Residential Funding Co. v. Terrace Mortgage Co.

850 F. Supp. 2d 961, 2012 WL 388637, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14366
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedFebruary 7, 2012
DocketCivil No. 09-3455 (SRN/AJB)
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 850 F. Supp. 2d 961 (Residential Funding Co. v. Terrace Mortgage Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Residential Funding Co. v. Terrace Mortgage Co., 850 F. Supp. 2d 961, 2012 WL 388637, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14366 (mnd 2012).

Opinion

[963]*963MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

SUSAN RICHARD NELSON, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on the motion for summary judgment by Plaintiff Residential Funding Company, LLC (“Residential” or “RFC”) (Doc. No. 22). For the reasons stated below, this Court grants the motion.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On May 18, 1994, Residential entered into a “Seller/Servicer Contract” with Defendant Terrace Mortgage Company to purchase residential mortgage loans underwritten by Terrace on the condition that those loans met 'certain specified requirements. (Doc. No. 1, Ex. A., at 8.) Terrace concedes it was its responsibility to underwrite the loans “consistent with any conditions” placed on that loan by RFC. (Doc. No. 28, Ex. 1, at 43, 144.) The Contract expressly incorporated “the Residential Funding Seller and Servicer Guides” that Residential published and amended from time to time (collectively, the “agreement”). (Id.) Terrace, as “the ‘Seller/Servicer,’ ” acknowledged “that it has received and read the Guides.” (Id.) The Contract provided that “[a]ll provisions of the Guides are incorporated” into the agreement. (Id.) It further provided that it “may not be amended or modified orally, and no provision of [it] may be waived or amended except in writing,” but that “the Guides may be amended or supplemented by Residential Funding from time to time.” (Id.)

The Contract also included specified representations and warranties, including that “the Seller/Servicer makes the representations, warranties and covenants set forth in the Guides.” (Id.) Finally, the agreement provided that “[i]f an Event of Seller Default or an Event of Servicer Default shall occur, Residential Funding may, at its option, exercise one or more of those remedies set forth in the Guides,” including, as relevant here, a demand that Terrace repurchase a loan or otherwise make Residential whole. Id.

As contemplated by the agreement, Residential amended and supplemented the Guides during the relevant time-frame. It appears that four versions of the Guides are implicated here: (1) Version 1-05-G03, dated July 22, 2005; (2) Version 1-06-G01, dated March 13, 2006; (3) Version 1-06-G02, dated June 12, 2006; and (4) Version 1-06-G04, dated December 11, 2006. But for present purposes, it appears that none of the variations is relevant here.1

The parties engaged in a successful ongoing business relationship ..involving a substantial volume of loans for several years before the events in question here took place. (Doc. No. 28, Ex. 1, at 109.) Initially, when Residential notified Terrace that a particular loan needed to be repurchased by Terrace, the parties generally worked out the issue without strict adherence to the terms of the agreement, much less recourse to litigation. As the real estate market began to sour, however, Residential required repurchase of an increasing number of loans and the parties were unable to work out Residential’s objections to the loans at issue here. Sometime before February 14, 2008, Residential terminated its business relationship with Terrace. (Doc. No. 28, Ex. 1, at 93.)

Residential filed this action in December 2009, alleging that Terrace was obligated, but refused, to repurchase thirteen loans Residential had purchased from Terrace.2 [964]*964Residential’s Complaint asserted two counts: (1) one claim for breach of contract, and (2) one claim for indemnity for Residential’s attorneys’ fees, costs and disbursements pursuant to the parties’ agreement. (Doc. No. 1-1.) Residential now moves for summary judgment on both counts.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Summary Judgment Standard

The movant is entitled to summary judgment if it “shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). Here, Plaintiff seeks summary judgment on its own claims. Accordingly, Terrace, as the nonmovant, is entitled to any factual inferences being drawn in its favor, at least with respect to the elements of Residential’s claims for breach of contact and indemnification. And Residential, as the party seeking summary judgment on its own claims, bears the burden of proof on those claims.

But Terrace’s opposition is not confined to just the argument that Residential has failed to prove the elements of its claims. As noted above, Terrace’s Answer included several “affirmative and other defenses.” (Doc. No. 4, ¶¶ 24-32.) Terrace, however, has not moved for summary judgment, based either on any of its affirmative defenses or otherwise. And, of course, Terrace bears the burden of proof with respect to any affirmative defense. Lackawanna Chapter of the Ry. & Locomotive Hist. Soc’y, Inc. v. St. Louis County, Missouri, 606 F.3d 886, 888 (8th Cir.2010) (affirmative defense of statute of limitations); Fields Eng’g & Equip., Inc. v. Cargill, Inc., 651 F.2d 589, 593 (8th Cir.1981) (affirmative defense of waiver). Yet in opposing Residential’s motion for summary judgment, Terrace argues that Residential “must demonstrate that, as a matter of law, Terrace cannot prove its defenses at trial.” (Doc. No. 34, at 2.) Terrace contends that many of Residential’s individual claims are “subject to defenses that RFC has not demonstrated will fail, as a matter of law, at trial.” {Id. at 5.) Furthermore, Terrace claims that all of the “factual issues must be construed against RFC as the movant on summary judgment.” (Doc. No. 42, at 8.)

With respect to its affirmative defenses, Terrace thus improperly attempts to shift the burden to Residential. “A party resisting summary judgment cannot expect to rely on the bare assertions or mere cataloguing of affirmative defenses.” Harper v. Delaware Valley Broadcasters, Inc., 743 F.Supp. 1076, 1090 (D.Del.1990), aff'd, 932 F.2d 959 (3d Cir.1991) (table). Where the non-movant has alleged affirmative defenses but has not based any summary judgment motion of its own on such defenses, it nevertheless must still “come forward with evidence to support [its] affirmative defenses” in its opposition to the movant’s motion. Id. at 1090-91. In such a situation, it is “incumbent” upon the non-moving defendant “to respond by, at the very least, raising in their opposition papers any and all arguments or defenses [it believes] precluded judgment in Plaintiffs’ favor.” Johnson v. Bd. of Regents of the Univ. Of Georgia, 263 F.3d 1234, 1264 [965]*965(11th Cir.2001). The mere fact that a defendant has alleged affirmative defenses in its answer is not enough to preclude a plaintiffs motion for summary judgment. Frankel v. ICD Holdings S.A., 930 F.Supp. 54, 64 (S.D.N.Y.1996).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Kelley v. Kanios
383 F. Supp. 3d 852 (D. Maine, 2019)
Kelley v. Kanios
D. Minnesota, 2019
In re RFC & Rescap Liquidating Trust Action
332 F. Supp. 3d 1101 (D. Maine, 2018)
Perrin v. Papa John's International, Inc.
114 F. Supp. 3d 707 (E.D. Missouri, 2015)
Beightler v. Produkte Fur Die Medizin AG
610 F. Supp. 2d 847 (N.D. Ohio, 2009)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
850 F. Supp. 2d 961, 2012 WL 388637, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14366, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/residential-funding-co-v-terrace-mortgage-co-mnd-2012.