Harker v. Wells Fargo Bank, NA (In Re Krause)

414 B.R. 243, 2009 WL 2837428
United States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Ohio·Decided September 2, 2009·No. Bankruptcy No. 07-35568. Adversary No. 08-3111·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

Decision Granting Motion of Wells Fargo Bank, NA to Dismiss Amended Complaint

GUY R. HUMPHREY, Bankruptcy Judge.

I. Introduction

Through this adversary proceeding, Donald F. Harker, the Chapter 7 trustee appointed in the estate case of the debtors, Kenneth and Rachel Krause, seeks a declaratory judgment that Wells Fargo Bank, NA is not a creditor of the debtors and to avoid a mortgage lien filed for record in the name of W/E Mortgage, Inc. based on the allegation that a valid assignment of the mortgage was not recorded on behalf of the holder of the note secured by such mortgage, as required by Ohio law. Based on these claims, the trustee also seeks declaratory and injunctive relief related to Wells Fargo’s or its affiliated entities’ alleged misconduct and misrepresentations.

In addition to challenging the status of Wells Fargo as a creditor and the validity of its mortgage and requesting equitable relief for Wells Fargo’s alleged misconduct, the trustee seeks to certify this adversary proceeding as a class action and requests to be appointed as the class representative for a national class comprised of several sub-classes of all current trustees for bankruptcy estates in which any of the entities affiliated with Wells Fargo (i) claim to be the holder of mortgages but do not hold the notes related to the mortgages; (ii) hold the notes but the mortgages related to those notes were not assigned to those entities, or (iii) with respect to certain states, claim to be the holder of notes but mortgage assignments related to those notes were not recorded under applicable state law.

For the reasons discussed below, Wells Fargo’s motion to dismiss is being granted.

II. Facts and Procedural Background

Solely for the purpose of determining whether the Chapter 7 Trustee’s First Amended Complaint to Determine Creditor Status, Secured Status and Avoid Mortgages, Declaratory Judgment, Preliminary and Permanent Injunctive Relief And For Other Relief (Adv. Docs. 29 and 37) (the “Amended Complaint”) should be dismissed, the court deems the facts as *248 alleged in the Amended Complaint to be true.

On February 21, 2003 Kenneth and Rachel Krause, the Debtors (the “Debtors”) executed and delivered to W/E Mortgage, Inc. (“W/E Mortgage”) a promissory note in the original principal amount of $90,298 (the “Note”). Concurrently, to secure the Note, the Debtors executed and delivered to W/E Mortgage an open-end mortgage (the “Mortgage”) on a parcel of real property located at 1405 Gayhart Drive, Xenia, Ohio 45385 (the “Property”). W/E Mortgage recorded the Mortgage with the Greene County, Ohio Recorder on February 26, 2003.

The Note was endorsed on February 21, 2003 by W/E Mortgage to Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc. (‘Wells Fargo Home Mortgage”) without recourse by way of an allonge to the Note. No assignment of mortgage was recorded evidencing the transfer of the Note from W/E Mortgage to Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

On May 5, 2004 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage merged with Wells Fargo Bank, NA (Wells Fargo”), with Wells Fargo being the surviving entity and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage operating as a division of Wells Fargo.

On December 15, 2007 (the “Petition Date”) the Debtors filed a voluntary petition (the “Petition”) for relief under Chapter 7 of Title 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (the “Bankruptcy Code” or the “Code”) 1 . The Plaintiff was appointed Chapter 7 Trustee on that same day (the “Plaintiff’).

On their Schedule D (Creditors Holding Secured Claims), the Debtors listed Wells Fargo Home Mortgage as the holder of a secured claim on the Property. The last date for non-governmental entities to file proofs of claim in the Debtors’ case was August 4, 2008. No entity, including W/E Mortgage and Wells Fargo, has filed a proof of claim contending to be secured by the Property. See Claims Register and Doc. 50 (Notice of Need to File Proof of Claim Due to Recovery of Assets).

On January 23, 2008 W/E Mortgage filed a Motion For Relief From Stay and Notice and Certificate of W/E Mortgage, Inc., c/o Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (Property Address: 1905 Gayhart Drive, Xenia, Ohio 15385) (Doc. 12), which the court denied on procedural grounds on February 13, 2008 (Doc. 17). On February 15, 2008 W/E Mortgage, Inc. c/o Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., a secured creditor herein” filed another Motion For Relief From Stay and Notice and Certificate of W/E Mortgage, Inc., c/o Wells Fargo Bank, N.A (Property Address: 1905 Gayhart Drive, Xenia, Ohio 45385) (Doc. 19) (the “Stay Motion”). Attached to the Stay Motion were copies of the Note and Mortgage. A copy of the allonge attached to the original Note was not attached. The Stay Motion states in pertinent part that:

W/E Mortgage, Inc. e/o Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., a secured creditor herein, for its Motion to modify the automatic stay imposed by Section 362 of the Bankruptcy Code hereby states as follows:
1. Movant is the holder of a promissory note and a mortgage on certain real property owned by the debtors known as 1905 Gayhart Drive, Xenia, Ohio 45385, and its mortgage is filed for record in the Greene County Recorder’s Office. Copies of the movant’s *249 note and mortgage are attached hereto as Exhibit “A” and “B”.

No objection was filed to the Stay Motion and on March 17, 2008, pursuant to Local Bankruptcy Rule 9021-1 and based upon the movant’s certification that no response to the Stay Motion had been filed (Doc. 26), the Clerk of Court entered a default order for the court granting W/E Mortgage relief from the stay (Doc. 30). Neither the Plaintiff nor any other party has sought relief from the order granting W/E Mortgage relief from the stay.

On February 20, 2008 “W/E Mortgage, Inc. c/o Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.” filed a Notice of Proposed Abandonment of Property (Doc. 21). On March 11, 2008 the Plaintiff filed a Trustee’s Objection to Notice of Proposed Abandonment of Real Property Located at 1905 Gay hart drive, Xenia, Ohio 4,5385 (Doc. 23) and on April 11, 2008 W/E Mortgage, Inc. c/o Wells Fargo, N.A. filed a reply to that objection (Doc. 39). The Notice of Proposed Abandonment was withdrawn on April 22, 2008 (Doc. 44).

The Debtors were granted their discharge on April 24, 2008 (Doc. 45).

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Harker v. Wells Fargo Bank, NA (In Re Krause), 414 B.R. 243, 2009 WL 2837428 (Ohio 2009).

414 B.R. 243 (Harker v. Wells Fargo Bank, NA (In Re Krause)) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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