Tonya Masis-Barrett v. PHH Mortgage Corporation, Ocwen Financial Corporation, and Does 1-50, Inclusive

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedMarch 6, 2026
Docket3:25-cv-03178
StatusUnknown

This text of Tonya Masis-Barrett v. PHH Mortgage Corporation, Ocwen Financial Corporation, and Does 1-50, Inclusive (Tonya Masis-Barrett v. PHH Mortgage Corporation, Ocwen Financial Corporation, and Does 1-50, Inclusive) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tonya Masis-Barrett v. PHH Mortgage Corporation, Ocwen Financial Corporation, and Does 1-50, Inclusive, (S.D. Cal. 2026).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 TONYA MASIS-BARRETT, Case No.: 3:25-cv-3178-CAB-MSB

11 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO 12 v. DISMISS

13 PHH MORTGAGE CORPORATION, 14 OCWEN FINANCIAL CORPORATION, [Doc. No. 4] and DOES 1-50, Inclusive, 15 Defendants. 16 17 Before the Court is a motion to dismiss Plaintiff’s complaint filed by Defendants 18 PHH Mortgage Corporation, LLC (“PHH”) and Onity Group, Inc.1 (collectively, 19 “Defendants”). [Doc. No. 4.] The Court finds the motion suitable for submission on the 20 papers and without oral argument in accordance with CivLR 7.1(d)(1). The Court 21 GRANTS Defendants’ motion to dismiss as detailed below. 22 I. BACKGROUND 23 On October 13, 2025, Plaintiff Tonya Masis-Barrett (“Plaintiff” or “Masis-Barrett”) 24 filed a complaint in the Superior Court of California, San Diego County alleging claims of 25 breach of contract, fraud and document forgery, and negligence claims against Defendants 26

