Coleman v. Wells Fargo Banks, N.A.

218 F. Supp. 3d 597, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 166002, 2016 WL 6900729
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Tennessee
DecidedNovember 21, 2016
DocketNO. 3:15-cv-00842
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 218 F. Supp. 3d 597 (Coleman v. Wells Fargo Banks, N.A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coleman v. Wells Fargo Banks, N.A., 218 F. Supp. 3d 597, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 166002, 2016 WL 6900729 (M.D. Tenn. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

WAVERLY D. CRENSHAW, JR., UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

On July 20, 2015, Reverend George W. Coleman, Jr., filed suit in the Davidson County Chancery Court against Wells Fargo Banks, N.A., (“Wells Fargo”) and Wilson & Associates, P.L.L.C., for various causes of action related to Wells Fargo’s actions under a refinanced mortgage agreement. (Doc. No. 1-1.) Wells Fargo removed the case to this Court, citing federal jurisdiction based on both diversity of citizenship and a federal question. (Doc. No. 1.) Wells Fargo filed a counterclaim against Coleman for breach of contract (Doc. No. 18), and the Court later dismissed Wilson & Associates, P.L.L.C., as a party (Doc. No. 27). Currently before the Court is Wells Fargo’s Motion for Summary Judgment on all of Coleman’s claims. (Doc. No. 36.) For the reasons discussed herein, Wells Fargo’s motion will be GRANTED as to Counts I, II, III, IV, and VI of the Complaint and DENIED as to Count V.

I. BACKGROUND

In 1991, Coleman took out a loan from First Tennessee Bank (“First Tennessee”) in order to purchase a property located at 2605 B Alameda Street, Nashville, Tennessee (“the Property”). (Doc. No. 46-1 at ¶ 1.) Four years later, Coleman found himself in the market for a personal loan of five thousand dollars. (Id. at ¶ 2.) Coleman first went to First Tennessee about the possibility of such a loan, but First Tennessee referred Coleman to Fairway Financial Services, Inc., (“Fairway Financial”), whose office he visited on or about March 15, 1995. Fairway Financial offered to provide Coleman with the five thousand dollars he sought as a part of a refinancing of his original First Tennessee loan on the Property. (Id. at ¶¶ 3-5.) Coleman agreed, and Coleman entered into a new loan with Fairway Financial (“the Loan”). Fairway Financial, in turn, paid off his original First Tennessee loan and provided Coleman with five thousand dollars in cash. (Id. at ¶¶ 5, 13.)

When Coleman entered into the Loan, Fairway Financial provided him with a number of associated documents (collectively, “the Loan Documents”): a Note; a Deed of Trust; a Truth in Lending (“TIL”) Disclosure Statement; and a HUD-1 Statement detailing various fees associated with the loan.1 Coleman says he was rushed through the loan process and never afforded an opportunity to scrutinize the Loan Documents before executing the paperwork, but he did retain unsigned copies of those Documents. (Id. at ¶¶ 8-11.) Wells Fargo concedes, for the purpose of [600]*600summary judgment, that when Coleman signed the paperwork he signed, the Fairway Financial office was near to closing for the day and a Fairway Financial representative “rushed” Coleman to sign. (Doc. No. 51 at ¶ 11.)

The Note associated with the Loan bears the header “BALLOON NOTE” at the top of its first page and explains Coleman’s payment schedule as follows:

I will pay principal and interest by making payments every month.
I will make my monthly payments on the lst of each month beginning on May 1,1995.1 will make these payments every month until I have paid all of the principal and interest and any other charges described below that I may owe under this Note. My monthly payments will be applied to interest and other sums owed to the Note Holder before principal. If, on April 1, 2010, I still owe amounts on this Note, I will pay those amounts in full on that date, which is called the “maturity date.”

(Doc. No. 1-1 at 24.) The TIL Disclosure Statement sets forth the resulting payment schedule m greater detail:

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(Id. at 28.) Coleman maintains that he was not told at the time that the Loan included a large final payment on its date of maturity, or a “balloon loan.”2 (Doc. No. 51 at ¶¶ 5, 7.)

The Deed of Trust includes a paragraph titled “Protection of Lender’s Rights in the Property” (“Paragraph 7”):

If Borrower fails to perform the covenants and agreements contained in this Security Instrument, ... then Lender may do and pay for whatever is necessary to protect the value of the Property and Lender’s rights in the Property. Lender’s actions may include ... appearing in court, paying reasonable attorneys’ fees and entering on the Property to make repairs. ...
Any amount disbursed by Lender under this paragraph 7 shall become additional debt of Borrower secured by the Security Instrument.

(Doc. No. 1-1 at 31.) The lender also retained a right to inspect the property: “Lender or its agent may make reasonable entries upon and inspections of the Property. Lender shall give Borrower notice at the time of or prior to an inspection specifying reasonable cause for the inspection.” (Id. at 32.)

In 1996, Coleman was assigned by the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church to preach at a church that required him to move away from the Property. From 1996 to 2002, Coleman allegedly had the Property overseen by a caretaker, but sometime in 2002, Coleman became aware that [601]*601the caretaker had moved out of the Property, leaving it unoccupied. The caretaker, however, retained a key and left his belongings within the home. (Id. at ¶¶ 17,19-21.) Eventually, in 2009, Coleman regained access to the Property for his own use. (Id. at ¶ 22.)

One of Coleman’s duties under the Deed was to keep the Property insured against fire, flood, and other identified hazards. In the event that Coleman failed to do so, the lender could obtain insurance on his behalf pursuant to Paragraph 7, and the resulting costs would be added to Coleman’s debt. (Id. at 31.) In March of 2009, Coleman learned that a hazard insurance policy that he had been maintaining for the Property was being cancelled by the insurer. (Doc. No. 46-1 at ¶ 23.) By this time, a division of Wells Fargo had obtained the servicing rights to the Loan. (Id. at ¶¶ 14-16.) Coleman did not obtain a replacement insurance policy until June 2009, and in the interim Wells Fargo obtained a lender-placed policy and added the expense to Coleman’s calculated monthly payments, raising them to $802.25/month, beginning in April 2013. (Id. at ¶¶ 24, 30.)

Coleman missed his March 2009 loan payment. (Id. at ¶¶ 26-27.) Although Coleman did make some additional payments thereafter, they were either late or, where applicable, fell short of the increased rate created by the lender-placed insurance policy. In January 2010, he stopped making payments altogether. (Id. at ¶¶ 27-33.) Coleman, however, maintains that during this time period, he was in communication with Wells Fargo personnel about his loan, and that the payments he made, though insufficient under the Loan as written, were in compliance with payment schedules agreed upon orally by Wells Fargo personnel. (Doc. No. 51 at ¶¶ 20-21.) Coleman also claims that he and the Wells Fargo representatives were in communication about the possibility of a loan modification, and Coleman even sent in paperwork related to obtaining such a modification. In March of 2010, however, he contacted Wells Fargo and learned that a modification would not be available. (Id. at ¶¶ 25-26, 30.)

On April 1, 2010, the Loan reached its maturity date and, under the terms of the Loan as written, Coleman’s sizable balloon payment was due. Coleman, already behind on his smaller monthly payments, did not pay the balloon payment. (Doc. No.

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218 F. Supp. 3d 597, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 166002, 2016 WL 6900729, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coleman-v-wells-fargo-banks-na-tnmd-2016.