Rogan v. Vanderbilt Mortgage & Finance, Inc. (In re Dorsey)

491 B.R. 464, 80 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 717, 2013 WL 1909497, 2013 Bankr. LEXIS 1994
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Kentucky
DecidedMay 6, 2013
DocketBankruptcy No. 11-30829; Adversary No. 12-3010
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 491 B.R. 464 (Rogan v. Vanderbilt Mortgage & Finance, Inc. (In re Dorsey)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rogan v. Vanderbilt Mortgage & Finance, Inc. (In re Dorsey), 491 B.R. 464, 80 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 717, 2013 WL 1909497, 2013 Bankr. LEXIS 1994 (Ky. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

GREGORY R. SCHAAF, Bankruptcy Judge.

Before the Court are cross-motions for summary judgment filed by the Plaintiff J. James Rogan, as Trustee [Doc. 22], and the Defendant Vanderbilt Mortgage & Finance, Inc. (“Vanderbilt”) [Doc. 23]. The Trustee claims Vanderbilt’s mortgage on Debtors’ interest in real property may be avoided pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 544 because Vanderbilt was not entitled to enforce the note on the petition date. Vanderbilt argues it has a properly perfected mortgage and has the right to enforce the underlying note. A hearing was held on March 21, 2013.

This Court has jurisdiction of this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1334(b) and this is a core proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(K). The following constitutes the Court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 7052.

I.FACTS

The following facts are uncontested:

1. On December 19, 2011 (“Petition Date”), the Debtors, Ricky J. Dorsey, Sr. and Karen A. Dorsey, filed their Chapter 7 petition for bankruptcy under Title 11 of the United States Code, 11 U.S.C. § 101, et seq. (“Bankruptcy Code”).

2. J. James Rogan is the duly appointed Chapter 7 Trustee for the bankruptcy estates of the Debtors.

3. On October 13, 2006, the Debtors executed a note in the amount of $108,000 (“Note”) in favor of Popular Financial Services, LLC (“Popular Financial Services”) and a mortgage (“Mortgage”) on real property located at 1711 Fairmont Road, Lawreneeburg, Kentucky (“Real Property”). The Mortgage was granted by Debtors to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (“MERS”), acting solely as a nominee for Popular Financial Services, to secure repayment of the Note.

4. The Mortgage was recorded in the Anderson County Clerk’s Office on October 24, 2006, in Mortgage Book 369, pages 288-303.

5. Also on October 13, 2006,1 Debtors executed an Affidavit of Conversion of Real Estate (“Affidavit”) converting a 2002 Clayton, Brookda mobile home to real es[467]*467tate. The Affidavit is recorded in the Anderson County Clerk’s Office at Miscellaneous Book 3, pages 37-38. There is no argument from the Trustee that the lien on the mobile home was not properly perfected.

6. Pursuant to a Purchase and Sale Agreement (“Purchase Agreement”) dated September 16, 2008, among Equity One, Inc. (“Seller”), Popular Inc. (“Parent”), Popular Mortgage Servicing, Inc. (“Servi-cer,” and together with the Seller and Parent, the “Transferor Parties”), and Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt purchased all of Seller’s right, title and interest in certain installment loan agreements described therein.

7. In accordance with the Purchase Agreement, the Seller executed a Blanket Assignment and Bill of Sale (“Bill of Sale”) dated September 16, 2008, to evidence conveyance of the installment loan contracts to Vanderbilt.

8. The Schedule of Contracts conveyed by and attached to the Purchase Agreement, and incorporated into the Bill of Sale by reference, included a contract dated 10/13/2006 with Ricky J. Dorsey.

9. Popular Financial Services is not a party to the Purchase Agreement or the Bill of Sale.

10. The record is silent regarding any relationship between Popular Financial Services and the Transferor Parties.

11. The Note does not contain an in-dorsement from Popular Financial Services to Vanderbilt (or any other entity). Nor is there evidence in the record of any allonge or separate indorsement from Popular Financial Services to Vanderbilt (or any other entity).

12. Vanderbilt was in possession of the original Note on the Petition Date.

13. On January 12, 2012, MERS, as nominee for Popular Financial Services, executed an Assignment of Mortgage (“Assignment”) to Vanderbilt2 The Assignment was recorded on February 13, 2012, in the Anderson County Clerk’s Office at Mortgage Book 475, page 666.

14. The Note, Mortgage, Affidavit, Assignment, Purchase Agreement and Bill of Sale are in the record.

15. The parties confirmed after oral argument that the matter is deemed submitted and each party would stand on the record.

II. STANDARD FOR MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Pursuant to Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 7056, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 applies in adversary proceedings.

[0]n several occasions, the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has described the standard to grant a motion for summary judgment as follows:

A court must grant summary judgment “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Under this test, the moving party may discharge its burden by “pointing out [468]*468to the [bankruptcy] court ... that there is an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party’s case.”

Buckeye Retirement Co., LLC, Ltd. v. Swegan (In re Swegan), 383 B.R. 646, 652-53 (6th Cir. BAP 2008) (quoting Gibson v. Gibson (In re Gibson), 219 B.R. 195, 198 (6th Cir. BAP 1998)).

The Supreme Court instructs a court to look beyond the pleadings and assess the proof needed to determine whether there is a genuine need for trial. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). After making an assessment of the proof, the determinative issue is “whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to [the trier of fact] or whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 251-53, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). In this regard, the moving party carries the burden of showing there is an absence of evidence to support a claim. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 324-25, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

After the moving party meets this burden, the non-moving party must go beyond the pleadings to identify more than a mere scintilla of evidence showing that there is a genuine issue of material fact for trial. Street v. J.C. Bradford & Co.,

Related

Junk v. CitiMortgage, Inc. (In re Junk)
512 B.R. 584 (S.D. Ohio, 2014)

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491 B.R. 464, 80 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 717, 2013 WL 1909497, 2013 Bankr. LEXIS 1994, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rogan-v-vanderbilt-mortgage-finance-inc-in-re-dorsey-kyeb-2013.