(PS) Hoggan v. Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedNovember 8, 2021
Docket2:21-cv-01862
StatusUnknown

This text of (PS) Hoggan v. Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC ((PS) Hoggan v. Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
(PS) Hoggan v. Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC, (E.D. Cal. 2021).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 PATRICK W. HOGGAN, an individual, No. 2:21-cv-01862-TLN-CKD 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 SPECIALIZED LOAN SERVICING, LLC, a Delaware Limited Liability 15 Company; AFFINIA DEFAULT SERVICES, LLC, a Florida Limited 16 Liability Company; and DOES 1 through 100, inclusive, 17 Defendants. 18

19 20 This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff Patrick W. Hoggan’s (“Plaintiff”) Motion for a 21 Temporary Restraining Order (“TRO”). (ECF No. 7.) No opposition has been filed by 22 Defendants Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC (“SLS”) and Affinia Default Services, LLC 23 (“Affinia”) (collectively, “Defendants”). For the reasons set for the below, Plaintiff’s motion is 24 GRANTED. 25 /// 26 /// 27 /// 28 /// 1 I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND 2 The instant motion seeks to enjoin Defendants from proceeding with a non-judicial 3 foreclosure on Plaintiff’s property located at 6544 Arcade Creek Way, Orangevale, CA 95662 4 (the “Property”). (ECF No. 7.) Plaintiff purchased the Property in 1998 and entered into an 5 agreement to refinance with Quicken Loans, Inc. (“Quicken”) on July 6, 2005. (ECF No. 1-1 at 6 7.) Quicken loaned Plaintiff $52,500.000 (the “Loan”) secured by the Property — then and now 7 Plaintiff and his family’s primary residence and home — through a second position Deed of 8 Trust. (Id.) Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (“MERS”) was the named 9 beneficiary and Orange Coast Title Company was the named trustee. (Id. at 7–8.) 10 Plaintiff maintained his payments on the Loan until 2008, when he had a business failure 11 that ultimately resulted in a bankruptcy in 2010. (Id. at 8.) Plaintiff subsequently began to fall 12 behind on his payments and believed the second position Deed of Trust was extinguished during 13 bankruptcy proceedings. (Id.) Plaintiff entered into a modification with his first position Deed of 14 Trust through Ocwen Loan Servicing and believed his second position Deed of Trust was 15 extinguished with this refinance if it was not extinguished in the bankruptcy proceedings. (Id.) 16 On May 20, 2021, Affinia, on behalf of SLS, recorded a Notice of Default and Election to Sell 17 Under Deed of Trust (“Notice of Default”) on the Property. (Id.) Plaintiff maintains he was 18 never provided with notice or a recording to inform him the previous trustee — First American 19 Title — had assigned, transferred, or sold its rights as the trustee under Deed of Trustee to 20 Affinia. (Id.) 21 Plaintiff contacted SLS to confirm the debt and called SLS to request documents 22 authenticating the loan, but SLS did not respond. (Id.) On September 9, 2021, Affinia, on behalf 23 of SLS, recorded a Notice of Trustee’s Sale (“NOTS”) on the Property. (ECF No. 7 at 4.) 24 Plaintiff argues a controversy has arisen between himself and Defendants “because of 25 Defendant’s negligent misrepresentations preventing Plaintiff from curing [his] default and 26 extinguishing the transaction by operation of law.” (Id.) Plaintiff maintains Defendants acted in 27 concert to deprive him of his civil rights by taking the Property without due process of law. (Id. 28 at 4–5.) 1 On August 25, 2021, Plaintiff filed a Complaint in Sacramento County Superior Court 2 alleging claims for: (1) a violation of the Truth in Lending Act; (2) violations of the Rosenthal 3 and Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”); (3) promissory estoppel; (4) 4 wrongful foreclosure; (5) negligent misrepresentation; (6) unfair competition in violation of Cal. 5 Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17200–17210; and (7) violation of Cal. Civ. Code § 2924.17. (ECF No. 1- 6 1 at 9–16.) On October 8, 2021, Defendants removed the action to this Court. (ECF No. 1.) On 7 November 5, 2021, Plaintiff filed the instant motion for a TRO requesting this Court to enjoin 8 “Defendants and their agents, servants, and employees from proceeding with foreclosure and 9 trustee’s sale set for Tuesday, November 9, 2021” and to issue an order to show cause as to “why 10 a preliminary injunction should not be granted to enjoin Defendants and [their] agents, servants, 11 and employees from foreclosing on the Loan or selling the Property at a trustee’s sale or 12 otherwise during the pendency of this action.” (ECF No. 7.) 13 II. STANDARD OF LAW 14 A TRO is an extraordinary remedy. The purpose of a TRO is to preserve the status quo 15 pending a fuller hearing. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 65. In general, “[t]emporary restraining orders are 16 governed by the same standard applicable to preliminary injunctions.” Aiello v. One West Bank, 17 No. 2:10-cv-0227-GEB-EFB, 2010 WL 406092, at *1 (E.D. Cal. Jan. 29, 2010) (internal citations 18 omitted); see also E.D. Cal. L.R. 231(a). 19 Injunctive relief is “an extraordinary remedy that may only be awarded upon a clear 20 showing that the plaintiff is entitled to such relief.” Winter v. Nat. Res. Def. Council, Inc., 555 21 U.S. 7, 22 (2008) (citing Mazurek v. Armstrong, 520 U.S. 968, 972 (1997) (per curiam)). “The 22 purpose of a preliminary injunction is merely to preserve the relative positions of the parties until 23 a trial on the merits can be held.” Univ. of Tex. v. Camenisch, 451 U.S. 390, 395 (1981); see also 24 Costa Mesa City Emps. Ass’n v. City of Costa Mesa, 209 Cal. App. 4th 298, 305 (2012) (“The 25 purpose of such an order is to preserve the status quo until a final determination following a 26 trial.”); GoTo.com, Inc. v. Walt Disney, Co., 202 F.3d 1199, 1210 (9th Cir. 2000) (“The status quo 27 ante litem refers not simply to any situation before the filing of a lawsuit, but instead to the last 28 uncontested status which preceded the pending controversy.”). 1 “A plaintiff seeking a preliminary injunction must establish [1] that he is likely to succeed 2 on the merits, [2] that he is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief, 3 [3] that the balance of equities tips in his favor, and [4] that an injunction is in the public interest.” 4 Winter, 555 U.S. at 20. A plaintiff must “make a showing on all four prongs” of the Winter test 5 to obtain a preliminary injunction. Alliance for the Wild Rockies v. Cottrell, 632 F.3d 1127, 1135 6 (9th Cir. 2011). In evaluating a plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction, a district court may 7 weigh the plaintiff’s showings on the Winter elements using a sliding-scale approach. Id. A 8 stronger showing on the balance of the hardships may support issuing a preliminary injunction 9 even where the plaintiff shows that there are “serious questions on the merits . . . so long as the 10 plaintiff also shows that there is a likelihood of irreparable injury and that the injunction is in the 11 public interest.” Id. Simply put, plaintiffs must demonstrate, “that [if] serious questions going to 12 the merits were raised [then] the balance of hardships [must] tip[ ] sharply” in [p]laintiffs’ favor 13 in order to succeed in a request for preliminary injunction. Id. at 1134–35. 14 III.

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(PS) Hoggan v. Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ps-hoggan-v-specialized-loan-servicing-llc-caed-2021.