Frangos v. Bank of America, N.A.

826 F.3d 594, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 11203, 2016 WL 3409732
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedJune 21, 2016
Docket15-2494P
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 826 F.3d 594 (Frangos v. Bank of America, N.A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Frangos v. Bank of America, N.A., 826 F.3d 594, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 11203, 2016 WL 3409732 (1st Cir. 2016).

Opinion

STAHL, Circuit Judge.

After twice defaulting on their mortgage, Thomas and Frances Frangos brought suit against the defendants, Bank of America, N.A. (“BoA”), The Bank of New York Mellon (“BoNYM”), and New Penn Financial, LLC, seeking to forestall a planned foreclosure sale of their home. The Frangoses now appeal from the district court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of the defendants. Discerning no error, we AFFIRM.

Facts & Background

In 2005, the Frangoses borrowed $599,000 to refinance an existing mortgage on their Portsmouth, New Hampshire home. In exchange, the Frangoses pledged the home as collateral to secure a promissory note issued to the lender in the same amount.

Beginning in 2007, the Frangoses suffered financially as Mr. Frangos battled cancer and as the recession battered his construction business. The Frangoses defaulted on the mortgage twice, first in 2007 and again in 2009. After the first default, the loan was restructured, but, notwithstanding the restructuring, the Frangoses again fell into default. It is undisputed that although the Frangoses’ last mortgage payment was made in 2009, they continue to reside in the home to this day.

As often occurred during this period of time, after their initial issuance, the mortgage and the promissory note changed hands repeatedly in the secondary mortgage market. In 2011, both came to be held by BoNYM. 1 From 2011 until 2013, BoNYM and the Frangoses engaged in protracted negotiations aimed at further restructuring the loan. When these negotiations ultimately proved unsuccessful, a foreclosure sale was scheduled for September 2013. On the eve of the sale, however, the Frangoses filed suit in New Hampshire state court, where they successfully obtained a preliminary injunction barring the sale from moving forward.

Athough the foreclosure proceedings were later cancelled, the lawsuit remained pending. After the removal of the action to the federal court, the Frangoses filed an amended complaint. They sought an in *596 junction permanently barring the defendants from foreclosing, as well as damages premised on BoA’s alleged breach of a provision in the mortgage agreement obligating the lender to provide the borrower with a detailed notice of default and right to cure prior to foreclosing.

Ultimately, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants. See Frangos v. Bank of Am., N.A., No. 13-CV-472-PB, 2015 WL 6829104 (D.N.H. Nov. 6, 2015). With respect to the request for a permanent injunction, the district court found that because the foreclosure had'been cancelled, the Frangoses could not make the necessary showing that they would suffer irreparable harm in the absence of injunctive relief. Id. at *2 (citing Global Naps, Inc. v. Verizon New Eng., Inc., 706 F.3d 8, 13-14 (1st Cir. 2013) (per curiam)). And, as to the claim for breach of the mortgage agreement’s notice provision, the district court found that the Frangoses had not suffered compensable monetary damages. Id. at *2-3. This appeal followed.

Discussion

We review de novo the district court’s entry of summary judgment, assessing the record in the light most favorable to the Frangoses and resolving all reasonable inferences in their favor. Bingham v. Supervalu, Inc., 806 F.3d 5, 9 (1st Cir. 2015). The entry of summary judgment is appropriate where “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Id. (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a)).

We conclude, with little difficulty, that the Frangoses’ enumerated bases for reversal are without merit. For one, the Frangoses claim that the district court erred by denying their request for a permanent injunction. The Frangoses contend that they are entitled to such an injunction because a foreclosure might occur at any time even though the defendants have not yet complied with the notice requirements contained in the mortgage agreement.

This argument, however, overlooks the undisputed fact that the foreclosure commenced in 2011 was cancelled. In point of fact, the district court was presented with an uncontroverted sworn affidavit to this effect by an assistant vice president of BoA. Thus, the district court correctly found that the Frangoses did not face irreparable harm in the absence of injunc-tive relief. See Global Naps, Inc., 706 F.3d at 13.

As a separate point, the Frangoses claim that the district court erred by relying “exclusively” on representations made by counsel for BoA and BoNYM at oral argument to the effect that, if the defendants were to recommence foreclosure proceedings in the future, they would do so only after complying with the notice requirements. According to the Frangoses, the district court could not rely on these “inherently speculative” representations because they were not part of the summary judgment record. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1)(A) (“A party asserting that a fact cannot be or is genuinely disputed must support the assertion by ... citing to particular parts of materials in the record .... ”). The Frangoses draw our attention to the following exchange between the district court and the attorney representing BoA and BoNYM:

The Court: [I]f I were to ... grant summary judgment, ... you would be free to reinstitute foreclosure proceedings?
Counsel: Yes, sir, upon sending them notice required under the mortgage....
The Court: [Wjill you concede that you’re not going to rely in any *597 way, shape, or form on the prior notices before instituting foreclosure in this case?

Counsel: Yes, sir.

We need not decide whether the representations were eligible for consideration because the Frangoses’ argument simultaneously mischaracterizes the nature of the colloquy and overstates the import attached to counsel’s representations by the district court. In our view, far from serving as the “exelusive[ ]” basis for the entry of summary judgment, this exchange was merely an attempt by the district court to clarify its understanding of the posture of the foreclosure proceedings. What is more, any suggestion that the district court improperly relied on counsel’s representations is belied by the summary judgment record, which — independent of oral argument — established the following facts beyond dispute: (1) the Frangoses had defaulted on them mortgage (indeed, they had not made a payment in at least six years); (2) foreclosure proceedings had been commenced in 2011, but later can-celled; and (3) BoNYM, as the holder of both the mortgage and the promissory note, was eligible to recommence foreclosure proceedings in the future, provided, of course, that in doing so it complied with the terms of the mortgage agreement and New Hampshire law. 2 Under these circumstances, the entry of summary judgment in favor of the defendants was well founded.

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826 F.3d 594, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 11203, 2016 WL 3409732, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/frangos-v-bank-of-america-na-ca1-2016.