Carbonneau v. Federal National Mortgage Ass'n (In re Carbonneau)

2013 BNH 7, 499 B.R. 166, 2013 WL 5230033, 2013 Bankr. LEXIS 3862
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. New Hampshire
DecidedSeptember 17, 2013
DocketBankruptcy No. 11-13347-JMD; Adversary No. 11-1118-JMD
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 2013 BNH 7 (Carbonneau v. Federal National Mortgage Ass'n (In re Carbonneau)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carbonneau v. Federal National Mortgage Ass'n (In re Carbonneau), 2013 BNH 7, 499 B.R. 166, 2013 WL 5230033, 2013 Bankr. LEXIS 3862 (N.H. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

J. MICHAEL DEASY, Bankruptcy Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This matter is before the Court on the Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 46) filed by the defendants, Federal National Mortgage Association, Lamper, and Haughey, Philpot & Laurent P.A. (collectively “FNMA”) as well as the Cross Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 48) filed by the debtor-plaintiff, Norman A. Carbonneau (the “Debtor”). FNMA conducted a foreclosure auction on real property owned by the Debtor and was the high-bidder. Following the auction, FNMA recorded a foreclosure deed to perfect its title to the property. The Debtor then filed this bankruptcy case pursuant to chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code.1 This adversary proceeding was commenced to recover damages from FNMA’s alleged violations of the automatic stay, resulting from FNMA’s post-petition conduct relating to the property. For the reasons set forth below, the Court finds that the prop[168]*168erty is not property of the estate and that FNMA did not violate the automatic stay.

This Court has authority to exercise jurisdiction over the subject matter and the parties pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1334, 157(a), and U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire Local Rule 77.4(a). This is a core proceeding in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 157(b).

II. FACTS

The parties do not dispute the salient facts: The Debtor granted a mortgage on real property located at 121 Derry Road, Hudson, New Hampshire (the “Property”) to Fleet National Bank. Shortly thereafter, an assignment was recorded by Cendant Mortgage Corporation as “Authorized Agents” [sic] purporting to assign Fleet National Bank’s interest in the mortgage to Cendant. Subsequently, Fleet National Bank was acquired by Bank of America.

On May 25, 2011, defendant Mark H. Lamper sent a notice to the Debtor on behalf of PHH Mortgage Services Corp.— the servicer of the mortgage — and Federal National Mortgage Association, who was represented to be the current holder of the note and mortgage. The notice stated FNMA’s intent to accelerate the note and commence foreclosure proceedings immediately. On July 7, 2011, Bank of America executed an assignment of the mortgage to FNMA. This assignment was recorded later that month.

After providing public notice of the foreclosure for three consecutive weeks, FNMA foreclosed on the Property on August 25, 2011. This foreclosure sale proceeded according to the terms outlined in the notice that was provided to the Debtor and to the public. About a week later, on August 31, 2011, FNMA recorded a foreclosure deed, an affidavit of sale, and a copy of a notice of foreclosure sale in the appropriate registry of deeds. The copy of the notice of foreclosure sale was for the wrong property — 7 Pine Avenue in Keene, New Hampshire, rather than the Debtor’s property at 121 Derry Road.

On September 6, 2011, the Debtor filed his bankruptcy petition. The Debtor listed the Property on Schedule A of his petition and disclosed the foreclosure sale in his statement of financial affairs, stating that he intended to contest the validity of the foreclosure deed. A week after the bankruptcy had been filed, defendant Lamper, acting on behalf of FNMA, recorded a confirmatory affidavit of sale in the registry of deeds for the sole purpose of correcting the notice of foreclosure sale. The confirmatory affidavit replaced the faulty notice with a copy of the same notice that the Debtor had received prior to the foreclosure auction and that had been published pursuant to the statutory requirement.

Soon after the recording of the confirmatory affidavit, the Debtor filed the one count complaint that instigated this adversary proceeding. In the complaint, the Debtor seeks a declaration that FNMA’s filing of the confirmatory affidavit and its efforts to ascertain when the Debtor would vacate the Property constituted violations of the automatic stay of 11 U.S.C. § 362(a). FNMA never filed an answer, but at a pretrial hearing, FNMA denied the substantive allegations in the complaint, and the Court ordered the matter to proceed on with discovery. The Debtor never raised any objection to FNMA’s failure to file an answer, and given the current procedural posture of this case, the Court considers any such arguments to be waived. After a period of discovery, FNMA moved for summary judgment.

FNMA argues that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law for two reasons: (1) the Debtor failed to enjoin the foreclo[169]*169sure proceeding under New Hampshire law and accordingly lost any standing he had to contest the foreclosure sale, and (2) once the bankruptcy petition was filed, the Property did not become property of the estate under 11 U.S.C. § 541 and accordingly FNMA did not violate the automatic stay.

In response, the Debtor opposed FNMA’s motion and filed a cross motion for summary judgment. The Debtor proffers two separate bases for the Court to grant his motion and deny FNMA’s. First — the Debtor arg-ues — section 1322(c) allows him to cure any default with respect to the note and mortgage on the Property because the Property has not been “sold at a foreclosure sale” within the meaning of section 1322(e); the defective notice of foreclosure sale effectively prevented title from passing to FNMA, leaving the conveyance incomplete. Thus, the Debtor believes he has a federal interest in the Property, an interest that is protected by the automatic stay.

Second, the Debtor argues that the entire foreclosure sale is void because FNMA had no interest in the Property when it conducted the auction. According to the Debtor, Bank of America could not have assigned the note and mortgage to FNMA because Fleet National Bank— Bank of America’s predecessor in interest — had already assigned the note and mortgage to Cendant Mortgage Co. Because the assignment from Bank of America to FNMA was void, so was the foreclosure sale. This chain of events, the Debtor would have it, leaves Cendant holding a note and mortgage to the property, with the Debtor holding the deed free and clear of any interest of FNMA. FNMA opposed the Debtor’s cross motion for summary judgment, reiterating the arguments in its own motion.

After all the pleadings were filed, the Court took both motions under advisement.

III. DISCUSSION

A. Summary Judgment Standard

Under Rule 56(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, made applicable to this proceeding by Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 7056, a summary judgment motion should be granted only “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” An issue is “genuine” if a reasonable jury could resolve the point in favor of the nonmoving party. Tropigas de Puerto Rico, Inc. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s of London,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2013 BNH 7, 499 B.R. 166, 2013 WL 5230033, 2013 Bankr. LEXIS 3862, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carbonneau-v-federal-national-mortgage-assn-in-re-carbonneau-nhb-2013.