Robinson v. Bank of America CA4/2

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 10, 2015
DocketE057590
StatusUnpublished

This text of Robinson v. Bank of America CA4/2 (Robinson v. Bank of America CA4/2) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Robinson v. Bank of America CA4/2, (Cal. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

Filed 2/10/15 Robinson v. Bank of America CA4/2

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION TWO

RITA ROBINSON et al.,

Plaintiffs and Appellants, E057590

v. (Super.Ct.No. CIVDS1113653)

BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., OPINION INDIVIDUALLY AND AS A SUCCESSOR ETC.,

Defendant and Respondent.

APPEAL from the Superior Court of San Bernardino County. David Cohn,

Judge. Affirmed.

The Thomas Law Group, Stephen J. Thomas and Tim C. Lin for Plaintiffs and

Appellants.

Reed Smith, David J. de Jesus, Michael E. Gerst and John Cooper Green for

1 In a Second Amended Complaint (SAC), plaintiffs and appellants Rita Robinson

(Robinson) and Jason Stiller (Stiller) sued defendant and respondent Bank of America,

NA (Bank)1 for (1) fraud; (2) negligent misrepresentation; (3) promissory estoppel;

(4) unfair and deceptive business practices (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200)2; (5) unjust

enrichment; (6) equitable indemnity; (7) violation of the Mortgage Foreclosure

Consultant Act of 1979; and (8) untrue and misleading representations (§ 17500). The

trial court sustained Bank’s demurrer to the SAC on all causes of action, without leave

to amend. The trial court dismissed the case with prejudice.

Robinson and Stiller (collectively, plaintiffs) raise five issues on appeal. First,

plaintiffs assert the SAC reflects sufficient facts to support causes of action for fraud

and negligent misrepresentation. Second, plaintiffs contend their First Amended

Complaint (FAC) set forth sufficient facts to support a breach of contract cause of

action. Third, plaintiffs assert the FAC reflects sufficient facts to support a cause of

action for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Fourth,

plaintiffs contend they adequately pled promissory estoppel. Fifth, plaintiffs assert they

sufficiently pled a violation of the unfair competition law (§ 17200). We affirm the

judgment.

1 Plaintiffs also sued BAC Home Loans Services as “an unknown entity”; however, in the trial court and again here on appeal Bank of America, N.A. entered its appearance as “Bank of America, N.A. (for itself, erroneously sued as ‘Bank of America’ and as successor by merger to BAC Home Loans servicing, LP, erroneously sued as ‘BAC Home Loan Services’)” so we treat them as a single entity.

2All subsequent statutory references will be to the Business and Professions Code unless otherwise indicated.

2 FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

A. MODIFICATION AND FORECLOSURE

The following facts are taken from plaintiffs’ SAC. In December 2006, plaintiffs

purchased a home in Rialto (the property) for $271,000. Plaintiffs used a mortgage

from Bank to purchase the property. At some point, one of the plaintiffs was laid off

from his/her job, and therefore suffered a loss of income. In 2009, plaintiffs applied for

a mortgage modification. Bank agreed to a trial mortgage modification, which would

begin in December 2009. During the trial modification period, plaintiffs’ mortgage

payments were lower than their original mortgage payments.

Plaintiffs had been current on their mortgage payments prior to starting the trial

mortgage modification. Plaintiffs made their trial loan modification payments as well.

In May 2011, plaintiffs’ application for a loan modification was approved by Bank’s

underwriter and forwarded to “quality control for final approval.” In July 2011,

plaintiffs contacted a “trustee” regarding reinstating their loan; we infer plaintiffs

contacted Bank. Plaintiffs “requested to be put back into a situation that they were in

before” they began making the trial modified mortgage payments. Bank informed

plaintiffs a foreclosure sale was scheduled for the property on August 4th, and

$13,488.82 would be needed to stop the sale. Plaintiffs borrowed the money from

family members, and “save[d] their home.” In September 2011, Bank approved a

mortgage modification for plaintiffs. The loan modification paperwork was backdated

to March 1, 2010. Plaintiffs did not sign the mortgage modification documents.

3 B. SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT

In plaintiffs’ SAC, in the fraud cause of action, plaintiffs allege Bank acted

fraudulently because it had “no intention” of modifying plaintiffs’ loan. Plaintiffs

support this assertion by alleging foreclosure activity, such as the scheduling of the sale,

was taking place while plaintiffs were seeking a loan modification. Plaintiffs asserted

they asked a Bank employee if their mortgage account would be considered delinquent

if they made the lower, modified payments, and the Bank employee responded, “no.” In

regard to negligent misrepresentation, plaintiffs asserted the misrepresentations set forth

in the fraud cause of action also qualified as negligent misrepresentations.

In the promissory estoppel cause of action, plaintiffs alleged Bank promised not

to proceed with foreclosure activities if plaintiffs made their trial loan modification

payments. Plaintiffs alleged Bank breached its promise by recording a Notice of

Default against the property. In regard to the unfair competition cause of action

(§ 17200), plaintiffs assert Bank engaged in unfair competition by failing to perform as

promised in modifying plaintiffs’ loan. For example, Bank was “unwilling to modify

their loans.”

Bank demurred to the SAC. In October 2012, at a hearing on the demurrer, the

trial court explained plaintiffs failed to execute the loan modification documents. The

court explained plaintiffs were obligated to make monthly mortgage payments, so the

payments made during the trial modification period could not constitute damages. The

court explained, “The plaintiffs bought this property, had a mortgage, were obligated to

4 pay, were in default. There was a—there were negotiations that took place. There was

a trial modification period, which was never executed.”

Plaintiffs explained they did not sign the loan modification documents because

Bank told plaintiffs they still owed $16,000, but plaintiffs asserted they had already paid

the required sum to make their loan current—there appears to be a discrepancy in the

record regarding whether the sum owed to make the original mortgage current was

$16,000 or $13,488.82. Plaintiffs argued Bank acted wrongfully by placing plaintiffs in

default and accumulating charges for penalties and interest on the original loan, while

telling plaintiffs that their loan modification would be approved and not disclosing the

various foreclosure activities taking place against the property. The trial court sustained

the demurrer without leave to amend.

C. FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT

In the FAC, plaintiffs alleged a cause of action for breach of a written contract.3

Plaintiffs alleged they entered into a contract with Bank, wherein Bank agreed to

modify plaintiffs’ loan, and Bank breached its obligation by refusing to perform. Also,

in the FAC, plaintiffs alleged a cause of action for breach of the implied covenant of

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Robinson v. Bank of America CA4/2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/robinson-v-bank-of-america-ca42-calctapp-2015.