Charles J. and Cynthia B. Evans v. United Bank, Inc.

775 S.E.2d 500, 235 W. Va. 619, 2015 W. Va. LEXIS 807
West Virginia Supreme Court·Decided June 16, 2015·No. 14-0291·Published·Cited by 30 cases

Opinions

BENJAMIN, Justice:

The instant action is before the Court upon the appeal of thirty-three Petitioners from a Rule 12(b)(6) order dismissing their second amended complaint filed against United Bank and Stan and Thelma McQuade, d/b/a McQuade Appraisal Services. The circuit court ruled that Petitioners’ claims of fraud in the inducement, negligence, intentional and/or negligent infliction of emotional distress, breach of fiduciary duty, and constructive fraud were time-barred by the two-year statute of limitations. The circuit court also dismissed Petitioners’ claim of breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing on the basis that Petitioners failed to allege a breach of contract. Lastly, the circuit court dismissed Petitioners’ detrimental reliance claim, finding that it was improper because they seek money damages, and, alternatively, that it was essentially a restatement of their fraud in the inducement claim. Upon review of the parties’ arguments, the record before us on appeal, and applicable legal precedent, we affirm in part, and reverse in part, the circuit court’s order and remand this case for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

This case centers on an alleged fraudulent scheme involving Respondent United Bank and Respondent McQuade Appraisal Services to inflate the value of property in a residential development in Monroe County named Walnut Springs Mountain Reserve (‘Walnut Springs”) and the circuit court’s dismissal of the same pursuant to West Virginia Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). The Petitioners are all owners of lots in Walnut Springs. Petitioners purchased their respective lots in 2005 and 2006, and United Bank provided the financing. Walnut Springs ultimately failed and was abandoned by the developer, Mountain America, LLC.1

This case began with the filing of a civil action on November 30, 2009, by Petitioners Charles J. Evans and Cynthia B. Evans against United Bank. The complaint was amended in July of 2010, to add additional Walnut Springs property owners as plaintiffs and Respondents Stan McQuade and Thelma McQuade, as defendants, individually and doing business as McQuade Appraisal Services (collectively “McQuade”).2 McQuade was engaged by United Bank to perform the appraisals for the Petitioners’ lots. In September of 2010, the complaint was amended a second time to add additional plaintiff property owners, all thirty-three of whom are Petitioners herein. Specifically, Petitioners alleged the following in their second amended complaint: (1) fraud in the inducement or aiding and abetting fraud in the inducement; (2) negligence; (3) civil conspiracy; (4) punitive damages; (5) intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress; (6) responde[622]*622at superior; (7) breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing; (8) breach of fiduciary duty; (9) constructive fraud;- and (10) detrimental reliance.3

Petitioners’ second amended complaint is based on allegations of bank and appraisal fraud stemming from an allegedly fraudulent transaction occurring in 2005 that led to grossly-inflated lot values at Walnut Springs. Petitioners state that they learned of the fraudulent transaction in late 2009 or early 2010, after serving a subpoena upon McQuade in a companion case against the developers, Monroe County Civil Action No. 09-C-93. Petitioners allege that in 2005, they were told by developers that the property values in Walnut Springs were $50;000 per acre. This value was supposedly justified by an initial transaction in 2005, in which a woman named Chaya Schonberger purchased a 5.88 acre lot for $294,000. This transaction was then used as the “comp” for future appraisals and sales, which appraisals and sales then were used as “comps” for other sales, resulting in a “pyramid” of appraisals and sales all resulting from the Schonberger transaction.

Petitioners allege, however, that the Schonberger transaction never actually occurred. Chaya Schonberger is actually the mother of one of the developers, Dan Schonberger, who according to Petitioners uses multiple aliases, one of which is “Dan Berg.”4 Petitioners state that the 5.88 acre lot was never a part of Walnut Springs, a fact which Petitioners allege was cleverly disguised by McQuade, who appraised it, and misidentified the deed book and page number to be completely untraceable. Moreover, while Chaya Schonberger did own the 5.88 acres, there was never a sale of the property to her for a price of $294,000.00. Rather, she owned the property the entire time, having purchased it from a third party in 2004 for $99,000.00.5

At the same time as the supposed sale of the 5.88 acre lot, a construction loan was taken out through- United Bank with loan officer Leon Cooper. Mr. Cooper had a $300,000.00 limit for which he could solely approve loans. He approved the construction loan for a house to be constructed on a 5.88 acre parcel in the Walnut Springs subdivision. While Chaya Schonberger owned the 5.88 acre lot and the house constructed on it, the lot was never owned by Walnut Springs.

Petitioners allege that United Bank was aware of the fraud since 2005, but continued to finance the development using appraisals supported by the Schonberger transaction. Petitioners state that they were not aware of this fraud until 2009 or 2010, when their counsel reviewed the documents provided pursuant to the above-referenced subpoena in the other civil action. According to Petitioners, this discovery is what led to the filing of the second amended complaint in September of 2010.

In February of 2011, Respondents moved to dismiss the ease pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), asserting that except for the claims of breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and breach of fiduciary duty, Petitioners’ claims are barred by the applicable [623]*623two-year statute of limitations. In its February 27, 2014, order granting the motions' to dismiss, the circuit court first addressed United Bank’s request that the circuit court take judicial notice of the “adjudicative facts” set forth in MBMA, LLC, which was a matter before the Monroe County Commission sitting as the Board of Equalization and Review, the subsequent appeal of that matter to the circuit court in civil action number 07-C-30, and the ultimate appeal to this Court in Mountain America, LLC, et al. v. Huffman, 224 W.Va. 669, 687 S.E.2d 768 (2009).

This prior tax appeal involved a challenge to the 2007 assessed values of the lots in Walnut Springs by the Monroe -County Assessor. The basis of the challenge, which was presented at a February 7, 2007, evidentiary hearing held before, was that the assessments were excessive and unequal, and not based on the true and actual value of the properties. The parties dispute the level of involvement the individual landowners (the Petitioners herein) had in the 2007 litigation. Petitioners assert that the matter was spearheaded by the developérs and the Petitioners were involved only insofar as their names were used. Respondents counter that the Petitioner landowners were the primary challengers to the assessments. Over Petitioners’ objection, the circuit court took judicial notice of the adjudicative facts of the tax appeal.

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Charles J. and Cynthia B. Evans v. United Bank, Inc., 775 S.E.2d 500, 235 W. Va. 619, 2015 W. Va. LEXIS 807 (W. Va. 2015).

775 S.E.2d 500 (Charles J. and Cynthia B. Evans v. United Bank, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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