27 1 According to Defendants, the original state court complaint “erroneously” sued Ocwen Financial 28 1 related to a mortgage on her property located in Solana Beach. [Doc. No. 1-4 (“Compl.” 2 or “Complaint”).] Defendant PHH is the loan servicer for the mortgage and Defendant 3 Onity Group, Inc. is the parent company of PHH. [Doc. No. 4-1 at 3.] Defendants removed 4 the action to this Court on the basis of diversity jurisdiction. [Doc. No. 1 (“NOR”) at ¶ 8.] 5 Plaintiff’s complaint stems from a mortgage she obtained from Defendants for a 6 property in Solana Beach, California. [Compl. at ¶ 8.] Following a job loss, Plaintiff 7 defaulted on the loan in July 2024 and subsequently obtained a forbearance and started a 8 loan modification trial plan in November 2024. [Id. at ¶ 9; see also Doc. No. 4-1 at 3.] 9 Plaintiff alleges she made timely trial payments and Defendants offered her a final loan 10 modification agreement. [Compl. at ¶¶ 10–11.] After Plaintiff questioned a charge in the 11 loan modification agreement, Defendants extended the deadline for her to return the 12 completed document. [Id. at ¶ 12.] Plaintiff alleges she notarized and mailed the signed 13 loan modification document on March 14, 2025, with confirmed delivery on March 19, 14 2025. [Id. at ¶ 13.] Defendants denied the loan modification on April 9, 2025 because 15 they claimed it was received late and contained a notary error. [Compl. ¶ 14.] Plaintiff 16 alleges that Defendant PHH “forged and altered the notarized modification documents, 17 including removing the notary’s handwritten ID notation and changing Plaintiff’s 18 handwritten date” to justify the denial. [Id. at ¶ 14.] Defendants then moved forward with 19 the process to foreclose on and sell Plaintiff’s property. 20 II. LEGAL STANDARD 21 Under Rule 12(b)(6), a party may bring a motion to dismiss based on the failure to 22 state a claim upon which relief may be granted. A Rule 12(b)(6) motion challenges the 23 sufficiency of a complaint as failing to allege “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is 24 plausible on its face.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007). Ordinarily, 25 for purposes of ruling on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, the court “accept[s] factual allegations in 26 the complaint as true and construe[s] the pleadings in the light most favorable to the 27 nonmoving party.” Manzarek v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 519 F.3d 1025, 1031 28 (9th Cir. 2008). But a “pleading that offers ‘labels and conclusions’ or ‘a formulaic 1 recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 2 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555). “Determining whether a complaint 3 states a plausible claim for relief . . . [is] a context-specific task that requires the reviewing 4 court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense.” Id. at 679. 5 Generally, leave to amend a pleading “shall be freely given when justice so requires. 6 Fed. R. Civ. P. 15 (a)(2). See, e.g., Eminence Cap., LLC v. Aspeon, Inc., 316 F.3d 1048, 7 1051 (9th Cir. 2003) (“This policy ‘is to be applied with extreme liberality.’”) Dismissal 8 without leave to amend is only appropriate when the court is satisfied that the deficiencies 9 in the complaint could not possibly be cured by amendment. Jackson v. Carey, 353 F.3d 10 750, 758 (9th Cir. 2003); Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1127 (9th Cir. 2000) (holding that 11 dismissal with leave to amend should be granted even if no request to amend was made). 12 III. JURISDICTION 13 While the instant motion was pending, the Court issued an order to show cause 14 regarding jurisdiction because Defendants’ motion referred to PHH as both an LLC and a 15 corporation. [Doc. No. 15.] Defendants responded that they “mistakenly referred to PHH 16 Mortgage Corporation as an ‘LLC’ in the pending Motion to Dismiss papers” and requested 17 that the Court recognize PHH as PHH Mortgage Corporation, as it is listed in the caption 18 and discussed in the removal papers. [Doc. No. 16 at 1–2.] Based on Defendants’ 19 response, the Court is satisfied of its subject matter jurisdiction under diversity jurisdiction. 20 28 U.S.C. § 1332. 21 IV. DISCUSSION 22 Plaintiff brings causes of action for fraud and document forgery, negligence, 23 wrongful foreclosure, unfair business practices, and injunctive and declaratory relief. 24 [Compl. at 5–6.] Defendants move to dismiss all of Plaintiff’s causes of action for failure 25 to state a claim under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). The Court analyzes each cause of action in 26 turn but notes generally that Plaintiff’s complaint is largely threadbare, with most causes 27 of action supported by only one or two conclusory sentences. 28 /// 1 A. Claim for Fraud and Document Forgery 2 The heart of Plaintiff’s complaint appears to be Plaintiff’s allegations that PHH 3 “knowingly altered notarized documents and presented falsified copies to justify denial” 4 of her loan modification and that “[s]uch conduct constitutes fraud and forgery under 5 California Penal Codes §§ 115 and 470.” [Compl. at ¶¶ 23–24.] Defendants move to 6 dismiss these claims because criminal statutes are not enforceable by private actors. [Doc. 7 No. 4-1 at 6.] Plaintiff counters that her allegations of fraud and document forgery 8 represent “civil misconduct” and that they “may not be dismissed merely because criminal 9 statutes are referenced in the background allegations.” [Doc. No. 12 at 4–5.] 10 The Court does not view Plaintiff’s claims as mere “background allegations.” To 11 the contrary, Plaintiff’s cited California criminal statutes are the only asserted statutory 12 basis for her fraud and document forgery claim, even though there are civil causes of action 13 under California law for fraud. E.g. Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1709–10. The Court therefore 14 GRANTS the motion to dismiss these claims with leave to amend. 15 B. Claim for Negligence 16 Plaintiff alleges that “PHH owed Plaintiff a duty to process modification documents 17 accurately and in good faith” and that PHH breached this duty through “reckless handling 18 and document tampering[.]” [Compl.

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Bluebook (online)
Tonya Masis-Barrett v. PHH Mortgage Corporation, Ocwen Financial Corporation, and Does 1-50, Inclusive, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tonya-masis-barrett-v-phh-mortgage-corporation-ocwen-financial-casd-2026.