summary judgment in favor of BANA after 6 concluding that HOA’s foreclosure of the Property occurred under a facially unconstitutional 7 statutory scheme. (Order 8:7–9, ECF No. 59). That entry of summary judgment centered on 8 then-binding precedent of Bourne Valley Court Tr. v. Wells Fargo Bank, NA, 832 F.3d 1154 9 (9th Cir. 2016), cert. denied, No. 16-1208, 2017 WL 1300223 (U.S. June 26, 2017). HOA and 10 Alvin Soriano timely appealed the Court’s Order on summary judgment, and while on appeal 11 the Ninth Circuit in Bank of America, N.A. v. Arlington West Twilight Homeowners 12 Association, 920 F.3d 620 (9th Cir. 2019), held that Bourne Valley was no longer controlling in 13 light of the Nevada Supreme Court’s later decision in Bank of America, N.A. v. SFR 14 Investments Pool 1, LLC, 427 P.3d 113 (Nev. 2018). The Circuit accordingly vacated the 15 Court’s Order on summary judgment and remanded for consideration of Arlington West and 16 any alternate bases for summary judgment. (Mem. USCA, ECF No. 67). BANA, HOA, and 17 Alvin Soriano thereafter filed the pending Motions. 18 II. LEGAL STANDARD 19 The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provide for summary adjudication when the 20 pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the 21 affidavits, if any, show that “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant 22 is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). Material facts are those that

23 may affect the outcome of the case. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 24 (1986). A dispute as to a material fact is genuine if there is a sufficient evidentiary basis on 25 which a reasonable factfinder could rely to find for the nonmoving party. See id. “The amount 1 of evidence necessary to raise a genuine issue of material fact is enough ‘to require a jury or 2 judge to resolve the parties’ differing versions of the truth at trial.’” Aydin Corp. v. Loral 3 Corp., 718 F.2d 897, 902 (9th Cir. 1983) (quoting First Nat’l Bank v. Cities Serv. Co., 391 U.S. 4 253, 288–89 (1968)). “Summary judgment is inappropriate if reasonable jurors, drawing all 5 inferences in favor of the nonmoving party, could return a verdict in the nonmoving party’s 6 favor.” Diaz v. Eagle Produce Ltd. P’ship, 521 F.3d 1201, 1207 (9th Cir. 2008) (citing United 7 States v. Shumway, 199 F.3d 1093, 1103–04 (9th Cir. 1999)). A principal purpose of summary 8 judgment is “to isolate and dispose of factually unsupported claims.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 9 477 U.S. 317, 323–24 (1986). 10 In determining summary judgment, a court applies a burden-shifting analysis. “When 11 the party moving for summary judgment would bear the burden of proof at trial, it must come 12 forward with evidence which would entitle it to a directed verdict if the evidence went 13 uncontroverted at trial.

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Bank of America, N.A. v. Cortez Heights Homeowners Association, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bank-of-america-na-v-cortez-heights-homeowners-association-nvd-2020.