Molina v. Aurora Loan Services, LLC

635 F. App'x 618
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedDecember 2, 2015
DocketNo. 15-10456
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 635 F. App'x 618 (Molina v. Aurora Loan Services, LLC) 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
Molina v. Aurora Loan Services, LLC, 635 F. App'x 618 (11th Cir. 2015).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Angela Molina, proceeding pro se, appeals the district court’s order dismissing her complaint against Aurora Loan Services, LLC and Nationstar Mortgage, LLC with prejudice for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. She argues that the district court erred in (1) concluding it did not have subject-matter jurisdiction over the case; (2) dismissing the case with prejudice; and (3) declining to hold a hearing on the defendants’ motion to dismiss. After a review of the record and the parties’ briefs, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand with instructions.

I

On March 7, 2007, Ms. Molina took out a $444,000 loan in order to purchase a home. Several months later, on November 1, 2007, she defaulted on her mortgage loan. On March 13, 2008, Aurora filed a foreclosure complaint in state court against Ms. Molina. The state court entered a final judgment of foreclosure in favor of Aurora on February 20, 2009, and set a public sale for the property on June 26, 2009. Ms. Molina did not appeal the judgment.

The public foreclosure sale was postponed for nearly four years, during which time Ms. Molina attempted to negotiate a loan modification with Aurora and Na-tionstar. In 2012, Ms. Molina began a loan modification process with Aurora. After Nationstar became the loan servicer on the property in July of 2012, Ms. Molina began a loan modification process with Nationstar. Ms. Molina claims, in part, that Aurora and Nationstar discriminated against her during the loan modification process on the basis of her race, age, and native language.

On January 9, 2013, Aurora purchased the property through a public sale. Ms. Molina filed a motion to vacate the sale that same day, arguing that loan modification review was still pending. The motion was denied, and the state court clerk issued a certificate of sale on January 14, 2013. Ms. Molina filed another motion to vacate the sale, but that motion was also denied.

[621]*621On March 19, 2014, Ms. Molina filed a complaint in state court against Aurora and Nationstar. She alleged that both defendants wrongfully denied her a post-judgment mortgage loan modification in violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1691; the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3605; the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), 12 U.S.C. §§ .5211-5241; the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), 12 U.S.C. § 5219a; and Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, Fla. Stat. § 501.204. Ms. Molina sought an order enjoining Aurora and Nationstar from taking her property and removing her from her home, as well as $500,000 in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages. In her complaint she alleged that, despite several letters from Nationstar assuring her that her home would not be sold while her loan modification request was being evaluated, her home was sold in early 2013.

The defendants removed the case to federal district court in April of 2014 pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1441(a). They argued that the district court had federal-question jurisdiction because Ms. Molina asserted various federal claims, and had supplemental jurisdiction over her state-law claims. Once in federal court, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss Ms. Molina’s complaint on the grounds the district court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, the Colorado River doctrine, and the Anti-Injunction Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2283. They also alleged that Ms. Molina failed to state claims upon which relief could be granted.

The district court granted the defendants’ motion, and dismissed the case with prejudice. The district court held that the Rooker-Feldman doctrine barred federal jurisdiction because Ms. Molina’s claims were “inextricably intertwined with a state

court’s foreclosure judgment.” Because the district court found that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, it did not address the defendants’ other arguments for dismissal. The district court also ruled that because “amending the complaint would not cure the jurisdictional defect,”' the complaint would be dismissed with prejudice.

Ms, Molina now appeals. She asks us to vacate the district court’s order because there is subject-matter jurisdiction, as she is not attacking the state court’s entry of foreclosure judgment, but rather the defendants’ discriminatory actions when she attempted to modify her loan post-judgment. Ms. Molina also contends that dismissal with prejudice was improper. Finally, Ms. Molina argues that the district court abused its discretion in declining to hold a hearing on the defendants’ motion to dismiss before granting the motion.

II

We review a district court’s grant of a motion to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction de novo. See Popowski v. Parrott, 461 F.3d 1367, 1372 (11th Cir. 2006). See also Miccosukee Tribe of Indians Fla. v. Army Corps of Eng’rs, 619 F.3d 1289, 1296 (11th Cir.2010) (“The district court’s grant of a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction presents a legal question that we review de novo.”). “We review the court’s decision to rule on the motion to dismiss without an evidentiary hearing for abuse of discretion.” Sunseri v. Macro Cellular Partners, 412 F.3d 1247, 1250 (11th Cir.2005) (citing Washington v. Nortan Mfg., Inc., 588 F.2d 441, 443 (5th Cir.1979)),

A

The Rooker-Feldman doctrine takes its name from two Supreme Court cases, Rookerv. Fidelity Trust Co.,.263 U.S. 413, [622]*62244 S.Ct. 149, 68 L.Ed. 362 (1923), and District of Columbia Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462, 103 S.Ct. 1303, 75 L.Ed.2d 206 (1983). Those decisions collectively hold that a federal district court may not review and reverse a state-court civil judgment. Only the Supreme Court of the United States has appellate jurisdiction over judgments of state courts in civil cases. See 28 U.S.C. § 1257; Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Saudi Basic Indus, Corp., 544 U.S. 280, 292, 125 S.Ct. 1517, 161 L.Ed.2d 454 (2005).

The Rooker-Feldman doctrine applies to claims that were actually raised in the state court and those “inextricably intertwined” with the state court judgment. Casale v. Tillman,

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