Peoples v. Wendover Funding, Inc.

179 F.R.D. 492, 41 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 907, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7531, 1998 WL 261136
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedMay 8, 1998
DocketNo. CIV. Y-97-158
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 179 F.R.D. 492 (Peoples v. Wendover Funding, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peoples v. Wendover Funding, Inc., 179 F.R.D. 492, 41 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 907, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7531, 1998 WL 261136 (D. Md. 1998).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JOSEPH H. YOUNG, Senior District Judge.

Plaintiffs Jessie J. Peoples, Mildred Baldwin, and Forestine Brown bring this class action based upon Defendant Wendover Funding, Inc.’s alleged violation of the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq. (hereinafter, “FDCPA”). Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification is pending before the Court.

The complaint alleges that Plaintiffs and the members of the putative class participated in a mortgage assignment program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (respectively, “HUD” and the “Program”). The Program helped low-income mortgagors who, through no fault of their own, experienced temporary financial difficulty by lending funds on very generous terms, permitting the mortgagors to make small payments until their financial situation improved. HUD accomplished this goal by entering into forbearance agreements with the individual mortgagors. HUD ended the Program in 1995 and sold the loans to BCGS, L.L.C. which then hired Defendant to administer the loans.

When HUD sold these loans to BCGS, the contract of sale required BCGS to administer the loan according to HUD guidelines, and the contract named the individual mortgagors as third-party beneficiaries. Specifically, HUD required BCGS to continue to honor the terms of the forbearance agreements previously negotiated between HUD and the individual mortgagors, as long as the individual mortgagor made the required payments. Additionally, the agreement required BCGS to renew the agreements after expiration provided the mortgagors were current in their mortgage payments.

Shortly after Defendant began servicing the loans, the named Plaintiffs and proposed class members received a document from Defendant styled “Notice of Intention to Foreclose.” The complaint alleges that Defendant sent this notice to at least 2,000 former Program participants. Plaintiffs contend this notice violates the FDCPA by falsely representing the character or status of the mortgage debt, threatening to take action prohibited by the HUD-BCGS contract and HUD regulations, threatening to take action not intended to be taken, using false or deceptive means to attempt collection of the mortgages, and failing to reveal clearly that Wendover was attempting to collect a debt.

Plaintiffs seek to certify a class, consisting of:

[496]*496All persons who: as of September 1, 1995, were participants in the [HUD] Mortgage Assignment Program, and whose loans were thereafter assigned by HUD to third-parties who utilized Wendover Funding, Inc., to service the loans; were performing their obligations pursuant to their forbearance agreements with HUD as part of the ... Program, and; received notices of intention to foreclose from Wendover.

II

The sole issue before the Court is whether to grant Plaintiffs motion for class certification.

A

Fed. R. Civ. P. 23 enumerates the requirements for certification of a class action. The Court may certify a class only if it satisfies all the prerequisites of Rule 23(a), and the requirements of at least one subdivision of Rule 23(b). In re A.H. Robins Co., Inc., 880 F.2d 709, 727-28 (4th Cir.1989), abrogated on other grounds by Amchem Products, Inc. v. Windsor, — U.S.-, 117 S.Ct. 2231, 138 L.Ed.2d 689 (1997). The Court may look only to Rule 23’s criteria to decide whether to certify a class. Eisen v. Carlisle & Jacquelin, 417 U.S. 156, 177-78, 94 S.Ct. 2140, 40 L.Ed.2d 732 (1974) (stating that preliminary review of the suit’s merits is inappropriate to determine certification issue). The Court possesses considerable discretion to decide whether the proposed class satisfies the prerequisites of Rule 23. Boley v. Brown, 10 F.3d 218, 223 (4th Cir.1993); Central Wesleyan College v. W.R. Grace & Co., 6 F.3d 177, 185 (4th Cir.1993).

B

Initially, Defendant argues certification is inappropriate because the Plaintiffs are not members of the proposed class. Though not specified in Rule 23, the Court must be able to ascertain the general boundaries of the proposed class at the outset of the litigation, and the named Plaintiffs must be members of the proposed class. Bailey v. Patterson, 369 U.S. 31, 33, 82 S.Ct. 549, 7 L.Ed.2d 512 (1962); In re A.H. Robins, 880 F.2d at 728; Roman v. ESB, Inc., 550 F.2d 1343, 1348 (4th Cir.1976). Defendant contends the named Plaintiffs are not members of the class they seek to represent because none of the Plaintiffs possessed a forbearance agreement with HUD at the pertinent point in time. Moreover, Defendant argues the class is not “administratively ascertainable” because the Court would have to undertake an individualized inquiry as to the existence of each member’s forbearance agreement.

These arguments fail to justify denial of class certification. The complaint alleges that Defendant was servicing loans purchased by BCGS from HUD that HUD originally made under the Program, and that Defendant sent improper notices of intent to foreclose to these persons. Defendant admits it contracted with BCGS to service these loans at the time BCGS was purchasing them from HUD; accordingly, Defendant knows precisely which loans are the subject of this litigation, and has exclusive knowledge of who belongs to the proposed class. Morepver, Defendant, having mailed the notices, should know who received them. The Court possesses the authority and discretion to compel Defendant to produce information necessary for the Court to discern the class membership because Defendant alone possesses the relevant information, and because Defendant can perform this task with far less difficulty and greater efficiency than the named Plaintiffs. See Oppenheimer Fund, Inc. v. Sanders, 437 U.S. 340, 356-57, 98 S.Ct. 2380, 57 L.Ed.2d 253 (1978) (holding that the district court possesses power and discretion to order the defendant to perform tasks needed to send class notice under Rule 23(c)).1 Defendant may not avoid certifica[497]*497tion when it, rather than Plaintiffs, maintains exclusive control over the information that alleviates this problem. See id at 359-60, 98 S.Ct. 2380 (finding that district court abused its discretion in requiring plaintiffs to bear the expense of identifying class members when defendant controlled the records).

Moreover, Defendant’s concern regarding the existence of a forbearance agreement is without merit considering the factual circumstances surrounding this case. As discussed above, the HUD-BCGS agreement required Defendant to honor forbearance agreements still in effect.

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179 F.R.D. 492, 41 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 907, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7531, 1998 WL 261136, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peoples-v-wendover-funding-inc-mdd-1998.