McShannock v. JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A.

354 F. Supp. 3d 1063
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedDecember 7, 2018
DocketCase No. 18-cv-01873-EMC
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 354 F. Supp. 3d 1063 (McShannock v. JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McShannock v. JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A., 354 F. Supp. 3d 1063 (N.D. Cal. 2018).

Opinion

EDWARD M. CHEN, United States District Judge

Plaintiffs Monica Chandler, Susan McShannock, and Mohamed Meky (collectively "Plaintiffs") filed suit against JPMorgan Chase Bank ("Chase") on behalf of a putative class. Plaintiffs assert claims under the California Unfair Competition Law, Ca. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200 et seq. ("UCL"), based on Chase's alleged violation of a California law requiring mortgage lenders to pay interest to mortgagors on funds held in escrow accounts for residential mortgages. Currently pending before the Court is Chase's motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, stay the case. Docket No. 38 ("Mot."). For the reasons discussed below, the Court DENIES the motion to dismiss and DENIES as moot the motion to stay.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The Consolidated Class Action Complaint alleges the following. Plaintiffs took out mortgage-secured loans from Washington Mutual Bank ("WaMu"), a federal savings bank, between 2005 and the end of 2007. Docket No. 37 (Consolidated Class Action Complaint, hereinafter "Con. Compl.") ¶¶ 5, 9, 13. When WaMu failed in 2008, its assets, including Plaintiffs' mortgages, were acquired by Chase via the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC"). Id. ¶ 5; Mot. at 1.

The mortgage agreements at issue required Plaintiffs to make payments into escrow accounts held by the lender, in order to cover any potential taxes and *1068assessments, leasehold payments, and insurance premiums on the property. Con. Compl. ¶¶ 6, 10, 14. Plaintiffs have each made payments into the escrow accounts as required, but have never received any interest on the escrow funds from Chase. Id. ¶¶ 7, 11, 14. The mortgage agreement contains a provision addressing interest on escrow accounts:

Unless an agreement is made in writing or Applicable Law requires interest to be paid on the Funds [in the escrow account], Lender shall not be required to pay Borrower any interest or earnings on the funds. Borrower and Lender can agree in writing, however, that interest shall be paid on the Funds.

Docket No. 38-2, Exhs. A-F § 3.

Plaintiffs assert that Chase's failure to pay escrow interest on their mortgage accounts violates California Civil Code § 2954.8 and 15 U.S.C. § 1639d(g). Con. Compl. ¶¶ 35-37. According to Plaintiffs, these violations constitute "unlawful" conduct within the meaning of the UCL. They also assert that Chase's alleged conduct violates the "unfair" prong of the UCL. Id. ¶¶ 38-40.

Plaintiff McShannock and Plaintiff Chandler initially filed separate class action suits against Chase asserting the same underlying claims. See Docket No. 19 (Motion to Relate Case). The parties stipulated to consolidate the two cases. See Docket No. 33. In the ensuing Consolidated Complaint, Plaintiffs proposed the following class for certification pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 :

All mortgage loan customers of Chase (or its subsidiaries), whose mortgage loan is for a one-to-four family residence located in California, and who paid Chase money in advance for payment of taxes and assessments on the property, for insurance, or for other purposes relating to the property, and to whom Chase failed to pay interest as required by Cal. Civ. Code § 2954.8(a). Excluded from the above Class is any entity in which Chase has a controlling interest, and officers or directors of Chase. The judge assigned to this case and the judge's staff members are also excluded from the Class.

Con. Compl. ¶ 26.

Chase now moves to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) on two bases: first, that Plaintiffs failed to comply with the provisions in their mortgage contracts requiring them to provide Chase with notice and an opportunity to cure alleged misconduct before bringing a judicial action; and second, that Plaintiffs' state law claims are preempted by the Home Owners' Loan Act. In the alternative, Chase seeks to stay the case pending the resolution of Lusnak v. Bank of America, N.A. , which concerns whether California's mortgage escrow law is preempted by the National Banking Act. 883 F.3d 1185 (9th Cir. 2018), petition for cert. filed , (U.S. Aug. 14, 2018) (No. 18-212).

II. DISCUSSION

A. Legal Standard

For a plaintiff to survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss after Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) and Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly , 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007), her factual allegations "must ... suggest that the claim has at least a plausible chance of success." Levitt v. Yelp! Inc. , 765 F.3d 1123, 1134-35 (9th Cir. 2014). In other words, the complaint "must allege 'factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.' " Id. (citations omitted). "The plausibility standard is not akin to a 'probability requirement,' but it asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully."

*1069Iqbal , 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937. Where a complaint pleads facts that are "merely consistent with" a defendant's liability, it "stops short of the line between possibility and plausibility 'of entitlement to relief.' "

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Lemp v. Seterus, Inc.
E.D. California, 2022
Susan McShannock v. Jp Morgan Chase Bank
976 F.3d 881 (Ninth Circuit, 2020)
Smith v. Flagstar Bank, FSB
N.D. California, 2019

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
354 F. Supp. 3d 1063, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcshannock-v-jp-morgan-chase-bank-na-cand-2018.