PHH Mortgage Corporation, Successor by Merger to Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC and Mortgage Electronic Systems. Inc. v. Tiffany Aston, as Trustee for the Polo Meadow Trust

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 12, 2022
Docket01-21-00057-CV
StatusPublished

This text of PHH Mortgage Corporation, Successor by Merger to Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC and Mortgage Electronic Systems. Inc. v. Tiffany Aston, as Trustee for the Polo Meadow Trust (PHH Mortgage Corporation, Successor by Merger to Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC and Mortgage Electronic Systems. Inc. v. Tiffany Aston, as Trustee for the Polo Meadow Trust) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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PHH Mortgage Corporation, Successor by Merger to Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC and Mortgage Electronic Systems. Inc. v. Tiffany Aston, as Trustee for the Polo Meadow Trust, (Tex. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

Opinion issued July 12, 2022

In The

Court of Appeals For The

First District of Texas ———————————— NO. 01-21-00057-CV ——————————— PHH MORTGAGE CORPORATION, SUCCESSOR BY MERGER TO OCWEN LOAN SERVICING, LLC AND MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC., Appellants V. TIFFANY ASTON, AS TRUSTEE FOR THE POLO MEADOW TRUST, Appellee

On Appeal from the 113th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Case No. 2017-08327

MEMORANDUM OPINION

The appellants appeal the trial court’s final judgment granting summary

judgment for Tiffany Aston, as trustee for the Polo Meadow Trust, and denying their own summary-judgment motion. The appellants—PHH Mortgage Corporation,

successor by merger to Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, and Mortgage Electronic

Registration Systems, Inc. (collectively, “Ocwen”)—sought to foreclose on a

mortgage lien that Aston claimed was void based on the four-year statute of

limitations for real property liens. The trial court denied Ocwen’s summary-

judgment motion and rendered a final judgment for Aston that declared Ocwen’s

mortgage lien void and permanently enjoined Ocwen from foreclosing on the

property. We reverse and render judgment in favor of Ocwen that Aston take nothing

by her limitations-based claims.

BACKGROUND

In 2005, Timothy and Sabrina Odom signed a deed of trust with an optional

acceleration clause in favor of GMAC Mortgage Corporation to secure their

mortgage loan for property located in Humble, Texas. Ocwen became the successor

beneficiary and statutory mortgagee of the deed of trust; Ocwen was also the

mortgage servicer for the loan.

The Odoms fell behind on their monthly payments. In April of 2014, Ocwen

sent the Odoms a delinquency notice stating its intent to accelerate the loan; the

delinquency notice explained that the Odoms were in default and must pay the past

due amount within 35 days or Ocwen would exercise its right to accelerate the loan

balance and foreclose. In that same year, Ocwen sent the Odoms several notices of

2 acceleration; each stated that the loan had been accelerated and the full balance of

the loan was due.

On November 1, 2016, Ocwen sent another delinquency notice that stated

Ocwen’s intent to accelerate the loan and requested payment of less than the full

balance of the loan to bring the loan current. The delinquency notice also stated that

failure to bring the loan current could result in foreclosure. Ocwen sent the Odoms

another acceleration notice about a month later on December 9, 2016. This

acceleration notice stated that Ocwen “hereby rescinds all prior acceleration

notices.”

Ocwen scheduled a foreclosure sale in early 2017. Before the sale occurred,

the Odoms filed suit seeking a temporary restraining order to enjoin the foreclosure

sale, which the trial court granted. Aston, who acquired the property through a junior

lien foreclosure sale, intervened in the lawsuit in 2019, and the Odoms nonsuited all

of their claims. Aston sought a declaratory judgment that the statute of limitations

barred Ocwen’s ability to foreclose on the property; she also filed a claim to quiet

title and void the mortgage lien on the property.

Both Aston and Ocwen moved for summary judgment. Aston claimed that,

because Ocwen first accelerated the loan in 2014, the four-year statute of limitations

to foreclose on the property had run, and she sought to declare the mortgage lien

void on that basis. Ocwen moved for summary judgment on its affirmative defenses;

3 Ocwen argued that it conclusively proved both rescission and abandonment of its

earlier accelerations, and therefore the statute of limitations had been reset in

November 2016 as if Ocwen had not previously accelerated the loan. The trial court

denied Ocwen’s summary-judgment motion and granted Aston’s, rendering a final

judgment for Aston that declared the mortgage lien void and permanently enjoined

Ocwen from foreclosing under the mortgage lien. Ocwen now appeals.

DISCUSSION

Ocwen argues that it was entitled to a take-nothing judgment because it

established the affirmative defenses of rescission and abandonment by conduct,

which reset the statute of limitations. We agree.

A. Standard of Review

On cross-motions for summary judgment, each party bears the burden of

establishing that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. City of Richardson v.

Oncor Elec. Delivery Co. LLC, 539 S.W.3d 252, 259 (Tex. 2018). When the trial

court grants one motion and denies the other, the reviewing court must determine all

questions presented and render the judgment that the trial court should have

rendered. Id.

We review a trial court’s summary judgment de novo. Provident Life &

Accident Ins. Co. v. Knott, 128 S.W.3d 211, 215 (Tex. 2003). A traditional summary-

judgment motion requires the movant to show that no genuine issue of material fact

4 exists and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. TEX. R. CIV. P. 166a(c);

Provident Life, 128 S.W.3d at 215–16. Once the movant meets its burden, the burden

shifts to the nonmovant to raise a genuine issue of material fact precluding summary

judgment. Lujan v. Navistar, Inc., 555 S.W.3d 79, 84 (Tex. 2018). The evidence

raises a genuine issue of fact if reasonable and fair-minded factfinders could differ

in their conclusions in light of all of the summary-judgment evidence. Goodyear

Tire & Rubber Co. v. Mayes, 236 S.W.3d 754, 755 (Tex. 2007) (per curiam).

A defendant moving for summary judgment on an affirmative defense is in

the same position as a plaintiff moving for summary judgment on a claim. Nowak v.

DAS Inv. Corp., 110 S.W.3d 677, 680 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2003, no

pet.). A defendant asserting an affirmative defense has the burden of pleading and

proving it. See TEX. R. CIV. P. 94. If a defendant moving for summary judgment

establishes all the elements of an affirmative defense as a matter of law, the burden

then shifts to the nonmovant to raise a genuine issue of material fact. Valley Forge

Motor Co. v. Sifuentes, 595 S.W.3d 871, 877 (Tex. App.—El Paso 2020, no pet.). If

the nonmovant fails to do so, the defendant will have conclusively established its

affirmative defense and its right to summary judgment. Id.

B. Statute of Limitations

Ocwen argues the trial court erred in granting summary judgment for Aston

on the statute-of-limitations issue because Ocwen conclusively established the

5 affirmative defenses of rescission and abandonment by conduct. Neither party

disputes that Ocwen first accelerated the loan in 2014 or that Aston met her initial

summary-judgment burden to prove the statute of limitations barred Ocwen’s

foreclosure. Ocwen, however, argues that it established its affirmative defenses as a

matter of law, which should have defeated Aston’s summary-judgment motion and

entitled Ocwen to a take-nothing summary judgment.

1. Applicable law

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PHH Mortgage Corporation, Successor by Merger to Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC and Mortgage Electronic Systems. Inc. v. Tiffany Aston, as Trustee for the Polo Meadow Trust, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/phh-mortgage-corporation-successor-by-merger-to-ocwen-loan-servicing-llc-texapp-2022.