Mazzei v. Money Store

829 F.3d 260, 95 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 181, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 12994, 2016 WL 3876518
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit·Decided July 15, 2016·No. Docket 15-2054·Published·Cited by 76 cases

Opinion

DENNIS JACOBS, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiff-appellant Joseph Mazzei initiated a class action against The Money Store et al., alleging, inter alia, overcharge of late fees on mortgages, and prevailed in a jury trial. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Koeltl, J.) (i) granted defendants-appellees’ post-verdict motion to decertify (under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(c)(1)(C)) a class that was previously certified pursuant to Rule 23(a) and (b)(3); and (ii) entered judgment in favor only of Mazzei, the putative class representative.

We hold that a district court has power, consistent with the Seventh Amendment and Rule 23, to decertify a class after a jury verdict and before the entry of final judgment. We also hold that, in considering such decertification (or modification), the district court must defer to any factual findings the jury necessarily made unless those findings were “seriously erroneous,” a “miscarriage of justice,” or “egregious.” Applying these principles, we conclude that the district court did not abuse discretion in determining that Rule 23’s requirements were not met and in decertifying the class.

An accompanying summary order affirms the denial of Mazzei’s motion for a new trial as to a second claim.

Affirmed.

BACKGROUND

In 1994, Joseph Mazzei obtained a mortgage loan from his employer, The Money Store. At that time, The Money Store was a loan servicer and mortgage lender. Maz-zei missed payments on the loan for years beginning in late 1997, and received three notices of default in 1998. In 1999, The Money Store changed ownership, and Maz-zei was laid off. Soon after, The Money Store ceased originating loans and became HomEq Servicing Corp.

Early in 2000, The Money Store’s servicing operator, TMS Mortgage Inc., notified Mazzei that he was in default; Mazzei’s loan was “accelerated” (he., the entire sum of principal and interest became due) and foreclosure proceedings were begun. Maz-zei avoided a foreclosure sale by filing for bankruptcy, and ultimately paid the full balance of the loan, with interest and various default fees. These fees included, inter alia, attorney’s fees, and ten late fees of $26.76 each — five of which were incurred after acceleration.

Mazzei then sued The Money Store, TMS Mortgage Inc., and HomEq Servicing Corp. (collectively, “The Money Store”) for breach of contract, on behalf of a putative class, challenging the imposition of post-acceleration late fees (and attorney’s fees 2 ). Citing terms set forth in the Fannie Mae form loan documents that Mazzei signed when the mortgage loan was originated, Mazzei contended that the Note contemplated the imposition only of pre-acceleration late fees, and that the imposition of post-acceleration late fees violated the agreement.

*265 Mazzei achieved certification of the class, defined as:

All similarly situated borrowers who signed form loan agreements on loans which were owned or serviced by the defendants and who from March 1, 2000 to the present ... were charged: (A) late fees after the borrower’s loan was accelerated, and where the accelerated loan was paid off (“Post Acceleration Late Fee Class”) ....

Order for Certification of Class Action, Mazzei v. Money Store, No. 01-CV-5694 (JGK) (RLE) (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 29, 2013), ECF No. 187; see also Mazzei v. Money Store, 288 F.R.D. 45, 56, 66-69 (S.D.N.Y. 2012). 3

The class definition was later amended on consent to exclude borrowers who signed loan mortgage agreements after November 1, 2006, and (for administrative purposes) to close on June 2, 2014. Order, Mazzei v. Money Store, No. 01-CV-5694 (JGK) (RLE) (S.D.N.Y. June 3, 2014), ECF No. 267.

The certified class action eventually went to trial. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Mazzei and the class on the late fee claims. It awarded Mazzei $133.80, and it awarded the class approximately $32 million plus prejudgment interest. (The jury found in favor of The Money Store on the remaining claims.)

After trial, and before the entry of judgment, The Money Store moved for decerti-fication of the class pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(c)(1)(C), or, in the alternative, the entry of judgment as a matter of law on the class late fee claims pursuant to Federal Rule 50. The class was composed of borrowers whose loans were either owned by The Money Store (via origination or assignment) or serviced by it. Both motions were based in relevant part on Mazzei’s failure to prove class-wide privity of contract between The Money Store and those borrowers whose loans it only serviced, and did not own. The district court agreed that Mazzei’s failure to prove privity with respect to such absent class members defeated class certification on grounds of typicality and predominance. The district court therefore granted The Money Store’s motion for decertification of the class. Mazzei v. Money Store, 308 F.R.D. 92, 106-07, 109-13 (S.D.N.Y. 2015). The district court also opined that it would have granted The Money Store’s motion for judgment as a matter of law if decerti-fication had not been appropriate. Id. at 113. Judgment was entered for Mazzei on his individual late fee claim.

Mazzei challenges the decertification 4 on the grounds, inter alia, that decertification is unavailable after a jury verdict in favor of a certified class; that the findings made to support decertification were incompatible with the Seventh Amendment; and that the Rule 23 requirements for class certification were satisfied. We affirm.

DISCUSSION

I

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(c)(1)(C) provides that “[a]n order that grants or denies class certification may be altered or amended before final judgment.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(c)(1)(C). Mazzei argues nevertheless that a class may not *266 be decertified after a jury verdict in its favor because such decertification is tantamount to overturning a jury verdict, for which the only procedural avenue available is judgment as a matter of law under Rule 50(b); and decertification would violate the class members’ Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial. 5

A

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Mazzei v. Money Store, 829 F.3d 260, 95 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 181, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 12994, 2016 WL 3876518 (2d Cir. 2016).

829 F.3d 260 (Mazzei v. Money Store) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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