Stewart v. Bierman

859 F. Supp. 2d 754, 2012 WL 1655716, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64355
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedMay 8, 2012
DocketCivil Case No. RWT 10cv2822
StatusPublished
Cited by120 cases

This text of 859 F. Supp. 2d 754 (Stewart v. Bierman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stewart v. Bierman, 859 F. Supp. 2d 754, 2012 WL 1655716, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64355 (D. Md. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ROGER W. TITUS, District Judge.

On October 13, 2010, Marjorie Stewart (“Stewart”), Jay Nachbar (“Nachbar”), and Gerald and Debbie Lembach (“Lembachs”) (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) filed suit against Howard Bierman, George Geesing, Carrie Ward, and the law firm of Bierman, Geesing, Ward & Wood, LLC (“BGWW”) (collectively, “Defendants”). All claims in this putative class action arise from Defendants’ conduct in the initiation of foreclosure proceedings on Plaintiffs’ homes. Plaintiffs’ six count Complaint alleges that Defendants participated in fraudulent “robo-signings” to initiate foreclosure proceedings. See Compl. Defendants filed a motion to dismiss on January 6, 2011, Doc. No. 10, and this Court held a hearing on the motion on July 8, 2011. After the hearing, Plaintiffs moved for leave to file a first • amended complaint, Doc. No. 26, which this Court granted in part and denied in part. Doc. No. 29.

Plaintiffs then filed a five count Amended Complaint on August 24, 2011, alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692, et seq., violations of Maryland Real Property Article §§ 7-105.1 and 7-105.2, negligence, violations of the Maryland Consumer Protection Act and Maryland Consumer Debt Collection Act, and respondeat superior. Doc. No. 31. On September 21, 2011, Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss the First Amended Compliant. Doc. No. 32. On September 29, 2011, Plaintiffs filed a Motion to Certify Questions of Law to the Court of Appeals of Maryland, Doc. No. 35, and a Motion to Stay Pending Answer. Doc. No. 33. On February 8, 2012, this Court held a hearing on the pending motions. For the reasons discussed below, the Defendants’ motion will be granted, and the Plaintiffs’ motions will be denied.

I. Background Facts

Bierman, Geesing, and Ward are attorneys licensed in Maryland, and all are principals of BGWW. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 15— 17, 22-25. As part of their practice, each defendant purportedly acted as a substitute trustee under deeds of trust recorded against real property owned by Maryland homeowners. Id. ¶ 26. Defendants subsequently docketed foreclosure actions against many of these homeowners and litigated any contested foreclosure sales.

[758]*758Under Maryland law, certain documents must be filed with the court to initiate foreclosure proceedings. Id. ¶ 3. Since 2004, Bierman, Geesing, and Ward allegedly have failed to personally execute many of these required documents. Id. ¶¶ 32-33. Instead, Bierman, Geesing, and Ward instructed BGWW employees to sign their names on documents submitted to Maryland state courts and instructed BGWW notaries to certify those documents as having been signed by them. Id. ¶¶ 32-33, 33.3-33.4. These documents included orders to docket, affidavits, and appointments of substitute trustees. Id. Bierman, Geesing, and Ward also allegedly began requiring BGWW clerical employees to forge notary signatures and affix notary stamps on these same documents. Id. ¶¶ 33.6-33.8. All these actions in preparing, executing, and filing documents were allegedly done to expedite the foreclosure process, but none is alleged by the Plaintiffs to have been factually incorrect as to the existence of a secured debt or the delinquency of the Plaintiffs.

After judicial ratification of the foreclosure sales, Defendants also allegedly directed BGWW clerical employees to affix the signatures of Bierman, Geesing, Ward, and others on trustee’s deeds, which resulted in the transfer of legal title to third parties. Plaintiffs allege that Bierman, Geesing, and Ward knew that this process created thousands of “counterfeit” trustee’s deeds. Id. ¶¶ 33.9-34. Plaintiffs maintain that each fraudulent trustee’s deed is a counterfeit document, which is void and actually transferred no interest in real property. Id. 1133.10. They suggest that “[e]ach such counterfeit deed remains a cloud on title.” Id. ¶ 40.

Only the Lembachs’ claims are still properly before this Court. The Court previously found that Stewart’s claims are barred by the doctrines of issue and claim preclusion, and that “any proposed amendments relating to Stewart’s claims are futile, and allegations and claims relating to the Stewart foreclosure will be stricken from the First Amended Complaint.” Doc. No. 29 at 10. Additionally, Plaintiffs informed the Court on November 18, 2011 of Nachbar’s death, but never filed a substitution of party. Doc. No. 47. Accordingly, the Nachbar claim also is no longer before this Court.

The Lembachs own real property located in Anne Arundel County, Maryland (“Lembaeh Property”). Am. Compl. ¶ 115. The Lembachs fell behind on their mortgage payments, and the lender for the Lembaeh Property, Deutsche Bank, appointed BGWW as substitute trustee under a deed of trust on or about September 22, 2009. Id. ¶¶ 116-19. Plaintiffs maintain that employees of BGWW fabricated signatures on the Order to Docket and other papers containing the alleged signatures of the trustees (Bierman, Geesing, and Ward). Id. ¶ 120. BGWW filed an Order to Docket a Foreclosure against the Lembaeh Property on September 28, 2009. Id. ¶ 122. Defendants dismissed the first foreclosure proceeding on December 14, 2009, and later docketed a second foreclosure action on March 17, 2010. Id. ¶ 133-34. Plaintiffs allege that Defendants relied on fraudulent documents in the second proceeding, id. ¶¶ 135-139, which “was dismissed by the state court.” Id. ¶ 140. No foreclosure action is pending against the Lembachs.

II. Standard of Review

A motion to dismiss pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) tests the sufficiency of the complaint. Edwards v. City of Goldsboro, 178 F.3d 231, 243 (4th Cir.1999). To survive a motion to dismiss, “a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Ash[759]*759croft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quotation omitted). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. “But where the well-pleaded facts do not permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged — but it has not “shown” — that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Id. at 1950; see also Simmons v. United Mortg. & Loan Invest, 634 F.3d 754, 768 (4th Cir.2011) (“On a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a complaint must be dismissed if it does not allege enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.”) (quotation and emphasis omitted).

A court must consider all well-pleaded allegations in a complaint as true, see Albright v. Oliver, 510 U.S. 266, 268, 114 S.Ct. 807, 127 L.Ed.2d 114 (1994), and must construe factual allegations in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. See Lambeth v. Bd. of Comm’rs,

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859 F. Supp. 2d 754, 2012 WL 1655716, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64355, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stewart-v-bierman-mdd-2012.