McCurry v. Chevy Chase Bank, FSB

169 Wash. 2d 96
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedJune 24, 2010
DocketNo. 81896-7
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 169 Wash. 2d 96 (McCurry v. Chevy Chase Bank, FSB) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCurry v. Chevy Chase Bank, FSB, 169 Wash. 2d 96 (Wash. 2010).

Opinions

Sanders, J.

¶1 — We are asked to decide whether the state laws at issue here are preempted by federal regulation of federal savings associations. To reconvey title, Chevy Chase charged fax and notary fees that Anne and Chris McCurry argue were not permitted by the deed of trust. The trial court held state laws supporting the McCurrys’ contract and consumer protection claims were preempted by federal regulation. The Court of Appeals affirmed. But these laws are generally applicable with only an incidental effect on lending operations, thus we reverse and remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

[100]*100FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶2 Plaintiffs Anne and Chris McCurry1 conveyed a deed of trust to defendant Chevy Chase Bank FSB. Chevy Chase issued a payoff statement setting forth the total amount due for reconveyance. This total included an itemized fax fee ($20) and a notary fee ($2). The McCurrys paid the total amount.

¶3 The McCurrys allege that the terms of the deed of trust did not permit a fax or notary fee to secure re-conveyance of title and doing so breached the terms of the deed of trust, unjustly enriched Chevy Chase, and violated the Washington Consumer Protection Act (CPA), RCW 19.86.020,2 in that Chevy Chase deceptively led the Mc-Currys to believe that the fees had to be paid to secure reconveyance under the terms of the deed of trust. Chevy Chase moved for dismissal for failure to state a claim on which relief could be granted, CR 12(b)(6), arguing federal regulation of federal savings associations preempted state law supporting the McCurrys’ claims.

¶4 The King County Superior Court dismissed the McCurrys’ claims. The Court of Appeals affirmed. McCurry v. Chevy Chase Bank, FSB, 144 Wn. App. 900, 193 P.3d 155 (2008).

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶5 This court reviews questions of law, including preemption, de novo. McKee v. AT&T Corp., 164 Wn.2d 372, 387, 191 P.3d 845 (2008). Whether federal law preempts state law depends upon whether that was the intent of Congress. See id. Federal regulations have the same preemptive power as federal statutes. Fid. Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass’n v. de la Cuesta, 458 U.S. 141, 153, 102 S. Ct. 3014, 73 L. Ed. 2d 664 (1982).

[101]*101ANALYSIS

¶6 Three issues are before us: what is the standard for dismissing a claim under CR 12(b)(6), does federal regulation preempt state laws upon which the McCurrys’ claims are based, and was dismissal appropriate on other grounds?

I. What is the standard for dismissing a case under CR 12(b)(6)?

¶7 Chevy Chase urges this court to reconsider the standard for dismissing a motion under CR 12(b)(6) in light of changes in the United States Supreme Court case law regarding Fed. R. Civ. R 12(b)(6). Under CR 12(b)(6) a plaintiff states a claim upon which relief can be granted if it is possible that facts could be established to support the allegations in the complaint. See Halvorson v. Dahl, 89 Wn.2d 673, 674, 574 P.2d 1190 (1978) (“On a [CR] 12(b)(6) motion, a challenge to the legal sufficiency of the plaintiff’s allegations must be denied unless no state of facts which plaintiff could prove, consistent with the complaint, would entitle the plaintiff to relief on the claim.”); see also Christensen v. Swedish Hosp., 59 Wn.2d 545, 548, 368 P.2d 897 (1962) (citing Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 78 S. Ct. 99, 2 L. Ed. 2d 80 (1957)).

¶8 However the United States Supreme Court has recently revised its dismissal standard under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), permitting dismissal unless the claim is plausibly based upon the factual allegations in the complaint — a more difficult standard to satisfy. See Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S. Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L. Ed. 2d 868 (2009) (“To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S. Ct. 1955, 167 L. Ed. 2d 929 (2007))). Chevy Chase encourages this court to similarly construe CR 12(b)(6). We decline.

[102]*102¶9 A dismissal under CR 12(b)(6) is for “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” See Fed. R. Crv. P. 12(b)(6); CR 12(b)(6). This weeds out complaints where, even if what the plaintiff alleges is true, the law does not provide a remedy. See Twombly, 550 U.S. at 580-83 (Stevens, J., dissenting) (citing cases that originally shaped the CR 12(b)(6) standard). The new Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) standard effectively reads “plausible” into the rule, as follows: “failure to state a [plausible] claim upon which relief can be granted.” This adds a determination of the likelihood of success on the merits, so that a trial judge can dismiss a claim, even where the law does provide a remedy for the conduct alleged by the plaintiff, if that judge does not believe it is plausible the claim will ultimately succeed.3 See Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570; Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. at 1950 (“only a complaint that states a plausible claim for relief survives a motion to dismiss” and this determination is “a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense”).

¶10 The Supreme Court’s plausibility standard is predicated on policy determinations specific to the federal trial courts. The Twombly Court concluded that federal trial courts are incapable of adequately preventing discovery abuses, weak claims cannot be effectively weeded out early in the discovery process, and this makes discovery expensive and encourages defendants to settle “largely groundless” claims. See 550 U.S. at 557-58, 559. Neither party has shown these policy determinations hold sufficiently true in the Washington trial courts to warrant such a drastic change in court procedure.

[103]*103¶11 Nor has either party here addressed countervailing policy considerations.

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Bluebook (online)
169 Wash. 2d 96, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccurry-v-chevy-chase-bank-fsb-wash-2010.