Ryan-Beedy v. Bank of N.Y. Mellon

293 F. Supp. 3d 1101
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedFebruary 22, 2018
DocketCIV. NO. 2:17–1999 WBS EFB
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 293 F. Supp. 3d 1101 (Ryan-Beedy v. Bank of N.Y. Mellon) 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
Ryan-Beedy v. Bank of N.Y. Mellon, 293 F. Supp. 3d 1101 (E.D. Cal. 2018).

Opinion

WILLIAM B. SHUBB, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Plaintiff Suzanne Ryan-Beedy initiated this action against defendants Ditech Financial, LLC ("Ditech") and the Bank of New York Mellon fka The Bank of New York as Trustee for the Benefit of the Certificate Holders of the CWALT, Inc. ("the Bank of New York Mellon") for damages and equitable relief resulting from defendants' alleged acts or omissions concerning the residential mortgage loan modification transactions and subsequent foreclosure of plaintiff's property. Presently before the court are separate Motions to Dismiss by Ditech and the Bank of New York Mellon. (Docket Nos. 18, 22.)

I. Factual and Procedural Background

In September 2004, plaintiff obtained a $295,000 loan from American Mortgage Network, Inc. in order to refinance her property in Tahoma, CA ("the subject property"). (First Amended Compl. ("FAC") (Docket No. 16) ¶ 14.) The subject property is a rental property and is not plaintiff's primary residence. (Id. ¶ 15.) This loan was secured by a Deed of Trust on the property, which was assigned to the Bank of New York Mellon on April 16, 2011. (Id. ¶ 3.)

By July 2015, plaintiff was in default in the amount of $137,559.18. A Notice of Trustee's Sale of the Property was recorded on October 27, 2015, and the sale was set for November 25, 2015. Subsequently, on November 25, 2015, plaintiff filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection. (FAC ¶ 16.) Accordingly, the sale did not proceed that day.

*1107Plaintiff alleges that in August 2016, her husband contacted who he thought was the Bank of New York Mellon, but in reality he spoke with a representative from Residential Credit Solutions, plaintiff's mortgage servicer. (Id. ¶ 17.) Unbeknownst to plaintiff, the Bank of New York Mellon had hired Residential Credit Solutions to service the subject loan. (Id. ) The Residential Credit Solutions representative allegedly told plaintiff's husband that due to accounting errors in the loan, plaintiff owed less than had been represented to her and was in fact "nearly caught up" on the loan. (Id. ) The representative further explained that if plaintiff stopped making her Chapter 13 payments and began making payments on the loan directly, Bank of New York Mellon would correct the accounting errors, modify the loan, and the loan would be brought current. (Id. ) The agent also allegedly told plaintiff's husband that plaintiff should not begin making payments until she received the modification documents. (Id. ¶ 18.)

On August 11, 2016, relying on these representations from the Residential Credit Solutions agent, plaintiff moved to dismiss her Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Case. In her dismissal, she explained that her "financial and legal situation had unexpectedly changed." (Bank's Req. for Judicial Notice, Ex. R. (Pl.'s Decl. in Supp. of Mot. to Dismiss Bankruptcy).)1 Plaintiff's motion was granted and her Bankruptcy Case was dismissed on August 12, 2016. However, she was unable to get anyone from Bank of New York Mellon or Residential Credit Solutions to help her obtain a loan modification. (Id. ¶ 21.)

By this point, plaintiff's loan servicer had changed to Ditech, but plaintiff did not have actual knowledge of this. On or about June 13, 2017, Ditech caused a Notice of Trustee's Sale to be recorded, with a sale date noticed for July 7, 2017. (Id. ¶ 23.) However, Ditech did not send notices to plaintiff's primary residence in Folsom, California, and instead only sent notices to the subject property in Tahoma. (Id. ) Because of this, plaintiff did not learn of the noticed sale until on or about June 23, 2017, when a friend informed plaintiff of the notice that had been posted on the door. (Id. ) Plaintiff subsequently contacted the number on the Notice of Trustee's Sale on June 27, and it was during this conversation that plaintiff first learned that Ditech was, and had been, her loan servicer. (Id. ¶ 24.) The next day, plaintiff contacted Ditech directly, inquiring into how she could prevent the sale. (Id. ¶ 25.) During this conversation, plaintiff was informed that Ditech had been sending all communications to plaintiff's former attorney from a previous litigation that had ended in settlement years earlier, and not to her bankruptcy attorney whose representation post-dated the prior litigation. (Id. ¶ 26.)

On June 29, 2017, plaintiff spoke with a Ditech representative named "Kevin" who informed her that if she submitted a complete modification application prior to the scheduled sale date, the foreclosure would be automatically placed on hold as the application was reviewed. (Id. ¶ 28.) In response, plaintiff faxed and mailed her application documents to Ditech. (Id. ¶¶ 30-32.) On July 5, 2017, plaintiff checked the status of her application online and confirmed that all documents had been received. (Id. ¶ 33.) However, on July 6, Ditech informed plaintiff that she in fact needed to send one more document. (Id. ¶ 34.) Plaintiff immediately complied and faxed that document. (Id. ) A Ditech representative *1108named "Paul" then confirmed with plaintiff that her document had been received and the application was now complete. (Id. ) Despite this, the scheduled foreclosure sale occurred the next day, on July 7, 2017, and the subject property reverted to Bank of New York Mellon via a credit bid. (Id. ¶ 35.)

Following the foreclosure, plaintiff spoke with a Ditech representative named "Sean" and explained to him that she and her husband had spoken to at least seven Ditech agents who had ensured them that if plaintiff submitted a complete modification packet before the sale date, the sale would definitely be postponed. (Id. ¶ 36.) "Sean" explained that those agents had not been telling the truth, that the sale was never going to be postponed, and that Ditech often rejected modification applications. (Id. ) Days later, on or about July 17, 2017, after the foreclosure had occurred, plaintiff learned that Ditech had taken over as her loan servicer in or around February 2016, while her Chapter 13 Bankruptcy had still been in effect. (Id. ¶ 38.)

Plaintiff filed this action on December 8, 2017, alleging: (1) Intentional Misrepresentation/False Promise; (2) Negligent Misrepresentation; (3) Promissory Estoppel; (4) Negligence; (5) Wrongful Foreclosure; (6) Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress; and (7) Violation of Business and Professions Code § 17200.

II. Legal Standard

To survive a motion to dismiss, a plaintiff must plead "only enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007).

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293 F. Supp. 3d 1101, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ryan-beedy-v-bank-of-ny-mellon-caed-2018.