Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC v. SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC

District Court, D. Nevada·Decided August 26, 2019·No. 2:17-cv-01757·Unknown

Opinion

3 4 Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, Case No.:2:17-cv-01757-JAD-VCF 5 Plaintiff

6 v. Order Granting Summary Judgment 7 SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC; and Sundance in Favor of Plaintiffon Federal at the Shadows Homeowners’ Association, Foreclosure Bar, Dismissing Remaining 8 Claims, and Closing Case Defendants 9 [ECF Nos. 56, 57] 11 12 Nevada law holds that a properly conducted nonjudicial foreclosure sale by a 13 homeowners’ association to enforce a superpriority lien extinguishes the first deed of trust. But 14 when that deed of trust belongs to government-sponsored lender Freddie Mac, and the 15 foreclosure sale occurs while Freddie Macis under the conservatorship of the Federal Housing 16 Finance Agency (FHFA) and without the agency’s consent, federal law shields that security 17 interest from extinguishment. That shield is known as the Federal Foreclosure Bar. 18 Freddie Mac’s loan servicer,Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC,brings this quiet-title action to 19 determine the effect of a 2013nonjudicial foreclosure sale on the deed of trust securing the 20 mortgage on a home. Because Ocwen hasshown that the Federal Foreclosure Bar prevented that 21 sale from extinguishing the deed of trust,and that this suit is not time-barred, I grant summary 22 judgment in its favor on thequiet-title claim that is based on that theory. But because Ocwen’s 23 secondaryquiet-title theory—that Nevada’sstatutoryforeclosure scheme was unconstitutional— 1 fails as a matter of law, I grant the foreclosure-purchaser defendant’s motion for summary 2 judgment onthat claim and close this case. 3 Background 4 The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, better known as Freddie Mac, whichhas 5 been under the conservatorship of the FHFA since 2008, purchased the mortgage on the home

6 located at 5858 Hollingshed Street in North Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2007, along with the deed of 7 trust that was securing that mortgage.1 The deed of trust has been assigned several times to 8 various servicing agents as Freddie Mac’s nominees, and Ocwen is currently servicing the loan.2 9 The home is located in the Shadows common-interest community and subject to the Sundance at 10 the Shadows Homeowners’Association’s codes, covenants, and restrictions (CC&Rs), which 11 require the owners of property within this planned development to pay certain assessments.3 12 The Nevada Legislature gave homeowners associations (HOAs) a superpriorty lien 13 against residential property for certain delinquent assessments and established in Chapter 116 of 14 the Nevada Revised Statutes a non-judicial foreclosure procedure for HOAs to enforce that lien.4

15 When the owners of this homefell behind on assessments,the Sundance at the Shadows HOA 16 sold it toSFR Investments Pool 1, LLC in such a nonjudicial foreclosure sale on August 2, 17 2013.5 The sale recorded five days later.6 18 19 1 ECF No. 56-1 at 4, ¶ 5(h). 20 2 Id. at ¶ 5(k). 21 3 ECF No. 5-3 at 23 (planned-unit-development rider). 22 4 Nev. Rev. Stat. § 116.3116; SFR Invs.Pool 1 v. U.S. Bank, 334 P.3d 408, 409 (Nev. 2014). 5 ECF No. 5-10 (Notice of Default and Election to Sell); ECF No. 5-11 (Notice of Trustee’s 23 Sale). I take judicial notice of all recorded documents in the record. 6 ECF No. 5-12 at 2. 1 As the Nevada Supreme Court held in SFR Investments Pool 1 v. U.S. Bank in 2014, 2 because NRS 116.3116(2) gives an HOA “a true superpriority lien, proper foreclosure of” that 3 lien under the non-judicial foreclosure process created by NRS Chapters 107 and 116 “will 4 extinguish a first deed of trust.”7 But the Federal Foreclosure Bar in 12 U.S.C. § 4617(j)(3) 5 creates an exception to that rule.8 This safeguard is contained in the Housing and Economic

6 Recovery Act (HERA, codified at 12 U.S.C. §4511 et seq.), which went into effect in 2008, 7 established the FHFA, and placed Freddie Macunder that agency’s conservatorship.9 Under 8 HERA’s Federal Foreclosure Bar, when Freddie Macis the beneficiary of the deed of trust at the 9 time of the foreclosure sale and Freddie Macis under the conservatorship of the FHFA, the deed 10 of trust is not extinguished and instead survives the sale unless the agency affirmatively 11 relinquishedthat interest.10 12 Ocwen filed this action11 against the foreclosure-sale buyerand the HOA, asserting quiet- 13 title claims based on two independent theories: (1) the Federal Foreclosure Bar prevented the 14 foreclosure sale from extinguishing the deed of trust, and (2) the sale did not extinguish the deed

15 of trust because Nevada’s HOA foreclosure scheme was unconstitutional as a Ninth Circuit panel 16 17 18 7 SFR, 334 P.3d at 419. 8 See Berezovsky v. Moniz, 869 F.3d 923, 927n.1(9th Cir. 2017). 19 9 Berezovsky, 869F.3d at 925. 20 10 Id. at 933; Saticoy Bay LLC Series 9641 Christine View v. Fed. Nat’l Mortg. Ass’n, 417 P.3d 363, 368 (Nev. 2018) (“Because Fannie Mae was under the FHFA’s conservatorship at the time 21 of the homeowners’ association foreclosure sale, the Federal Foreclosure Bar protected the deed of trust from extinguishment.”). 22 11 Both the Nevada Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit have held that loan servicers have standing to assert the Federal Foreclosure Bar. See Nationstar Mortg., LLC v. SFR Invs.Pool 1, 23 LLC, 396 P.3d 754, 758 (Nev. 2017); Bank of Am., N.A. v. Arlington W. Twilight Homeowners Ass’n, 920 F.3d 620, 624 (9th Cir. Apr. 3, 2019). 1 held in Bourne Valley Court Trust v. Wells Fargo Bank.12 As I found when denying the 2 defendants’ motions to dismiss last year, these claims are the typeof quiet-title claim recognized 3 by the Nevada Supreme Court in Shadow Wood Homeowners Association, Inc. v. New York 4 Community Bancorp—actions “seek[ing] to quiet title by invoking the court’s inherent equitable 5 jurisdiction to settle title disputes.”13 The resolution of such a claim is part of “[t]he long-

6 standing and broad inherent power of a court to sit in equity and quiet title, including setting 7 aside a foreclosure sale if the circumstances support” it.14 8 SFR crossclaims against Ocwen, asserting claims entitled “declaratory relief/quiet title” 9 and “preliminary and permanent injunction.”15 Because injunctive relief is a remedy and not an 10 independent cause of action, I find that SFR’s claims are properly construed as a single equitable 11 claim for quiet title of the same sort as Ocwen’s. 12 Ocwen moves for summary judgment,contending that the Federal Foreclosure Bar saved 13 Freddie Mac’s deed of trust on this property from extinguishment.16 SFR opposes thatmotion 14 and moves for summary judgment in its own favor, arguingthat Ocwen’s claims are time-barred,

15 that Freddie Mac’s interest is unenforceable because it was not recorded, that Ocwenhas not 16 17 12 ECF No. 8(Bourne Valley Court Trust v. Wells Fargo Bank, 832 F.3d 1154 (9th Cir. 2016)).

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Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC v. SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC, (D. Nev. 2019).

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