Kekauoha-Alisa v. Ameriquest Mortgage Co. (In Re Kekauoha-Alisa)

394 B.R. 507, 2008 WL 4378310
CourtDistrict Court, D. Hawaii
DecidedSeptember 3, 2008
DocketBankruptcy No. 05-01215. Adversary No. 06-90041
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 394 B.R. 507 (Kekauoha-Alisa v. Ameriquest Mortgage Co. (In Re Kekauoha-Alisa)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Hawaii primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kekauoha-Alisa v. Ameriquest Mortgage Co. (In Re Kekauoha-Alisa), 394 B.R. 507, 2008 WL 4378310 (D. Haw. 2008).

Opinion

AMENDED FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

ROBERT J. FARIS, Bankruptcy Judge.

The trial in this adversary proceeding was held on April 7, 9,10,14, and 15, 2008. Bradley R. Tamm and Lissa D. Shults represented the plaintiff and Tina L. Col-man and Shellie Park-Hoapili represented the defendants. Based on the evidence, I make the following

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. In 1996, the debtor, Margery Kana-mu-Kalehuanani Kekauoha-Alisa, and her husband (since deceased) purchased a home in Paauilo on Hawaii Island (the “Mortgaged Property”).

2. On September 23, 2002, the debtor executed a promissory note and mortgage (the “Mortgage”) in favor of Ameriquest Mortgage Co. (“Ameriquest”). The Mortgage was recorded in the Bureau of Conveyances, State of Hawaii, and created a first mortgage lien on the Mortgaged Property. (I will refer to the lender’s rights under the note and Mortgage as the “loan.”)

3. Not later than April 6, 2005 (the record does not disclose the exact date), Ameriquest sold the loan to WM Specialty Mortgage LLC (“WM”) and became WM’s agent for the purpose of servicing the loan. Subsequent to the sale, Ameriquest reorganized its operations, and one of its affiliates, AMC Mortgage Services, Inc. (“AMC”), undertook servicing of the loan.

a. Some of the evidence suggests that Washington Mutual Bank owned the loan at some point in time. The weight of the evidence shows, however, that Ameriquest sold the loan directly to WM and that Washington Mutual Bank never owned it. The references to Washington Mutual Bank appear to have crept in because Washington Mutual Bank is the manager of WM, a limited liability company.

b. There was no evidence that the internal reorganization pursuant to which Ameriquest delegated the servicing duty to AMC relieved Ameriquest of its legal obligation to WM to service the loan.

4. The debtor defaulted in her obligations under the Mortgage on eight occasions. On the eighth occasion, in early 2005, the debtor was not able to cure her defaults quickly enough to avoid foreclosure.

5. On April 6, 2005, Ameriquest took some initial steps in the foreclosure process.

a. Ameriquest (through AMC, purportedly acting as Ameriquest’s “servicing agent”) executed an “Assignment of Deed of Trust” in favor of “WM Specialty Mortgage LLC, Without Recourse.” The assignment purported to transfer “all beneficial interest” under a Deed of Trust executed by the debtor, and with the same date and recording information as *512 the Mortgage. The assignment was intended to document an absolute assignment of the mortgagee’s interest under the Mortgage to WM.

b. Town & Country Title Services, Inc. (“T & C”), an affiliate of Ameriquest, mailed to the debtor and to the State of Hawaii Department of Taxation a document entitled “Notice of Mortgagee’s Intent to Foreclose under Power of Sale” (the “April 6 Notice”). The notice stated that WM, the holder of the Mortgage, intended to hold a foreclosure sale on May 13, 2005, at the flagpole fronting Hale Ha-lewai in Kailua-Kona.

c. Also on April 6, 2005 T & C sent the April 6 Notice and the Assignment of Deed of Trust to Fidelity National Title with instructions to record them.

6. On April 7, 2005, T & C received from Fidelity National Title a litigation guarantee in favor of Ameriquest, as mortgagee. A litigation guarantee is a type of title insurance policy issued to facilitate a foreclosure action.

7. On April 8, 2005, immediately after T & C received the litigation guarantee, Ameriquest and its affiliates retraced their steps. T & C mailed another Notice of Intention to Foreclose under Power of Sale (the “April 8 Notice”) to the debtor and the State of Hawaii Department of Taxation and sent it to Fidelity National Title for recording in the Bureau of Conveyances. This notice described Ameri-quest, rather than WM, as the foreclosing mortgagee.

8. On April 8, 2005, Ameriquest did not own the loan. AMC elected to pursue foreclosure in the name of Ameriquest in order to avoid the delay and expense of obtaining a new litigation guarantee in favor of WM, the true owner of the loan.

9. The April 6 Notice and the assignment of mortgage were never recorded in the Bureau of Conveyances, posted on the Mortgaged Property, or published in a newspaper. The April 8 Notice was recorded in the Bureau of Conveyances, posted on the Mortgaged Property, and published in a newspaper.

10. On May 10, 2005, a few days before the scheduled foreclosure sale, the debtor filed a petition under chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code.

11. AMC, “as loan servicer for Secured Creditor Ameriquest Mortgage Company,” filed a proof of claim (and an amended proof of claim) in the bankruptcy case in respect of the loan. Ameriquest was not the owner of the loan and was not a creditor of the debtor when these documents were filed.

12. Fidelity National Agency Sales and Posting, Inc., apparently acting at the direction of T & C, retained an attorney to act as auctioneer. In order to comply with the automatic stay, the auctioneer or another person with his law firm postponed the sale to June 17, August 26, September 2, September 23, and December 2, 2005.

13. A legal secretary employed by the auctioneer’s law firm was instructed to postpone the auction on September 23. She went to the flagpole at Hale Halewai, the designated place of the auction, about ten or fifteen minutes before noon, the scheduled time of the auction, and stayed until about 12:25 p.m. While she was there, she asked some of the people in the vicinity if they were attending the auction of the Mortgaged Property. All of the people she spoke to said they were not. She did not speak to everyone in the vicinity; there was another foreclosure auction scheduled at the same time, and she did not speak to anyone who seemed to be interested in the other auction. She never made an open, oral announcement to all those present of the date and time to *513 which the auction was being postponed and she did not post or display such an announcement in written form. When asked at trial if she made a public announcement of the postponement, she testified that she did not.

14. In the meantime, the court confirmed the debtor’s chapter 13 plan on July 8, 2005. The plan provided for payment of the mortgage arrears through the plan and payment of post-petition mortgage payments outside the plan. The debtor failed, however, to maintain her post-petition mortgage payments.

15. On November 1, 2005, “Ameriquest Mortgage Company, its Successors and Assigns,” filed a motion for relief from the automatic stay to allow completion of the foreclosure. On that date, Ameriquest did not own the loan.

16. The debtor’s attorney in the bankruptcy case contacted the movant’s attorney, a partner in the same law firm as the auctioneer, in an attempt to work out a plan to cure the defaults, but no agreement was reached.

17. The notice of the motion unambiguously stated that all responses to the motion were due within twelve days. The debtor did not oppose the motion.

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394 B.R. 507, 2008 WL 4378310, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kekauoha-alisa-v-ameriquest-mortgage-co-in-re-kekauoha-alisa-hid-2008.