Bolone v. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc.

858 F. Supp. 2d 825, 2012 WL 882894, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34272
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedMarch 14, 2012
DocketCase No. 11-10663
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 858 F. Supp. 2d 825 (Bolone v. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bolone v. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc., 858 F. Supp. 2d 825, 2012 WL 882894, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34272 (E.D. Mich. 2012).

Opinion

[828]*828 OPINION AND ORDER

LAWRENCE P. ZATKOFF, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This matter is before the Court on Defendants’ Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and/or Summary Judgment [dkt. 21], The parties have fully briefed the motion. The Court finds that the facts and legal arguments are adequately presented in the parties’ papers such that the decision process would not be significantly aided by oral argument. Therefore, pursuant to E.D. Mich. L.R. 7.1(f)(2), it is hereby ORDERED that the motion be resolved on the briefs submitted. For the reasons set forth below, Defendants’ motion is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

II. BACKGROUND

In July of 2003, Plaintiff Patricia Bolone, refinanced a mortgage on her home at 2886 Genes Drive, Auburn Hills, Michigan, with Defendant Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc. (“Wells Fargo”). Plaintiff subsequently lost her employment in 2007, and as of February of 2009, no longer made payments to Wells Fargo. On June 1, 2009, she applied for a loan modification. Effective April 1, 2010, Wells Fargo offered a Home Affordable Modification Program (“HAMP”) Trial Period Plan (“TPP”) to Plaintiff.

Commencing on April 1, 2010, the TPP consisted of three monthly installment payments of $403.00 from April to June. The TPP ended the earlier of: “(i) the first day of the month following the month in which the last Trial Period Payment is due 7/1/2010 or (ii) termination of this Plan.” Plaintiff purportedly returned the necessary paperwork and signed the written TPP with a representative of Wells Fargo. The representative of Wells Fargo also signed the TPP, however, the signature is illegible.

Pursuant to the TPP, Plaintiff was entitled to a permanent modification of her mortgage if:

I am in compliance with this Loan Trial Period and my representations in Section 1 continue to be true in all material respects, then the Lender will provide me with a Loan Modification Agreement, as set forth in Section 3, that would amend and supplement (1) the Mortgage on the Property, and (2) the Note secured by the Mortgage.1

The following paragraph states:

I understand that after I sign and return two copies of this Plan to the Lender, the Lender will send me a signed copy of this Plan if I qualify for the Offer or will send me written notice that I do not qualify for the Offer. This Plan will not take effect unless and until both I and the Lender sign it and Lender (sic) provides me with a copy of this Plan with the Lender’s signature.2

The TPP further set forth a limitation on Wells Fargo’s ability to foreclose on the property, stating “the Lender will suspend any scheduled foreclosure sale, provided I continue to meet the obligations under this Plan.... ” Under Section 3 of the TPP, the language identifies the process that Wells Fargo will undertake to determine the new payment under a permanent modification. Section 3 further provides:

If I comply with the requirements in Section 2 and my representations in Section 1 continue to be true in all material respects, the Lender will send me a Modification Agreement for my signature which will modify my Loan Docu[829]*829ments as necessary to reflect this new payment amount and waive any unpaid late charges accrued to date.

It is undisputed that Plaintiff made the three payments under the TPP. Wells Fargo also accepted two additional monthly payments of $403 for the months of July and August of 2010. According to Plaintiffs testimony, she attempted to pay $403 for the month of September, but a representative of Wells Fargo told her that her home was sold on August 10, 2010. Prior to the August payment, however, Wells Fargo alleges that it left three telephone messages with Plaintiff on July 14, 17, and 20, 2010, requesting updated proof of income documents. Plaintiff purportedly failed to submit these requested documents. On July 30, 2010, Wells Fargo notified Plaintiff by letter that she was denied a permanent modification for failing to provide the requested documents. On August 10, 2010, Wells Fargo sold Plaintiffs home at a sheriffs sale, which was purchased by Defendant Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Federal Home Loan”). The redemption period following the sheriffs sale has run.

On February 17, 2011, Defendants removed Plaintiffs case from the State of Michigan Oakland County Circuit Court. In her Complaint, Plaintiff asserts three claims against Defendants: (Count I) breach of the TPP; (Count II) violations of Michigan mortgage and collection acts; and (Count III) conversion by defective foreclosure. Plaintiff seeks to restrain Defendants from further adverse actions against her, rescission of the sheriffs sale, actual damages, and to require Defendants to fulfill the TPP. On July 21, 2011, 2011 WL 2935880, the Court granted Plaintiff a temporary restraining order, setting a hearing to address Plaintiffs request for a preliminary injunction and ordering Defendants to not take any action to evict Plaintiff from her residence until further order of the Court. Finding the briefs submitted by the parties adequate to address Plaintiffs request for a preliminary injunction, the Court adjourned the hearing and issued a written opinion on August 24, 2011, 2011 WL 3706600. The Court granted Plaintiff a preliminary injunction, finding that her breach of the TPP claim had a likelihood of success on the merits and leaving consideration of her remaining claims for a later juncture. At the conclusion of discovery, Defendants filed the instant motion asserting that there was no genuine dispute of fact that all three of Plaintiffs claims fail as a matter of law.

III. LEGAL STANDARD

A. Judgment on the Pleadings

Pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(c), “[a]fter the pleadings are closed — but early enough not to delay trial — a party may move for judgment on the pleadings.” The Court’s review under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(c) is the same as the review under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). Jelovsek v. Bredesen, 545 F.3d 431, 434 (6th Cir.2008). Under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), the Court must accept as true all factual allegations in the pleadings, and any ambiguities must be resolved in that plaintiffs favor. See Jackson v. Richards Med. Co., 961 F.2d 575, 577-78 (6th Cir.1992). While this standard is decidedly liberal, it requires more than a bare assertion of legal conclusions. See Advocacy Org. for Patients & Providers v. Auto Club Ins. Ass’n, 176 F.3d 315, 319 (6th Cir.1999). Thus, the plaintiff must make “a showing, rather than a blanket assertion of entitlement to relief’ and “[fjactual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level” so that the claim is “plausible on its face.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly,

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Bluebook (online)
858 F. Supp. 2d 825, 2012 WL 882894, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34272, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bolone-v-wells-fargo-home-mortgage-inc-mied-2012.