Samuel T. Isaac & Associates, Inc. v. Federal National Mortgage Ass'n

647 S.W.2d 495, 1982 Ky. App. LEXIS 284
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedMay 21, 1982
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 647 S.W.2d 495 (Samuel T. Isaac & Associates, Inc. v. Federal National Mortgage Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Samuel T. Isaac & Associates, Inc. v. Federal National Mortgage Ass'n, 647 S.W.2d 495, 1982 Ky. App. LEXIS 284 (Ky. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

HOWARD, Judge.

This is a case in which a mortgage banker appeals from a judgment terminating his contract with the Federal National Mortgage Association, better known as “Fannie Mae.” Fannie Mae filed suit in the Fayette Circuit Court seeking a preliminary injunction requiring the mortgage banker (appellant Samuel T. Isaac and Associates, hereinafter referred to as STI) to turn over certain records pertaining to mortgage loans after termination of their contract. Fannie Mae (hereinafter referred to as FNMA), sought return of the servicing rights and other documentation related to certain mortgage loans serviced by STI under the contract. The trial was had before the Honorable George E. Barker.

The trial court entered extensive findings of fact and conclusions of law which in effect upheld the termination of the contract between FNMA and STI. However, [496]*496the court ruled that FNMA was a federal instrumentality and that its action in terminating the contract herein was “federal action.” This means that FNMA was required to give a due process hearing to the appellant under the federal and state constitutions. In effect, this meant that FNMA’s September 22, 1980 termination letter was ineffective alone and that a due process hearing was necessary. However, the court concluded that it had given the due process hearing and therefore decided that the contract was terminated as of the date of the entry of the judgment. STI appeals and urges the following grounds:

1. The trial court exceeded its authority in terminating the contract in issue.
2. The trial court’s determination that STI breached the contract was unsupported by substantial evidence and therefore constituted an abuse of discretion.
3. The trial court’s denial of STI’s right to sell its loan portfolio constituted an abuse of discretion and is unsupported by the pleadings or proof and resulted in an unwarranted forfeiture inconsistent with the court’s order, findings and conclusions.

On the other hand, the appellee cross-appeals from that portion of the final judgment which terminated for cause the servicing contract as of April 3,1981, the date the final judgment was entered, instead of September 22, 1980, the date FNMA gave notice of termination.

Before discussing the foregoing issues, however, we deem it necessary to give the following background information.

The business of STI is to originate mortgage loans and to service such loans. To originate loans STI must solicit, receive, process and evaluate applications for loans, obtain the money, and close the loan, taking a note and mortgage as security. To provide the initial funds for closing, mortgage bankers generally will have lines of credit established with banks known as “warehouse banks.” Those warehouse banks provide all or a substantial portion of the money to close the loans and take the note and mortgage as collateral in addition to whatever other collateral or security is given to -establish the line of credit. Generally, then, the note and mortgage is sold to an investor such as FNMA, GNMA1 or a private institution mortgage investor on the secondary mortgage market. The procedure generally followed is that the original note and mortgage is taken from the warehouse bank upon a trust receipt which obligates the mortgage banker to repay the warehouse bank loan from the proceeds from the sale of the note and mortgage.

Upon the sale of the note and mortgage, the mortgage banker does receive an origination fee which generally does not completely reimburse the mortgage banker for the cost of origination. The business profit of the mortgage banker, in large part, depends upon its servicing function. Generally an investor purchasing a mortgage will engage the selling mortgage banker to continue to service the mortgage for which a servicing fee is paid. The servicing function encompasses many activities in addition to receiving the monthly mortgage payments and making disbursements of principal and interest to the investor. Many mortgages require the monthly payment of a pro rata portion of taxes and insurances which must be accumulated by the mortgage banker in an escrow account from which annual or semi-annual payments of taxes and insurance premiums are made. The mortgage servicer is also required to monitor all activities which may occur in the investor’s mortgage portfolio such as sales, divorces, transfers, casualty losses, insurance claims, delinquencies and foreclosures.

The court found from the evidence that beginning in May, 1979, STI committed a series of substantial and material breaches of its contract with FNMA/GNMA. The President of STI, without the knowledge or consent of anyone, including other officers of STI, began to use the funds of FNMA for private purposes. The court found that such actions were knowing and wilful [497]*497breaches of a fiduciary relationship. The excuse that withdrawals from the clearing account were only of money estimated to be due STI was held to be totally unacceptable.

The evidence revealed that the events which led up to the termination of the contracts began to occur in May, 1979, when the HUD Mortgagee Review Board considered the recommendation of the HUD Chicago area office that the HUD-FHA mortgagee approval of STI be withdrawn due to its handling of a multi-family project mortgage in Pekin, Illinois. It was alleged that Samuel T. Isaac, President of STI, had made a false certification as to a loan commitment and had improperly collected a fee of $151,843.00. On October 16, 1979, the HUD Mortgagee Review Board withdrew STI’s mortgagee approval, sometimes referred to as the “eagle”, on a temporary basis, the Board having determined that a continuation of mortgagee approval during the period within which STI could request a hearing was not in the public interest. The determination was based on the false certification and a violation of regulations which resulted in a $1,723,700.00 shortfall precluding a final endorsement of the mortgage. The temporary flight of the “eagle” did not affect servicing of existing mortgages. STI requested a hearing and as of this time no decision has been reached as to the reinstatement of permanent disbarment.

On August 8, 1979, Kentucky Housing Corporation, a state agency investor, made an audit of its accounts with STI and, based upon alleged discrepancies, attempted to terminate its contracts with STI. Litigation which followed in the Franklin Circuit Court concluded favorably to STI and STI presently retains its contractual relationship with Kentucky Housing Corporation.

In addition to these problems, HUD performed two audits of STI, one dated January 31, 1980, and the other dated April 10, 1980, which audits reported significant deficiencies, including inappropriate transfer of clearing account and escrow account funds totalling $477,270.14.

Also, a FNMA audit conducted January 28, 1980 — February 14, 1980, reported eleven (11) discrepancies, including the unauthorized and improper withdrawal of investor funds for STI’s private use from the collection clearing account beginning May, 1979. From time to time corporate funds of STI were deposited in this account to repay the unauthorized withdrawals, but as late as January 22,1980, the excess of “borrowed” funds over “repayments” was $128,-017.50. This excess was completely repaid by STI in February, 1980, but to avoid possible reoccurrences, FNMA required that use of the collection clearing account by STI be discontinued.

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647 S.W.2d 495, 1982 Ky. App. LEXIS 284, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/samuel-t-isaac-associates-inc-v-federal-national-mortgage-assn-kyctapp-1982.