Barbe v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC

383 F. Supp. 3d 634
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedMay 22, 2019
DocketCIVIL ACTION NO. 18-14037
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 383 F. Supp. 3d 634 (Barbe v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barbe v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, 383 F. Supp. 3d 634 (E.D. La. 2019).

Opinion

MARTIN L. C. FELDMAN, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Before the Court are the defendants' Rule 12(b)(6) motions to dismiss the plaintiff's first amended complaint. For the reasons that follow, the motions are GRANTED.

Background

This lawsuit concerns allegations that a mortgage servicing company and a homeowners' insurance carrier conspired to issue a force-placed insurance policy with inflated premiums and then failed to pursue and arbitrarily withheld policy proceeds.

Marc Barbe and his wife, Renada, are the mortgagors of a home located in Metairie, Louisiana. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC services their mortgage. The mortgage agreement requires the Barbes to insure their property against any hazards "for which Lender requires insurance;" it further provides that, if they fail to maintain appropriate coverage, "Lender may obtain insurance coverage, at Lender's option and Borrower's expense."1

*639By letter dated December 31, 2015, Ocwen advised Mr. Barbe that it had not received proof of coverage, as required by the terms of the mortgage, and therefore had renewed a lender-placed policy at his expense. Ocwen explained that the policy's annual premium of $ 3,927 would be billed to Mr. Barbe's escrow account and that he could cancel the coverage at any time, and earn a corresponding refund of any unearned premium, by providing Ocwen with evidence of other acceptable coverage. Ocwen also strongly recommended that Barbe obtain his own policy and warned that the cost of the lender-placed coverage "may be much higher than the amount [he] would normally pay." Finally, Ocwen attached to that letter a copy of the policy it had obtained from American Modern Home Insurance Company, which named Ocwen as the "insured" and listed the Barbes as "borrowers."

On August 5, 2016, high velocity winds damaged the Barbes' roof and exterior elevations, which allowed water to infiltrate the interior of the home and damage the ceilings, walls, floors, and fixtures. The Barbes promptly notified American Modern and filed a claim under the policy. According to the Barbes, American Modern's adjusters provided grossly inadequate estimates and failed to fully and properly pay the property damage claim.

On August 3, 2018, Marc Barbe and Renada Barbe sued American Modern Home Insurance Company and Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC in Louisiana state court, alleging that American Modern breached the insurance contract and engaged in bad faith claims adjusting practices under Louisiana law, that Ocwen breached the mortgage agreement by overcharging plaintiffs for the insurance policy and failing to assist them in pursuing insurance proceeds, and that the defendants negligently coordinated their efforts to overcharge plaintiffs for the policy. After timely removing the lawsuit to this Court, the defendants moved to dismiss the plaintiffs' petition for failure to state a claim. The plaintiffs then filed an amended complaint on February 19, 2019, after which Renada Barbe voluntarily dismissed her claims with prejudice.

In his first amended complaint, Mr. Barbe asserts that he is an "insured" under the American Modern policy, or at the very least, a third-party beneficiary of the policy. He then alleges that American Modern breached the insurance contract by failing to properly investigate and pay his claim and is also liable for bad faith statutory penalties under Louisiana law. With respect to Ocwen, Mr. Barbe alleges that his mortgage servicer breached the mortgage agreement by overcharging for the insurance policy and by failing to assist him in obtaining sufficient insurance proceeds to repair his property. Barbe also alleges that American Modern and Ocwen participated in a conspiracy, in which Ocwen would pass along an inflated premium to the Barbes and receive "commissions and/or kickbacks" from American Modern; he asserts a claim of unjust enrichment against each defendant for the alleged unearned benefits they received at his expense.

The defendants now move to dismiss the plaintiff's first amended complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.

I.

Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure allows a party to move *640for dismissal of a complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Such a motion is rarely granted because it is viewed with disfavor. See Lowrey v. Tex. A & M Univ. Sys., 117 F.3d 242, 247 (5th Cir. 1997) (quoting Kaiser Aluminum & Chem. Sales, Inc. v. Avondale Shipyards, Inc., 677 F.2d 1045, 1050 (5th Cir. 1982) ).

Under Rule 8(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a pleading must contain a "short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief." Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678-79, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (citing Fed. R. Civ. P. 8 ). "[T]he pleading standard Rule 8 announces does not require 'detailed factual allegations,' but it demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation." Id. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (citing Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) ). Stated differently, Rule 8 "does not unlock the doors of discovery for a plaintiff armed with nothing more than conclusions." Id. at 678-79, 129 S.Ct. 1937.

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383 F. Supp. 3d 634, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barbe-v-ocwen-loan-servicing-llc-laed-2019.