Bisson v. Bank of America, N.A.

919 F. Supp. 2d 1130, 2013 WL 325262, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19005
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedJanuary 15, 2013
DocketCase No. C12-0995JLR
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 919 F. Supp. 2d 1130 (Bisson v. Bank of America, N.A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bisson v. Bank of America, N.A., 919 F. Supp. 2d 1130, 2013 WL 325262, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19005 (W.D. Wash. 2013).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART MOTION TO DISMISS

JAMES L. ROBART, District Judge.

This matter comes before the court on Defendants’ motion to dismiss in a case dealing with fallout from the recent mortgage crisis. (Mot. (Dkt. # 31).) This case requires us to consider how certain real estate finance laws apply in the context of mortgage-backed securities and other complex debt instruments. The court has considered the submissions of the parties and the governing law and, considering itself fully advised, GRANTS the motion to dismiss.

I. INTRODUCTION

A person who wants to buy a house will usually go to a bank and ask for a home loan. The bank loans money with the understanding that, if the borrower cannot repay the loan, the bank can foreclose on the house. Ordinarily, the bank forecloses on the house by using what is called a “deed of trust,” which gives the lender power to appoint a third-party trustee to sell the house and collect the proceeds. See generally Bain v. Metro. Mortg. Grp., [1133]*1133Inc., 175 Wash.2d 83, 285 P.3d 34, 38 (2012). In the past, this tended to be a relatively straightforward legal arrangement involving only a bank, a borrower, and an appointed trustee, with the deed of trust serving as security for payment of the loan. See id. at 38-39. This was an arrangement of mutual benefit: the borrower received money to purchase a home, and the bank collected interest on the loan.

In recent years, the arrangement has become more complicated. See id. at 39-41. These days, a home loan is much less likely to be a classic three-party deed of trust arrangement. Id. To be sure, most home loans are still structured using deeds of trust. But whereas in times past the lender bank-would typically hold the loan and collect interest over time, today a bank is likely to be more creative in its use of the asset. See id.

Specifically, banks are more likely to repackage loans into complex debt instruments or so-called “mortgage-backed securities.” See id. (citing Public Emps’ Ret. Sys. of Miss. v. Merrill Lynch & Co., 277 F.R.D. 97, 102-03 (S.D.N.Y.2011) (discussing mortgage securitization generally)). The basic idea of these complex debt instruments is that a bank mixes a bunch of home loans together in a pool, then chops the pool into bits to create new packages of debt to sell to investors. Id. One could analogize this process to taking raw ingredients and combining them to make bread then selling the slices individually, or putting different kinds of meat into a sausage grinder then selling the individual sausages. What is born from this process are new debt instruments, sold on the open market, that have pooled-and-sliced home loans as their ingredients. Different debt instruments work in different ways, but the basic concept is that home loan debt gets repackaged and sold to other investors rather than being held by the bank that originated the loan. See id.

On a macro scale, this accomplishes at least two things: First, it allows banks to spread mortgage risk across the financial system rather than hold it all themselves. Second, it may attract more investors into the financial system by creating new and attractive investment products that allow investors to carefully calibrate - their risk/return ratios. In other words, bankers can make very useful products out of the mortgage “dough,” much like one might prefer to eat a slice of bread than to eat the component ingredients on their own.

But these complex debt instruments also create problems, and these problems have come into sharp focus in the wake of the recent housing crash and mortgage crisis. See id. at 40-41. In particular, problems may arise from the fact that the regulatory scheme governing home loans was designed primarily to deal with traditional three-party deeds of trust or mortgages rather than the more complex situation we face now. Id. This case presents questions regarding how to reconcile today’s complex debt products with a regulatory scheme that was designed in simpler times.

To be specific, this case deals with how to apply the laws of debt collection and non-judicial foreclosure when the lender is not a single entity but one or more investors who purchased repackaged debt. (See generally First Am. Compl. (Dkt. # 26).) Nonjudicial foreclosure refers to the process by which a bank or other lender uses a deed of trust to take possession of a defaulted borrower’s home without having to go to court. See Bain, 285 P.3d at 38-39. The lender appoints a trustee who sells the house, and the lender collects the proceeds. Id. Nowadays though, it is not always crystal clear who holds the debt after it. has been repackaged, and accordingly who has the right to collect on it and how. That is what this case is about. The plaintiffs in this case [1134]*1134are asking for the court’s help in making sense of non-judicial foreclosure in the new world of mortgage-backed securities and other complex debt instruments. (See generally Compl.) In other words, they want help figuring out who owns their home loans, who they should make payments to, who has the right to foreclose on their debts, and who they must speak to if they want to renegotiate terms of repayment. (Id. ¶¶ 130-140.)

II. FACTS

Plaintiffs are borrowers who own homes in Washington. (Id. ¶¶ 437.) All Plaintiffs purchased their homes with proceeds from loans that are now serviced by Defendant Bank of America, N.A. (“BANA”). (Id.) There are 55 plaintiffs and seven defendants in this action. Defendants include BANA, loan-originator Countrywide Home Loans, the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (“MERS”)1 and other institutions involved in the securitization and servicing of Plaintiffs’ loans. (Id. ¶¶ 38-45.) Plaintiffs allege that their home loans were securitized, repackaged, and sold to third parties, and that as a result, BANA no longer has the right to enforce the payment obligations on the loans or to foreclose on their homes using a deed of trust. (Id. ¶¶ 71-72.)

Plaintiffs filed this action “to prevent the improper taking and/or foreclosure of their property” by BANA. (Id. ¶ 1.) However, it appears that no foreclosures are currently pending against any of the Plaintiffs, many of whom are current on their loan payments. (See Welch Decl. (Dkt. # 17) ¶ 3.) Instead, Plaintiffs allege that they are on a “slippery slope” to losing their homes through non-judicial foreclosure (Compl. ¶ 86), even though they allege no specific facts showing that foreclosure is imminent or that anyone has threatened them with foreclosure. (See Compl.)

Plaintiffs also claim that they have been defrauded by BANA through a series of deceptions that caused overpayments, miscalculated interest, and damaged credit scores. (Compl. ¶¶ 96-115.) Ultimately, Plaintiffs ask the court to determine their obligations under their loans and to identify their rightful creditors given that many of their loans have been repackaged, securitized, and sold to investors. (Id. ¶¶ 130-140.)

III. ANALYSIS

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Bluebook (online)
919 F. Supp. 2d 1130, 2013 WL 325262, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19005, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bisson-v-bank-of-america-na-wawd-2013.