Schott v. Huntington National Bank

914 F. Supp. 2d 933, 2012 WL 6725902, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 182123
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Indiana
DecidedDecember 27, 2012
DocketNo. 1:12-cv-00430-SEB-DKL
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 914 F. Supp. 2d 933 (Schott v. Huntington National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schott v. Huntington National Bank, 914 F. Supp. 2d 933, 2012 WL 6725902, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 182123 (S.D. Ind. 2012).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S PARTIAL MOTION TO DISMISS

SARAH EVANS BARKER, District Judge.

This cause comes before the Court on Defendant’s Partial Motion to Dismiss [Docket No. 15], filed May 30, 2012, pursuant to Rules 12(b)(6) and 9(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Defendant, Huntington National Bank, initially moved to dismiss Counts II, III, and IV of the Complaint [Docket No. 1] which Plaintiff, Roxanna Schott, filed on April 3, 2012. Following Plaintiffs voluntary dismissal of Count IV, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1), the Court accepted dismissal of the same without prejudice and without issuing an order. See Docket No. 19. Counts II and III remain pending, and Plaintiff opposes Defendant’s motion to dismiss these claims. For the reasons detailed below in this entry, Defendant’s motion is GRANTED.

Factual Background

Defendant, an Ohio corporation with its principal place of business in Columbus, Ohio, is a financial entity authorized to conduct business in Indiana. Compl. ¶ 4. On May 9, 2001, Defendant extended a home equity line of credit (“the HELOC”) in the amount of $215,000 to Plaintiff and her husband, Paul Schott. Id. ¶¶ 8-9, 13; Pl.’s Ex. A (personal credit line agreement). Plaintiff, Mr. Schott, and an agent of Defendant were all signatories to the HELOC agreement, which was secured by a mortgage on Plaintiffs Alexandria, Indiana residence.1 Compl. ¶¶ 9-11. According to the terms of this ten-year agreement, the credit limit could be repaid to Defendant through May 9, 2010. Id. ¶ 9.

In 2007, Plaintiffs marriage to Mr. Schott was dissolved by order of the Madison Superior Court, Cause Number 48D01-0503-DR000264. Compl. ¶ 13. The Schotts’ divorce decree awarded the Alexandria, Indiana residence exclusively [936]*936to Plaintiff and terminated Mr. Schott’s equity interest in the property. Because the residence was still encumbered by the HELOC debt, Plaintiff remained jointly and severally liable for this amount. Id. ¶ 14. She became the sole obligor for the HELOC debt after Mr. Schott filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy action2 and resolved all of his debt obligations under the terms of the resulting bankruptcy plan. Id. ¶ 15. With regard to Mr. Schott’s HE-LOC liability, the trustee of his bankruptcy plan approved a claim by Defendant in the amount of $22,800 and treated this debt as unsecured. Plaintiff, who was not a party to the foregoing bankruptcy proceedings, signed an instrument affirming her obligation under the HELOC/mortgage at Defendant’s request. Id. ¶¶ 16-18.

Plaintiff asserts that she “at all times made the required HEL[OC]/Mortgage [p]ayments or attempted, in good faith, to comply with [her] payment obligation to Defendant.” Compl. ¶ 19. She alleges that although Defendant initially sent periodic billing statements for the HELOC, it ceased to do so in the spring of 2009 and ignored her requests to provide such updates from that point onward. See id. ¶ 22. According to Plaintiff, “[a]ll [she] wanted to know was how much to pay.” Pl.’s Ex. C (hereafter “QWR”) at 1. To that end, she submits several excerpts from a prolonged colloquy between her and Defendant occurring from the spring of 2009 to early 2010 to illustrate her troubles:

• “I called the 800 number[,] and [Defendant] told me they could not tell me anything about the loan because it was in [bankruptcy;”
■ “I went to the bank in Alexandria and wrote a check for the amount I hoped would cover [four] months[’] worth of payments.... When I went into the [Alexandria] branch ... somehow [the teller] must not have credited this [payment] to my account;”
• “In July[,] between the week of the 19th to 25[th,] I received a call from a lady from Huntington telling me I [wasn’t] making my payments.... [S]he basically told me I had no rights to knowledge on this account[,] only the right to make the payments if I could figure out what was owed;”
• “In mid[-]August[,] I finally spoke to someone who talked to me ... and was able to get my payments credited through September;”
■ ‘When I went to the bank in late October!,] they told me I had no account;”
• “I went into the Elwood branch in the first week [of] January and spoke with Trista Tragesser. She had been very helpful[ ] in the past and ... made several phone calls.... [Defendant] told me the loan had been charged off in October ... [and that] I needed to make a payment of $2702.91 to account #_ 0903;”
• “[0]n January 23[, 2010,] ... I talked to a woman who told me she had no idea where I would get the idea that I could pay on this loan.... [A]fter being left on hold[,] I was transferred to Mike Goodare;” and
• “Now I am told I may have to pay larger payments and not have the benefit of my equity line. I had hoped to pay the line down by $100,000 this year.”

QWR at 1-2.

On January 25, 2010, hoping “to finally resolve the[se] intermittent servicing issues,” Plaintiff communicated the forego[937]*937ing concerns to Huntington manager Michael Goodare3 via email. Pl.’s Resp. at 2; Compl. ¶ 23. She did so pursuant to the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act (“RESPA”), 12 U.S.C. § 2605(e)(1)(B), which governs qualified written requests (“QWRs”) for information related to the servicing of federal mortgage loans. Plaintiff alleges that, contrary to RESPA’s requirements, Defendant “declined to respond in any meaningful way to [her] QWR.” Compl. ¶ 26. Six months later (on June 3, 2010), she received notice that Defendant had filed a Complaint on Credit Line Agreement against her in the Madison Superior Court. By virtue of that lawsuit, Cause Number 48D02-1006-CC-00452, Defendant sought damages in the amount of $211,277.33, accrued interest, and its attorneys’ fees. Id. ¶ 31; PL’s Ex. B at 1.

Plaintiff also asserts that Defendant reported her to consumer credit reporting agencies for allegedly failing to honor her obligations under the HELOC agreement. She contends that this rendering of her credit record “was known to be false ... [and] made in apparent bad faith.” Compl. ¶¶ 33-34. Nevertheless, despite her request that Defendant renounce such reports, she maintains that Defendant “failed to correct the error within 30 days.” Id. Plaintiff avers that her business, a “real estate rehabilitation, construction, and rental” operation, requires that she be able to draw upon credit lines. Id. ¶¶ 21, 35. Thus, in her opinion, Defendant’s conduct has significantly damaged her ability to finance subsequent business activities. Id. ¶ 33. This litigation initiated by her against Defendant is an attempt by Plaintiff to vindicate her rights and to recover for her injuries.

Legal Analysis

I. Standard of Review

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
914 F. Supp. 2d 933, 2012 WL 6725902, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 182123, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schott-v-huntington-national-bank-insd-2012.