Duetsche Bank v. Talliere

2024 Ohio 829
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 7, 2024
Docket113002
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2024 Ohio 829 (Duetsche Bank v. Talliere) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Duetsche Bank v. Talliere, 2024 Ohio 829 (Ohio Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

[Cite as Duetsche Bank v. Talliere, 2024-Ohio-829.]

COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO

EIGHTH APPELLATE DISTRICT COUNTY OF CUYAHOGA

DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL : TRUST COMPANY,

Plaintiff-Appellee, : No. 113002 v. :

KATHLEEN TALLIERE, :

Defendant-Appellant. :

JOURNAL ENTRY AND OPINION

JUDGMENT: AFFIRMED RELEASED AND JOURNALIZED: March 7, 2024

Civil Appeal from the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Case No. CV-19-917195

Appearances:

Dinsmore & Shohl LLP, Shannon O’Connell Egan, and Nathan H. Blaske, for appellee.

Law Office of Grace M. Doberdruk and Grace M. Doberdruk, for appellant.

KATHLEEN ANN KEOUGH, A.J.:

Defendant-appellant, Kathleen Talliere (“Talliere”), appeals from the

trial court’s judgment denying her Civ.R. 60(B) motion for relief from judgment.

For the reasons that follow, we affirm. I. Procedural Background

In 2019, Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, as Trustee for the

Certificateholders of the Soundview Home Loan Trust 2005-DO1 Asset Backed

Certificates, Series 2005-DO1 (“DBNTC”), the holder of a February 2005

promissory note and assignee of a mortgage executed by Talliere, filed an inrem

foreclosure action to enforce the mortgage because of default.

Relevant to this appeal, Talliere filed an answer and counterclaim to

DBNTC’s complaint for foreclosure. She specifically denied that the note attached

to the complaint was a true and correct copy of the note she executed, the note was

transferred to DBNTC, and DBNTC was entitled to enforce the note. Additionally,

she asserted several affirmative defenses, including (1) the statute of limitations; (2)

DBNTC was not entitled to enforce the original note and did not have possession of

the original note; and (3) DBNTC lacked standing to bring the claim and thus, was

not entitled to enforce the mortgage.

In her counterclaim, Talliere set forth several factual and procedural

statements supporting her counterclaim that DBNTC engaged in frivolous conduct

in pursuing the foreclosure action. Specifically, she mentioned DBNTC’s prior

foreclosure action against her (“2006 foreclosure”) and referenced the note filed in

that foreclosure and the note filed in the current foreclosure — contending that the

assignment of mortgage to DBNTC was invalid and thus, DBNTC did not have a

valid interest in Talliere’s mortgage. In 2021, DBNTC moved for summary judgment on its complaint and

on Talliere’s counterclaims. It argued that it was the assignee of the mortgage and

had constructive possession of the note before filing its June 2019 foreclosure

complaint. In support of its motion, DBNTC relied on the affidavit of Jean Knowles

(“Knowles”), an authorized representative for NewRez, LLC d/b/a Shellpoint

Mortgage Servicing (“Shellpoint”). Shellpoint serviced the mortgage loan for

DBNTC. Knowles averred that “DBNTC is the owner of the Mortgage Loan, and it

has been in constructive possession of the original note since prior to the filing of

the Complaint in this action.” (DBNTC’s motion for summary judgment, Knowles

affidavit, paragraph 7.).

Relevant to this appeal, Knowles further averred:

For purposes of this action, and in its capacity as agent and servicer of the Mortgage Loan for DBNTC, Shellpoint obtained the original Note from the document custodian, Bank of America, N.A., on or about July 30, 2019. On July 30, 2019, Shellpoint sent the original Note to its counsel, Keith D. Weiner & Associates. Attached hereto as Exhibits B and C, respectively, are true and accurate copies of the Bailee Letters.

(Id. at paragraph 8.) Exhibit B, titled “Bailee Letter Agreement,” provided

information that Shellpoint obtained the original note from Bank of America, N.A.

Relevant to this appeal, the exhibit referenced an “Inv XFER/Issue” date of

“05/01/2003.”

Talliere opposed DBNTC’s motion for summary judgment,

contending that a question of fact remained as to whether DBNTC lacked standing

to bring the action because DBNTC did not have possession of the original note when it filed its complaint. Talliere specifically referenced paragraph 8 of Knowles’s

affidavit to support her claim that Bank of America, N.A., and not DBNTC, possessed

the note on June 2019, when the complaint was filed. She did not raise any issue

with the “05/01/2003” date that appeared in exhibit B, the Bailee Letter Agreement.

Talliere also opposed summary judgment, contending that “various

assignments of the mortgage and filings in the prior foreclosure and bankruptcies

are conflicting and suspect, and fail to establish an unbroken chain from the original

lender to [DBNTC].” She challenged the “mistaken assignment” to another trust

under the Deutsche Bank National Trust Company. In this argument, Talliere

directed the trial court to take “judicial notice” of the filings in the 2006 foreclosure,

and her Chapter 7 and 13 bankruptcies filed in 2006 and 2007 respectively, where,

in the bankruptcy proceedings, an allonge to the note existed, but had since

disappeared as an exhibit. In support, Talliere attached the 2006 foreclosure

complaint, including the attached note and mortgage as well as documentation filed

in Talliere’s Chapter 13 bankruptcy, including the proof of claim, motion for relief

from stay, the agreed order, and the trustees final report.

Talliere also opposed summary judgment on the grounds that

DBNTC failed to establish the correct amount due and the notice of acceleration did

not conform with the plain language requirements of the mortgage. Regarding her

counterclaim, Talliere simply asserted that based on the “lack of possession of the

Note on the day the complaint was filed, and the inconsistences between the

allegations and evidence in this action compared to the prior foreclosure and bankruptcy filings * * * [DBNTC] had no standing to [file the foreclosure action],

attempting to take her property in satisfaction of a debt not owed to [DBNTC].” She

did not assert that the relevant statute of limitations barred DBNTC’s foreclosure

action.

In March 2022, the magistrate issued her decision, finding in

DBNTC’s favor on both its in rem foreclosure claim and Talliere’s counterclaims.

The magistrate found that (1) DBNTC had standing and was the holder of the note,

which had a blank endorsement when the complaint was filed; (2) DBNTC

presented evidence of the chain of assignments from the original mortgagee, MERS

Inc., to DBNTC; (3) DBNTC submitted a loan history summary and an affidavit

attesting to the amount due under the loan; and (4) Talliere failed to address

DBNTC’s motion for summary judgment regarding her counterclaims.

Talliere objected to the magistrate’s decision, reiterating the

arguments raised in her motion for summary judgment.

In April 2022, the trial court overruled Talliere’s objections, adopted

the magistrate’s decision, and entered an order of foreclosure. The trial court also

dismissed Talliere’s counterclaims.

Talliere appealed to this court, raising as her sole assignment of error

that “the trial court erred by accepting the inference without evidence that [DBNTC]

had constructive possession of the note on the day the complaint was filed.”

Deutsche Bank Natl. Trust Co. v. Talliere, 2023-Ohio-75, 205 N.E.3d 756, ¶ 8 (8th

Dist.) (“Talliere I”). On January 12, 2023, this court affirmed the trial court’s judgment,

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2024 Ohio 829, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/duetsche-bank-v-talliere-ohioctapp-2024.