Brancheau v. Residential Mortgage Group, Inc.

177 F.R.D. 655, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22054, 1997 WL 851420
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedDecember 11, 1997
DocketNo. Civ. 97-53 (JRT/RLE)
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 177 F.R.D. 655 (Brancheau v. Residential Mortgage Group, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brancheau v. Residential Mortgage Group, Inc., 177 F.R.D. 655, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22054, 1997 WL 851420 (mnd 1997).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM ORDER

ERICKSON, United States Magistrate Judge.

I. Introduction

This matter came before the undersigned United States Magistrate Judge pursuant to a general assignment, made in accordance with the provisions of Title 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A), upon the Plaintiffs’ timely1 Motion for Leave to Amend Complaint. See, Rule 15(a), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; see also, Pretrial Order of May 27, 1997.

A Hearing on the Motion was conducted on July 21, 1997, at which time the Plaintiffs appeared by Vildan A Teske, Esq.; the Defendant Residential Mortgage Group, Inc. (“Residential”) appeared by Edward M. Laine, Esq.; and Defendant Mercantile Bank of St. Louis, N.A. (“Mercantile”) appeared by Mark Arnold and Ann Kramer, Esqs.

For reasons which follow, we deny the Plaintiffs’ Motion to Amend.

II. Factual and Procedural Background

In May of 1996, the Plaintiffs obtained a $122,800 loan from Residential. As a mortgage broker, Residential secured the loan and, thereafter, promptly sold its interest in the loan to Mercantile. As part of the referral transaction, Mercantile paid Residential what is known as a “yield spread premium,” in the amount of $767.50. The propriety of this payment is the crux of the instant action.

[656]*656In their Complaint, the Plaintiffs question the legality of the payment of the yield spread premium, as between the two Defendants, under the Real Estate Settlement Practices Act (“RESPA”), Title 12 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq., and they assert that the actions of each of the Defendants violate State common law.2 As the parties agree, RE SPA prohibits the payment of kickbacks in exchange for the referral of real estate settlement services involving a federally related mortgage loan, with certain enumerated exceptions. See, Title 28 U.S.C. § 2607; 24 C.F.R. § 3500.1k. Any person who gives, or who accepts, a prohibited referral fee is “jointly and severally liable to the person or persons charged for the settlement service involved in the violation in an amount equal to three times the amount of any charge paid for such settlement service.” Title 12 U.S.C. § 2607(d)(2).

Proceeding under a theory that the payment of a yield spread premium is, per se, violative of RESPA, and that such a payment routinely occurs in the loan referral transactions between the Defendants, the Plaintiffs filed their Complaint as a class action. As originally defined in the Complaint, the proposed class of Plaintiffs, who are to be certified under Rule 23, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, are defined as follows:

The class consists of all persons who:

a. Entered into a residential mortgage transaction that was documented as a transaction under RE SPA, in that a HUD-1 Settlement statement was provided (Exhibit A);
b. The loan was originated in the name of Residential or was funded by Residential and assigned to Mercantile within two weeks of the closing; and:
c. The HUD-1 Settlement Statement shows that a “yield spread premium,” “yield spread differential,” “par-plus premium,” “service release premium,” or the like was paid to a mortgage broker or originator.

Compl. 1127.

In other words, the currently proposed Plaintiff-class is limited to those individuals who obtained a loan from Residential, which was referred to Mercantile, in exchange for a yield spread premium. The class has not, as yet, been certified.

Now, the Plaintiffs seek leave to amend their Complaint in order to significantly broaden the proposed class of Plaintiffs. The proposed Amended Complaint would create two larger subclasses, of which the first would consist of all persons who:

a. Entered into a residential mortgage transaction that was documented as a transaction under RESPA, in that a HUD-1 Settlement Statement was provided (Exhibit A).
b. The loan was funded by a person other than Residential; and
c. The HUD-1 Settlement Statement shows that a “yield spread premium”, “yield spread differential”, “par-plus premium”, “service release premium”, or the like was paid to Residential.

Proposed Am. Compl. 1127.

The first subclass would include everyone within the original class of Plaintiffs, together with any person who obtained a federally related loan from Residential, which was serviced by any other lender than Mercantile.

The second subclass of Plaintiffs, as proposed in the Amended Complaint, would include all persons who:

a. Entered into a residential mortgage transaction that was documented as a transaction under RE SPA, in that a HUD-1 Settlement Statement was provided;
■b. The loan was originated in the name of a broker or was funded by a broker and assigned to Mercantile 'within two weeks of the closing; and
c. The HUD-1 Settlement Statement shows that a “yield spread premium”, “yield spread differential”, “par-plus premium”, “service release premium”, [657]*657or the like was paid by Mercantile to a mortgage broker or originator.

Proposed Am. Compl. 1128.

We understand this proposed subclass to include any person who obtained a federally related loan from any mortgage broker, which was serviced by Mercantile in exchange for a yield spread premium.

As Mercantile purchases home mortgage loans from approximately 150 mortgage brokers in 20 states, and Residential refers loans to approximately 20 different lenders, it appears that the class of Plaintiffs, as defined in the proposed Amended Complaint, would be a transcontinental collage of persons exponentially more numerous than the currently proposed putative class. Largely for this reason, the Defendants oppose the Plaintiffs’ Motion to amend their Complaint. As stated by the Defendants, their objection rests on their belief that the proposed amendment to the Plaintiffs’ Complaint would be futile, because the proposed class of Plaintiffs could not, as a matter of law, satisfy the certification requirements of Rule 28, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

III. Discussion

A. Standard of Review.

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177 F.R.D. 655, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22054, 1997 WL 851420, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brancheau-v-residential-mortgage-group-inc-mnd-1997.