Laudani v. Wells Fargo N.A. (In re Laudani)

506 B.R. 19, 2014 WL 815935, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 812
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedMarch 3, 2014
DocketBankruptcy No. 13-12362-JNF; Adversary No. 13-1416
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 506 B.R. 19 (Laudani v. Wells Fargo N.A. (In re Laudani)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Laudani v. Wells Fargo N.A. (In re Laudani), 506 B.R. 19, 2014 WL 815935, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 812 (Mass. 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

JOAN N. FEENEY, Bankruptcy Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

The matter before the Court is the Motion to Dismiss the Debtor’s Amended Complaint filed by Wells Fargo N.A., as Certificate Trustee (not in its individual capacity but solely as certificate trustee) in Trust for Registered Holders of VNT Trust Series 2010-2 (“Wells Fargo”). Nicholas Laudani (the “Debtor”) filed an Objection to the Motion to Dismiss. The Court heard the Motion on January 13, 2014, directed the parties to file additional briefs, and took the matter under advisement.

The issue presented is whether, in view of a Settlement Agreement and a release and waiver of claims contained in a Loan Modification Agreement, the Debtor, in his Amended Complaint, failed to plead factual content that would allow this Court to draw a reasonable inference that Wells Fargo is liable for the misconduct alleged. The Court accepts all allegations in the Amended Complaint as true and drawsing all reasonable inferences in favor of the Debtor. See Nickless v. HSBC Bank USA (In re Matron), 499 B.R. 1, 4 (D.Mass.2013) (citing Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009), and Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). See also Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), made applicable to this proceeding by Fed. R. Bankr.P. 7012(b).

[21]*21II. BACKGROUND1

The Debtor filed a Chapter 13 petition on April 24, 2013 due to an imminent foreclosure sale of his home. This is his second Chapter 13 case in the last six years. On amended Schedule A-Real Property, the Debtor listed 29 Beech Glenn Street, Roxbury, Massachusetts, a three-family home (the “Property”), with a current value of $304,000, subject to a secured claim in the sum of $228,755. On amended Schedule D-Creditors holding Secured Claims, the Debtor listed Well Fargo as the holder of a claim in the sum of $220,000, as well as the Massachusetts Department of Revenue with a tax lien in the sum of $6,655. Although the Property is income producing, the Debtor merely listed “Lease with tenants in 3-family home Landord [sic],” without identifying the lessees on Schedule G-Executory Contracts and Unexpired Leases. On Schedule I-Current Monthly Income of Individual Debtor(s), he listed income from real property in the sum of $2,850 and total income in the sum of $6,016.67, including income from employment as a cab driver and as a musician. On Schedule J-Current Expenditures of Individual Debtor(s), the Debtor listed his monthly home mortgage payment in the sum of $1,477.12, and monthly net income of $2,232.55. Notably on Form 22C, Chapter 13 Statement of Current Monthly Income and Calculation of Commitment Period and Disposable Income, the Debtor indicated that his monthly disposable income is negative (i.e.,— $2,867) and his applicable commitment period is three years.

On June 3, 3013, the Debtor filed a three-year Chapter 13 Plan in which he provided for a monthly payment of $2,181, listed mortgage arrears to Wells Fargo in the sum of $48,711.96, although in Count I of his Amended Complaint discussed below, he sought a determination that “the correct amount of prepetition arrears is $42,807.48.” The Debtor also provided for direct payment of “[a]ll post-petition payments on mortgages [sic].”

On August 30, 2013, Wells Fargo (through its servicer, Franklin Credit Management Corporation) filed a proof of claim alleging that the amount of its claim was $286,996.39, including $96,287.35 in arrears. On September 2, 2013, the Debtor filed an objection to the proof of claim, stating, in part, that “[t]he Modification ... provides for a monthly payment is [sic] $1,476.12, but waives collection of any escrow for taxes and insurance.” In other words, the Debtor averred that the monthly installment payments required under the Loan Modification Agreement consisted solely of principal and interest payments with no escrow component. Wells Fargo filed a Response to the Debtor’s objection, observing that its version of the Loan Modification Agreement provided for an escrow. On November 17, 2013, the Debtor withdrew his objection to the proof of claim in open court, having conceded that his version of the Loan Modification Agreement did not contain the parties’ final expression of their agreement and that the version presented to the Court by Wells Fargo was correct.

On August 24, 2007, the Debtor filed his first Chapter 13 case, Case No. 07-15355. In that case, the Debtor litigated issues respecting a mortgage he granted to Tribeca Lending Corporation (“Tribeea”) and serviced by Franklin Credit Management Corporation (“Franklin”), commencing an adversary, Adv. P. No. 07-1433, on [22]*22December 4, 2007. See Laudani, v. Tribeca Lending Corp. (In re Laudani), 401 B.R. 9 (Bankr.D.Mass.2009). On July 1, 2010, the Debtor, Tribeca and Franklin executed a “Stipulation of Settlement” in which they indicated that they would “execute a Settlement Agreement and Release consistent with the terms of this Stipulation.” The parties also executed, on July 26, 2010, a Stipulation of Dismissal with prejudice of the adversary proceeding.

Following resolution of the adversary proceeding, the Debtor voluntarily converted his Chapter 13 case to a case under Chapter 7 on August 10, 2010, after execution of the Settlement Agreement and the Loan Modification Agreement, discussed below. The Chapter 7 Trustee filed a Report of No Distribution on October 12, 2010, and the Court entered an order of discharge on December 12, 2010; the case was closed on March 9, 2011.

III. THE FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT

According to the Debtor, under the Settlement Agreement and the Loan Modification Agreement, which is dated June 17, 2010, the principal balance of his mortgage loan from Tribeca was determined to be $222,000; the interest'rate was fixed at 6.5%; and the term was established at 26 years commencing June 1, 2010. The Loan Modification Agreement, which was not recorded, provided for a monthly payment of $1,476.12 for principal and interest. It also provided for an escrow payment of $740.97, for a total payment of $2,217.09.2

In his Amended Complaint, the Debtor states that “[f]or various reasons,” he fell into arrears in payment of the modified mortgage and that, on April 1, 2018, the firm of Doonan, Graves & Longoria sent a letter to him, stating that Wells Fargo intended to foreclose the mortgage. The letter was signed by Attorney Reneau Longoria, a partner in Doonan, Graves & Longoria, LLC. In the April 1, 2013 letter, Attorney Longoria indicated that the Debtor “may be liable to the aforesaid Lender [Wells Fargo] in the case of a deficiency in the proceeds of the foreclosure sale.” At the bottom of the letter the following language appeared:

No deficiency after the foreclosure sale may be pursued if you have obtained or will obtain a Chapter 7 bankruptcy discharge that covers your obligation under the note secured by the mortgage referred to above.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
506 B.R. 19, 2014 WL 815935, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 812, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/laudani-v-wells-fargo-na-in-re-laudani-mab-2014.