Robishaw v. Wells Fargo Bank

Superior Court of Maine·Decided May 26, 2010·No. CUMcv-09-263·Unpublished

Opinion

STATE OF MAINE SUPERIOR COURT CUMBERLAND, ss. STATE OF MA1N'trVIL ACTION V Cumberland, 55, Clerk's 1j18~et No. ~V-09-t63 r'~, MAY 26 2010 TfjvJ·- Cv ;\\ - 'J/<?-(,;"d'-:Jl 0 DEREK ROBISHAW, RECEIVED

Plaintiff,

v. ORDER WELLS FARGO BANK, et al., Defendants.

Before the court are motions for summary judgment filed by defendants Wells Fargo Bank, American Home Mortgage Servicing (AHMS), and Bryce Hamilton. Wells Fargo and AHMS are represented by the same counsel and have filed a joint motion.

1. Summary Iudgment Summary judgment should be granted if there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. In considering a motion for summary judgment, the court is required to consider only the portions of the record referred to and the material facts set forth in the parties' Rule 56 (h) statements. E.g., Johnson v. McNeil, 2002 ME 99 <[ 8, 800 A.2d 702,704. The facts must be considered in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Id. Thus, for purposes of summary judgment, any factual disputes must be resolved against the movant. Nevertheless, when the facts offered by a party in opposition to summary judgment would not, if offered at trial, be sufficient to withstand a motion for judgment as a matter of law, summary judgment should be granted. Rodrigue v. Rodrigue, 1997 ME 99 <[ 8, 694 A.2d 924, 926.

2. Undisputed and Disputed Facts In this case plaintiff Derek Robishaw, whose residence was the subject of a foreclosure judgment on April 26, 2007, is suing defendants for illegal eviction, breach of warranty of habitability, breach of warranty of quiet enjoyment, trespass, conversion, negligent destruction of personal property, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. He also seeks punitive damages.

A large number of facts are undisputed:

Robishaw originally executed a mortgage and promissory note in favor of Option One Mortgage Corp. in 2004. The mortgage covered his residence at 5 Shady Lane in Falmouth. Option One later assigned the mortgage and note to Wells Fargo but continued to service the mortgage for some period of time thereafter. AHMS subsequently became the mortgage servicer, but not until foreclosure proceedings were underway.

At some point Robishaw ceased to make mortgage payments and Wells Fargo commenced a foreclosure action in the Portland District Court in August 2006. The District Court entered a foreclosure judgment in favor of Wells Fargo in April 26, 2007. No appeal was filed and following the expiration of the statutory redemption period, Wells Fargo scheduled a public auction for October 2007. Robishaw was aware of the sale and the sale date but did not attend. At the sale, Wells Fargo was the highest bidder, and the property was sold to Well Fargo.

On October 26, 2007 the District Court issued a writ of possession. Despite several attempts, the writ was never served.

There is a dispute as to whether Robishaw and his family intended to abandon the 5 Shady Lane property, but they at least obtained interim alternative housing in November 2007 by entering into a 19 month lease on a residence on Rebecca Way in

Falmouth. By late December 2007, although they testified that they eventually hoped to return to 5 Shady Lane, the Robishaws had moved into the Rebecca Way residence and were residing there full time. From then until February 2008 Robishaw continued to return to 5 Shady Lane every week or so to gather certain of his personal property and move it to Rebecca Way.

As of February 2008 certain of the Robishaws' personal property remained at 5 Shady Lane. Robishaw had not signed any lease permitting him to keep his property at 5 Shady Lane, and he was not making any rent or other payment to store possessions in or otherwise occupy the 5 Shady Lane property. In addition, he had not had any discussions with Wells Fargo, AHMS or with Hamilton about remaining in the property.

Hamilton is a real estate agent affiliated with Coldwell Banker, which was hired by Option One (before the latter was replaced as servicer by AHMS) to determine the occupancy status of 5 Shady Lane, to change the locks, and prepare the property for resale. Hamilton had originally reported in October 2007 that the property still appeared to be occupied but he reported in February 2008 that he believed it was unoccupied and he then arranged for the locks to be changed. At that time, Hamilton was aware that 5 Shady Lane still contained personal property belonging to the Robishaws and he told Option One or AHMS that further notification to the Robishaws might be needed.

Robishaw returned to the property in late February 2008 and found the locks changed but gained access to the house through a kitchen window. 1 In April 2008, when he again returned to the property, Robishaw discovered several inches of standing water in his basement, soaking certain of his belongings that were still on the 1 Robishaw later changed a side door lock to gain continued access to the property.

property. Robishaw surmises that Hamilton or one of his agents had turned off the circuit breakers, including one that powered a basement sump pump. Hamilton had hired a vendor to change the locks, winterize the property, and drain the pipes. However, he denied that he ever gave any instruction to shut off the power, and there is no evidence to the contrary. There is also no evidence as to whether the circuit breakers were intentionally turned off or whether they tripped for some other reason.

After discovering standing water in the basement in February, Robishaw continued removing a few items at a time. He communicated with both Wells Fargo (through an attorney) and with Hamilton to complain about the standing water. His complaint to Hamilton occurred after Hamilton sent Robishaw a letter in May 2008 advising him he had 30 days to remove all his property or it would be disposed of. Hamilton sent Robishaw a second letter to the same effect in September 2008, this time with a September 30, 2008 deadline. After receiving that letter, Robishaw called Hamilton and demanded compensation. Some time later that fall Robishaw returned to the property and found that items of his personal property had been placed out on the lawn. There is no specific evidence as to who placed the belongings on the lawn.

In November the Robishaws discovered two men removing items belonging to them from the garage at 5 Shady Lane. Confronted by the Robishaws, the men stated they had been hired to clean out the garage and take the items to the dump. The two men called for instructions. This eventually led to a phone call from Stephen Schariff, an employee of Field Asset Services (a field preservation service working for AHMS), to Hamilton. Hamilton told Schariff that there was a dispute with the Robishaws and advised him that things needed to be left where they were. At that point the property was returned to the garage, and the Robishaws continued to remove items.

There is no evidence to controvert Hamilton's affidavit that he did not remove any items from 5 Shady Lane or have any role in the removal of such property by others. Hamilton was generally aware that when AHMS took over from Option One, AHMS had hired Field Asset Services to perform property maintenance services and that Field Asset Services had hired local vendors to engage in property maintenance work without consulting Hamilton. Robishaw Statement of Additional Facts in response to Hamilton's Motion err 6, Hamilton Reply SMF 6; Hamilton Dep. 79.

3. Illegal Eviction Whether Robishaw's claim for illegal eviction survives summary judgment depends on whether there is sufficient evidence, taken in the light most favorable to Robishaw, from which a jury could find that Robishaw was a tenant at will (as he contends) or whether he was at most a tenant at sufferance (as defendants contend).

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