Colquitt v. Manufacturers & Traders Trust Co.

144 F. Supp. 3d 1219, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137965, 2015 WL 7221046
CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon
DecidedOctober 9, 2015
Docket3:15-CV-00807-BR
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 144 F. Supp. 3d 1219 (Colquitt v. Manufacturers & Traders Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Colquitt v. Manufacturers & Traders Trust Co., 144 F. Supp. 3d 1219, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137965, 2015 WL 7221046 (D. Or. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

BROWN, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on Defendant Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company’s Motion (# 8) to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint. For the ’ reasons that follow, the Court GRANTS Defendant’s Motion.

BACKGROUND

The following facts are taken from Plaintiffs Second Amended Complaint.

In 2006 Plaintiff Rosa Colquitt refinanced her home with a loan from Defendant with an interest rate of 7.5% “for the life of the loan.” Plaintiff alleges Defendant advised her at the time she entered into the 2006 loan that she would be entitled to receive a modification of the loan to a lower interest rate if she made timely payments for two years.

Plaintiff made timely payments on the loan for two years. Plaintiff subsequently submitted applications for loan modifications to Defendant seven times between January 2009 and September 2014, and “for all but one, Defendant denied [Plaintiffs] applications.” Second Am. Compl. at ¶ 17. The allegations in Plaintiffs Second Amended Complaint, however, are unclear on this point: In ¶ 16 of her Complaint Plaintiff asserts she “never received a loan modification”; in ¶ 17, however, Plaintiff indicates she received a modification; and in ¶ 18 Plaintiff alleges her interest rate was temporarily lowered between April 2010 and April 2013. In any event, in the parties’ briefs related to Defendant’s Motion they agree Plaintiff received one loan modification in 2010 that lowered Plaintiffs interest rate for three years.

In early 2013 Plaintiff
had a [telephone conversation with an M & T Bank representative about her loan and the status of her modification .... During the discussion, Defendant’s representative asked Plaintiff when Plaintiff obtained the loan originally. Plaintiff replied, “2006.” The representative then asked Plaintiff if she was black. Plaintiff replied that yes, she is black. Defendant’s representative then told Plaintiff that she was not going to get a modification and that “those loans” were being sent to foreclosure.

Second Am. Compl. at ¶ 23.

On February 20, 2013, Defendant denied Plaintiff a loan modification due to “insufficient income,”1 and in July 2013 Defendant denied Plaintiff a loan modification due to “surplus income.”

At some point Defendant offered Plaintiff a repayment plan for up to 18 months that had payments nearly $800 per month higher than those of her original refinance loan. Plaintiff “verbally rejected the repayment plan.”

On October 7, 2013, Defendant denied Plaintiffs application for loan modification “due to Plaintiffs failure to make all of the trial period payments under the higher-payment loan repayment plan.”

On September 4, 2014, Defendant denied Plaintiffs application for a loan modification and advised Plaintiff that she “was allowed only one loan modification for the life of the loan.”

[1223]*1223At some point before May 16, 2014, Defendant initiated a nonjudicial foreclosure on Plaintiffs property. The sale was enjoined in February 2015 when Plaintiff obtained a preliminary injunction.2

On September 17, 2014, Plaintiff filed an action in Washington County Circuit Court against Defendant and Northwest Trustee Services, Inc. According to the parties the state court issued a limited judgment on March 26, 2015, as to Northwest Trustee Services pursuant to a stipulation by Plaintiff and Northwest Trustee.

On May 1, 2015, Plaintiff filed a second amended complaint in state court against Defendant asserting claims for unlawful discrimination in violation of Oregon Revised Statute § 659A.421; unfair trade practices in violation of Oregon Revised Statute § 646.607, et seq.; violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), 15 U.S.C. § 1691; and violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA), 42 U.S.C. § 3605.

On June 10, 2015, Defendant filed a Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs Second Amended Complaint on the grounds that portions of Plaintiffs claims are barred by the applicable statutes of limitation and that Plaintiff failed to state claims for relief. The Court took Defendant’s Motion under advisement on August 10, 2015.

STANDARDS

To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to “state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” [Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929. A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged. Id. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955.... The plausibility standard is not akin to a “probability requirement,” but it asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully. Ibid. Where a complaint pleads facts that are “merely consistent with” a defendant’s liability, it “stops short of the line between possibility and plausibility of ‘entitlement to relief.’ ” Id. at 557, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (brackets omitted).

Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). See also Bell Atlantic, 550 U.S. at 555-56, 127 S.Ct. 1955. The court must accept as true the allegations in the complaint and construe them in favor of the plaintiff. Din v. Kerry, 718 F.3d 856, 859 (9th Cir.2013).

The pleading standard under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8 “does not require ‘detailed factual allegations,’ but it demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955). See also Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). “A pleading that offers ‘labels and conclusions’ or ‘a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.’ ” Id. (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955). A complaint also does not suffice if it tenders “naked assertion[s]” devoid of “further factual enhancement.” Id. at 557, 127 S.Ct. 1955.

“In ruling on a 12(b)(6) motion, a court may generally consider only allegations contained in the pleadings, exhibits attached to the complaint, and matters properly subject to judicial notice.” Akhtar v. Mesa, 698 F.3d 1202, 1212 (9th Cir.2012) (citation omitted). A court, however, “may consider a writing referenced in a complaint but not explicitly incorporated therein if the complaint relies on the docu[1224]*1224ment and its authenticity is unquestioned.” Swartz v. KPMG LLP,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
144 F. Supp. 3d 1219, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137965, 2015 WL 7221046, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/colquitt-v-manufacturers-traders-trust-co-ord-2015.