Mbazira v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC (In re Mbazira)

518 B.R. 11, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 3876
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedSeptember 11, 2014
DocketBankruptcy No. 13-16586-WCH; Adversary No. 14-1055
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 518 B.R. 11 (Mbazira v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC (In re Mbazira)) 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
Mbazira v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC (In re Mbazira), 518 B.R. 11, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 3876 (Mass. 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

WILLIAM C. HILLMAN, Bankruptcy Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

The matter before the Court is the “Motion of the Defendant, U.S. National Bank Association[1], to Dismiss Count I of Debt- or’s Complaint” (the “Motion to Dismiss”) filed by U.S. National Bank Association (“U.S. Bank”), the “Objection to Motion of U.S. Bank to Dismiss” (the “Objection”) filed by Safina Mbazira (the “Debtor”), and the “Motion by Defendant [U.S. Bank] for Certification of State Law Question to Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court” (the “Motion to Certify Question”) filed by U.S. Bank. The question presented, as described by the Motion to Certify Question, is

[14]*14Whether a mortgage encumbering registered land, whose certifícate of acknowl-edgement mistakenly omits the mortgagor’s name, but which mortgage was accepted by the Land Court for registration and is noted on the certificate of title of such registered land, provides constructive notice.2

Put another way, the parties seek a determination whether In re Giroux3 and In re Bower,4 which both held that such a defect rendered a mortgage recorded in the registry of deeds incapable of providing constructive notice, applies to an equally defective instrument registered in the Massachusetts Land Court and noted on the certificate of title. For the reasons set forth below, I will deny the Motion to Dismiss and the Motion to Certify Question.

II. BACKGROUND

For the purposes of a motion to dismiss, I must assume the truth of all well-pleaded facts set forth in the complaint.5 In any event, the facts are not in dispute and the parties agree that the Motion to Dismiss presents a pure question of law.

The Debtor is the sole owner of real property located at 977 Trapelo Road in Waltham, Massachusetts (the “Property”).6 The purchase of the Property was financed through Fremont Investment & Loan (“Fremont”) on July 25, 2005.7 As part of that transaction, the Debtor executed two promissory notes in favor of Fremont in the original principal amounts of $528,000.00 (the “First Note”) and $182,000.00 (the “Second Note”) and granted a first and second mortgage to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (“MERS”), as nominee for Fremont, to secure the respective obligations under the notes (the “First Mortgage” and the “Second Mortgage,” respectively).8 On July 26, 2005, the deed transferring the Property to the Debtor was registered in the Middlesex South Registry District of the Land Court (the “Land Court”) and noted on certificate of title No. 234510 (the “Certificate of Title”), as were both the First Mortgage and Second Mortgage.9 On July 28, 2008, an assignment of the First Mortgage dated June 20, 2008, purporting to assign the First Mortgage from MERS to U.S. Bank as trustee, was registered in the Land Court and noted on the Certificate of Title (the “Assignment”).10

The Debtor filed her Chapter 11 petition on November 12, 2013. On “Schedule A— Real Property” (“Schedule A”), the Debtor listed a fee simple interest in the Property which she valued at $576,400.00, subject to secured claims in the amount of $770,182.60. On “Schedule C — Property Claimed As Exempt” (“Schedule C”), the Debtor claimed an exemption in the Property in the amount of $500,000.00 pursuant to Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 188, § 3.

[15]*15On February 25, 2014, the Debtor commenced the present adversary proceeding, seeking, inter alia, a determination that the First Mortgage is invalid pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 506(d) and thus preserved for the benefit of the estate pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 551. As grounds therefor, the Debtor alleged that the certificate of ac-knowledgement (the “Acknowledgement”) affixed to the First Mortgage was materially defective because it failed to identify the Debtor as the person who executed the First Mortgage. The Acknowledgement, which was attached to the Motion to Dismiss, reads as follows:

Commonwealth of Massachusetts, County ss:
On this 25th day of July, before me, the undersigned notary public, personally appeared
proved to me through satisfactory identification, which was/were [illegible], to be the person(s) whose name(s) is/are signed on the preceding document, and acknowledged to me that he/she/they signed it voluntarily for its stated purpose
/s/ Patricia J. Stokes-Ramos
Patricia J. Stokes-Ramos
Notary Public
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
My Commission Expires
June 20, 200811

The blank space between “personally appeared” and “proved to me” is where the notary should have inserted the Debtor’s name. I further note that the Acknowl-edgement does not indicate the year in which it was executed.

After several extensions to file an answer, U.S. Bank instead filed the Motion to Certify Question on May 23, 2014, asserting that “the notice provided by a mortgage containing a purportedly defective acknowledgement noted on the certificate of title of registered land appears to be an issue of first impression,” making certification to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts appropriate.12 Reasoning that consideration of the Motion to Certify Question was premature in the absence of an answer, I continued it generally and ordered U.S. Bank to file a responsive pleading. On June 3, 2014, U.S. Bank filed the Motion to Dismiss accompanied by a supporting memorandum. The Debt- or filed the Objection on July 5, 2014. I heard the Motion to Dismiss on July 9, 2014, and, at the conclusion of oral arguments, took the matter under advisement. I have since consolidated my consideration of the Motion to Dismiss with the Motion to Certify Question.

III. POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES

A. U.S. Bank

U.S Bank asserts that the Debtor cannot prevail on her complaint because she cannot establish that the First Mortgage fails to give constructive notice. While U.S. Bank concedes that the nature of the defect in the Acknowledgement is the same as it was in In re Giroux and In re Bower, it nonetheless contends that the registered land system is governed by a [16]*16distinct set of statutory provisions and principles that mandate a different result. Indeed, U.S. Bank notes that the analyses of both of those decisions was informed by reference to Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183, §§ 4, 29, and 30, which do not apply to the registered land system.

U.S.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
518 B.R. 11, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 3876, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mbazira-v-ocwen-loan-servicing-llc-in-re-mbazira-mab-2014.