In re Stincic

559 B.R. 890, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 3547, 2016 WL 5496686
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Wisconsin
DecidedSeptember 29, 2016
DocketCase No. 16-10129-13
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 559 B.R. 890 (In re Stincic) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Stincic, 559 B.R. 890, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 3547, 2016 WL 5496686 (Wis. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION

Catherine J. Furay, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge

This case is before the Court on the Motion of Johnson Bank for Relief from Stay. The Debtor, Nicholas Stincic (“Stin-cic”), claims the mortgage at issue was rescinded and, thus, there is no entitlement to relief from stay.

[893]*893I. Jurisdiction

The Court has jurisdiction over this case pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1334(a) and 157(a). This is a core proceeding under 28 U.S.C. §§ 157(b)(2)(G) and (L). See In re Bates, 270 B.R. 455, 459 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. 2001). This opinion accordingly contains the court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law.

II. Background

Stincic owns certain real estate in Hay-ward, Wisconsin. He executed and deliv-ered a note and mortgage to Johnson Bank on February 11, 2005. Stincic also signed a home equity line of credit agreement and another mortgage to Johnson Bank on July 11, 2007. Stincic ceased pay-ments in September 2013.

Johnson Bank began foreclosure pro-ceedings in state court on December 26, 2013. As of March 30, 2016, Johnson Bank says the balance due was $232,271.00 on the real estate note and mortgage and $37,024.66 on the home equity mortgage. Johnson Bank argues that Stincic does not have funds to maintain the property, he has not offered adequate protection, and the property is burdensome and of incon-sequential value to the estate.

Stincic now contends he did not receive the notice of right to rescind, and that in 2007 he delivered a rescission that was refused by the Bank. The Bank says the notice was provided and that it was ac-knowledged by Stincic. Despite the at-tempted rescission in 2007, Stincic contin-ued to make payments for six years.

Johnson Bank filed for foreclosure in state court on December 26, 2013. Stincic raised his rescission defense in pleadings on May 15, 2015. At the fourth adjourned hearing on summary judgment on July 15, 2015, the state court ruled the defense was not timely brought and granted summary judgment. The state court reasoned:

[I]f the defendant really thought he had rescinded this matter he would have been raising that issue much earlier. The answer that was filed was a very broad answer invoking the Truth in Lending Act sets forth no specifics whatsoever regarding what aspect of that act had not been complied with. Had he actually thought that he rescind-ed and wanted to push that issue that would have been raised more clearly and would have been addressed before now.

The state court also denied a motion to reconsider, finding the court made a dis-cretionary decision to disallow the rescission defense without actually delving into the merits of rescission. Summary judgment was then entered in favor of the Bank.

Based on the decisions of the state court, the Bank argues that Stincic’s oppo-sition to relief from stay is a disguised attempt to review a state court judgment barred by Rooker-Feldman. Stincic argues Rooker-Feldman does not apply because the state court did not consider the merits of the rescission defense. He also disputes its application because he says he does not seek to have the state court judgment overturned in this Court—he simply wants the Court to determine there was rescission. However, a finding that the mortgage was rescinded would be equivalent to a reversal of the state court.

III.Discussion

A. Rooker-Feldman

The Rooker-Feldman doctrine holds the Supreme Court of the United States is the only federal court that may “review judgments entered by state courts in civil litigation.” Harold v. Steel, 773 F.3d 884, 885 (7th Cir. 2014). It applies when the state court judgment “is the source of [894]*894the injury of which plaintiffs complain in federal court.” Id. Simply stated, the Rooker-Feldman doctrine bars lower federal court jurisdiction over claims seeking review of state court judgments. Taylor v. Fannie Mae, 374 F.3d 529, 532 (7th Cir. 2004). If the Rooker-Feldman doctrine precludes a claim, the federal court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the case. Taylor, 374 F.3d at 532. Where Rooker-Feldman applies, lower federal courts have no jurisdiction to address other affirmative defenses, including res judicata, Byrd v. Homecomings Fin. Network, 407 F.Supp.2d 937, 942 (N.D. Ill. 2005).

In applying the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, the central question is whether “the injury alleged by the federal plaintiff resulted from the state-court judgment itself or is distinct from that judgment.” Schmid v. Bank of Am., N.A. (In re Schmid), 494 B.R. 737, 749 (Bankr. W.D. Wis. 2013) (quoting Lewis v. Anderson, 308 F.3d 768, 772 (7th Cir. 2002)). “[Federal claims presented to the district court that ,.. do not on their face require review of a state court’s decision may still be subject to Rooker-Feldman if those claims are ‘inextricably intertwined’ with a state court judgment.” Taylor, 374 F.3d at 532-33. The inquiry hinges upon whether the federal claim alleges the injury was caused by the state court judgment or, in the alternative, whether the claim alleges an independent prior injury that the state court failed to remedy. Id. at 533. The former is barred by Rooker-Feldman; the latter is not.

Once the court determines that a claim indirectly seeks to set aside a state court judgment, it must then determine whether the party raising the claim “did not have a reasonable opportunity to raise the issue in state court.” Id. (citations omitted). If the issue could have been raised “in state court proceedings, the claim is barred under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine.” Id.

To determine whether a party did not have a reasonable opportunity to raise an issue in state court, federal litigants must

point to some factor independent of the actions of the opposing party that pre-cluded the litigants from raising their federal claims during the state court proceedings. Typically, either some action taken by the state court or state court procedures in place have formed the barriers that the litigants are incapable of overcoming in order to present certain claims to the state court.

Id. (quoting Long v. Shorebank Dev. Corp., 182 F.3d 548, 558 (7th Cir. 1999)).

At the fourth adjourned hearing on summary judgment, Stincic finally sought to raise the specific defense of rescission. While the state court did not reach the merits, it chose not to accept Stincic’s rescission arguments because it found those arguments disingenuous. It also concluded there had been ample opportunity for Stin-cic to timely raise the defense. He failed to do so.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
559 B.R. 890, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 3547, 2016 WL 5496686, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-stincic-wiwb-2016.