Mark Turner v. Rocket Mortgage Corporation

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedMay 13, 2025
Docket24-10012
StatusUnpublished

This text of Mark Turner v. Rocket Mortgage Corporation (Mark Turner v. Rocket Mortgage Corporation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mark Turner v. Rocket Mortgage Corporation, (11th Cir. 2025).

Opinion

USCA11 Case: 24-10012 Document: 55-1 Date Filed: 05/13/2025 Page: 1 of 18

[DO NOT PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 24-10012 Non-Argument Calendar ____________________

MARK A. TURNER, Plaintiff-Appellant versus

ROCKET MORTGAGE, LLC AMROCK, LLC,

Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida USCA11 Case: 24-10012 Document: 55-1 Date Filed: 05/13/2025 Page: 2 of 18

2 Opinion of the Court 24-10012

D.C. Docket No. 1:22-cv-23028-BB ____________________

Before GRANT, LAGOA, and WILSON, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Mark Turner appeals the district court’s order dismissing his pro se complaint with prejudice. We affirm in part because Turner’s Second Amended Complaint failed to state a claim against Rocket Mortgage, LLC under state or federal law, and failed to state a claim against Amrock, LLC, for fraud. We reverse in part because Turner’s complaint was not a shotgun pleading and ade- quately stated a claim against Amrock for negligent breach of fidu- ciary duty under Florida law, and we remand for further proceed- ings consistent with this opinion. I. Turner is a senior citizen living on a fixed income.1 He en- tered into a mortgage loan agreement with defendant Rocket Mortgage, LLC, to consolidate credit card debt and pay the accu- mulated property taxes on his home, including taxes that were past due for the prior year. Rocket employed its subsidiary, defendant Amrock, LLC, as title insurance agent, escrow agent, and closing agent to accurately account for “all property taxes obligations,

1 At this stage of the proceedings, we assume that the facts alleged in Turner’s

Second Amended Complaint are true. See K.T. v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., 931 F.3d 1041, 1043 (11th Cir. 2019). USCA11 Case: 24-10012 Document: 55-1 Date Filed: 05/13/2025 Page: 3 of 18

24-10012 Opinion of the Court 3

liens, [and] encumbrances,” “assume the fiduciary,” and “adminis- trate the plaintiffs [sic] escrow account and disburse all real-estate taxes and insurance” as provided in a closing disclosure, insurance premium disclosure, and settlement agent certification. The mortgage loan closing disclosure and settlement state- ment indicated that current and past due property taxes, specified credit card debts, and closing costs and other loan-related charges were to be paid from the loan amount, with the remainder to be disbursed to Turner. The documents identified Amrock as the “settlement agent” and “Title Agency Holding Funds” and stated that the settlement agent had reviewed the closing disclosure, the settlement statement, the lender’s closing instructions, and “any and all other forms relative to the escrow funds” and agreed “to disburse the escrow funds in accordance with the terms of this transaction and Florida law.” But Amrock did not pay Turner’s past-due property tax. Six days after closing, on December 29, 2020, Amrock mailed a check for the overdue tax to the county tax office. The check did not arrive by the county’s December 31 payoff deadline, so the county imposed an additional fee that increased the tax delinquency from $2,927.04 to $3,079.64. When Amrock’s check for $2,927.04 ar- rived, the county rejected the payment as insufficient and returned the check to Amrock with a letter of explanation. Amrock filed the county’s letter “as a paid in full notification from the county.” It did not notify Turner that the overdue tax had not been paid. USCA11 Case: 24-10012 Document: 55-1 Date Filed: 05/13/2025 Page: 4 of 18

4 Opinion of the Court 24-10012

Three months later, Amrock sent Turner a “refund” check, accompanied by a letter explaining that a “post-closing review of your transaction was completed and revealed that a refund in the amount of $2,927.04 is owed to you.” The letter informed Turner that the check could “be cashed or deposited” with his bank and that “[n]o further action” by Turner was required. Rocket eventually paid Turner’s past due property taxes and added approximately $3,000 to his principal loan balance. Based on the higher principal balance, it increased Turner’s mortgage pay- ment from approximately $600 per month to about $740 per month, a change that was “financially devastating” to Turner given his fixed income. When Turner did not pay the new payment amount in full, Rocket began charging late fees and reporting Turner’s late payment status to credit reporting agencies. In Au- gust 2022, Rocket notified Turner that his mortgage loan was in default. Turner disputed Rocket’s negative credit report and at- tempted to persuade Amrock to take responsibility for the unpaid property taxes and Rocket to “adjust” his principal loan balance and return his mortgage payment to the previous amount. Amrock and Rocket refused. Turner filed a lawsuit in Miami-Dade County, Florida, alleg- ing state and federal claims against Rocket and Amrock. The de- fendants removed Turner’s lawsuit to federal court based on his federal claim. Once in federal court, Turner filed a Second Amended Complaint alleging state-law claims for breach of USCA11 Case: 24-10012 Document: 55-1 Date Filed: 05/13/2025 Page: 5 of 18

24-10012 Opinion of the Court 5

fiduciary duty, negligence, and fraud against Rocket and Amrock, and a federal claim for violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act against Rocket. The parties engaged in mediation and reached a verbal agreement to settle Turner’s claims. But Turner subsequently moved to reopen the case and proceed with the litigation, claiming that the defendants refused to include material terms from the par- ties’ verbal agreement in the settlement documents. The district court denied the motion to reopen and ordered Turner to sign the written settlement agreement prepared by the defendants. Turner filed multiple motions seeking reconsideration of the district court’s order to sign the settlement agreement, all of which were denied. Eventually, the defendants moved to dismiss Turner’s com- plaint with prejudice for his failure to obey the court’s order to sign the settlement agreement and on the grounds that the Second Amended Complaint failed to comply with federal pleading rules and failed to state a claim for relief. The defendants also requested attorney’s fees and costs. The district court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss in part, concluding that the Second Amended Complaint was an impermissible “shotgun” pleading and that it failed to state a claim for relief. The court denied the defendants’ request for attorney’s fees and costs without prejudice, giving the defendants leave to file a renewed request that complied with local rules. The court did USCA11 Case: 24-10012 Document: 55-1 Date Filed: 05/13/2025 Page: 6 of 18

6 Opinion of the Court 24-10012

not reach the defendants’ request to dismiss Turner’s complaint as a sanction for defying the court’s orders. Turner appeals the district court’s judgment dismissing his Second Amended Complaint with prejudice. He argues, among other things, that the district court erred in determining that his complaint failed to comply with federal pleading standards and failed to state a claim.2 II. We review a district court’s dismissal of a complaint on “shotgun pleading” grounds for abuse of discretion. Vibe Micro, Inc. v. Shabanets, 878 F.3d 1291, 1294 (11th Cir. 2018). We review a dis- trict court’s order granting a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim de novo, accepting the allegations in the complaint as true and making all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff’s favor. K.T. v.

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Mark Turner v. Rocket Mortgage Corporation, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mark-turner-v-rocket-mortgage-corporation-ca11-2025.