Barnett v. BAC Home Loan Servicing, L.P.

772 F. Supp. 2d 1328, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68705, 2011 WL 723046
CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon
DecidedFebruary 23, 2011
Docket3:11-cr-00213
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 772 F. Supp. 2d 1328 (Barnett v. BAC Home Loan Servicing, L.P.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barnett v. BAC Home Loan Servicing, L.P., 772 F. Supp. 2d 1328, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68705, 2011 WL 723046 (D. Or. 2011).

Opinion

TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER

BROWN, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiffs Motion (#2) for a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction.

For the reasons that follow, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs Motion to the extent that the Court TEMPORARILY RESTRAINS Defendants from proceeding with the February 28, 2011, foreclosure sale of Plaintiffs property.

BACKGROUND

The following facts are taken from Plaintiffs Complaint:

On September 20, 2006, Plaintiff Jeffrey D. Barnett entered into an InterestFirst Adjustable Rate Note with Columbia River Bank secured by property located at 3769 N.W. First Court, Hillsboro, Oregon. Plaintiff also entered into a Trust Deed as to that property with Plaintiff as grantor; First American Title Company as Trustee; and Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS) solely as nominee for the beneficiary, Columbia River Bank. The Trust Deed provided, among other things, that

Lender shall give notice to Borrower prior to acceleration following Borrower’s breach of any covenant or agreement in this Security Instrument.... The notice shall specify: (a) the default; (b) the action required to cure the default; (c) a date, not less than 30 days from the date the notice is given to Borrower, by which the default must be cured; and (d) that failure to cure the default on or before the date specified in this notice may result in acceleration of the sums secured by this Security Instrument and sale of the Property. The notice shall further inform Borrower of the right to reinstate after acceleration and the right to bring a court action to assert the non-existence of a default or any other defense of Borrower to acceleration and sale. If the default is not cured on or before the date specified in the notice, Lender at its option may require immediate payment in full of all sums secured by this Security Instrument without further demand and may invoke the power of sale and any other remedies permitted by Applicable Law.

Compl., Ex. A at 12. Pursuant to the Trust Deed MERS held, at most, no more than “bare legal title” to Columbia River Bank’s beneficial interest in the Trust *1331 Deed and never had any legal or beneficial interest in the Note.

The Trust Deed was recorded in Washington County, Oregon on September 25, 2006.

Plaintiff alleges on information and belief that after September 20, 2006, Columbia River Bank sold or otherwise transferred the Note and its beneficial interest in the Trust Deed to Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. Thereafter, Countrywide transferred its interest in the Note and Trust Deed to Defendant Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae). None of these transfers were recorded in the real property records of Washington County, Oregon.

On December 11, 2009, Defendant BAC Home Loans Servicing, L.P., acting as the agent for Fannie Mae sent Plaintiff a written agreement to permanently modify Plaintiffs Note and Deed of Trust as follows: (1) Reduce the interest rate on the loan from 6.25% to 2% for an initial five year period, with the rate increasing to 3% in the sixth year, 4% in the seventh year, and 5% in the eighth year through maturity; (2) Reduce the monthly interest-only payment to $661.10 for an initial five year period, with the payment increasing to $878.10 in the sixth year, $1,143.09 in the seventh year, and $1,398.08 in the eighth year through maturity, and; (3) Bring the loan current by adding the total delinquency, $17,892.20, to the principal balance. See Comph, Ex. B at 1. The Modification Agreement provided after modification Plaintiffs initial monthly payment would be $1,114.23.

In order to accept the terms of the Modification Agreement BAC required Plaintiff to execute the Modification Agreement in the presence of a notary and to return to BAC by January 7, 2010, the executed Agreement with the first payment of $1,114.23 in a preaddressed, prepaid FedEx envelope provided to Plaintiff by BAC.

Plaintiff alleges he executed the Modification Agreement before a notary and mailed the required materials as well as a cashier’s check for $1,114.23 to BAC in the provided envelope before January 7, 2010.

On January 13, 2010, BAC returned the cashier’s check, but not the signed Modification Agreement to Plaintiff by mail. According to Plaintiff, he called BAC and was informed BAC had accepted the Modification Agreement and the cashier’s check had been returned to Plaintiff in error. BAC instructed Plaintiff to resend the check to the address noted in the Modification Agreement.

On January 21, 2010, MERS executed an Assignment of Trust Deed in which it

grant[ed], eonvey[ed], assigned], and transferred] ... all beneficial interest [to BAC] under that certain Deed of Trust, dated 09/20/2006, executed by JEFFREY D. BARNETT, Grantor(s) to FIRST AMERICAN TITLE, Trustee, and MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC., as Beneficiary.

Compl., Ex. D at 1. On that same day, BAC executed an Appointment of Successor Trustee naming Defendant ReconTrust Company, N.A., as Successor Trustee of the Trust Deed.

On January 26, 2010, Plaintiff resent the cashier’s check to BAC by express mail to the address, noted in the Modification Agreement.

On January 28, 2010, ReconTrust recorded the Assignment of Trust Deed in *1332 the real property records of Washington County, Oregon.

On January 28, 2010, Plaintiff received a Notice of Sale from ReconTrust, listing a scheduled foreclosure sale date of June 4, 2010. Plaintiff called BAC and BAC confirmed it had accepted the Modification Agreement. BAC informed Plaintiff that because the loan had been permanently modified it would cancel the foreclosure sale. BAC subsequently cancelled the June 4, 2010, foreclosure sale.

On January 29, 2010, Plaintiff received a monthly statement from BAC noting the principal balance, interest rate, and monthly payment amount as set out in the Modification Agreement as well as $90 in unspecified “fees due.”

Plaintiff called BAC to inquire about the “fees due” and again was told BAC had accepted the Modification Agreement and that the $90 fee was probably a modification fee.

According to Plaintiff, on February 17, 2010, without notice to Plaintiff BAC reduced the principal balance to the amount of principal owing before the Modification Agreement. On February 25, 2010, BAC issued Plaintiff a monthly statement identifying the $1,114.23 Plaintiff submitted with the Modification Agreement as a “partial payment.” BAC failed to apply the payment to the modified loan and instead placed the payment in a “suspense account.”

After he received the February 25, 2010, statement Plaintiff called BAC to inquire about the readjustment of the principal balance and designation of his payment as a “partial payment.” Plaintiff alleges BAC again confirmed it had accepted the modification but because there was a backlog of modifications, “not all departments have access to modification information, and ...

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Related

Olmstead v. ReconTrust Co., N.A.
852 F. Supp. 2d 1318 (D. Oregon, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
772 F. Supp. 2d 1328, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68705, 2011 WL 723046, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barnett-v-bac-home-loan-servicing-lp-ord-2011.