Weiss v. Washington Mutual Bank

53 Cal. Rptr. 3d 782, 147 Cal. App. 4th 72
California Court of Appeal·Decided January 29, 2007·No. B187834·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

53 Cal.Rptr.3d 782 (2007)
147 Cal.App.4th 72

Mitchell WEISS et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants,
v.
WASHINGTON MUTUAL BANK et al., Defendants and Respondents.

No. B187834.

Court of Appeal of California, Second District, Division One.

January 29, 2007.

Huang P.C., Lawyers, Patrick K. Huang, Los Angeles, Gail Sanes and Angela Lin, Arcadia, for Plaintiffs and Appellants.

Bill Lockyer and Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorneys General, Tom Greene, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Albert Norman Shelden, Assistant Attorney General, Ronald *783 A. Reiter and Michele R. Van Gelderen, Deputy Attorneys General, for the State of California as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiffs and Appellants.

Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, Julia B. Strickland, Scott M. Pearson, JiAe Moon, David W. Moon, Los Angeles; Office of the General Counsel, Theresa Marchlewski and Edward J. McNamara for Defendants and Respondents.

VOGEL, Acting P.J.

The question on this appeal is whether a lawsuit challenging a federal savings and loan association's prepayment penalty formula is preempted by the Home Owners' Loan Act (HOLA) and the regulations promulgated by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). (12 U.S.C. § 1461 et seq.; 12 C.F.R. §§ 560.2, 560.34). Our answer is yes.

FACTS[1]

A.

In July 2003, Mitchell Weiss (and others included in our references to Weiss) borrowed about $4 million from Washington Mutual Bank and signed two 10-year promissory notes—one for $1,175 million plus interest at 5.33 percent per annum and with monthly payments of $6,546.74 (secured by real property in Los Angeles), the other for $2.85 million plus interest at 5.33 percent per annum and with monthly payments of $15,879.32 (secured by real property in Beverly Hills). A prepayment addendum to each note set forth a formula for calculating the "prepayment premium" due in the event Weiss prepaid his obligations under the notes. Weiss negotiated the loans with Jeffrey Monahan, a Washington Mutual loan officer.

When Weiss read the prepayment addenda, he believed the prepayment penalty would be "below two percent" of the unpaid balance or, if higher than 2 percent, only by a "small margin." In fact, the addenda provided for a prepayment penalty of up to 10 percent of the unpaid balance (depending on the time of prepayment). In October and November 2004, Weiss prepaid both notes, including prepayment penalties of roughly 10 percent of the unpaid balances ($286,740.35 on the $2.85 million loan, and $116,509.98 on the $1,175 million loan).

B.

In January 2005, Weiss sued Washington Mutual and Monahan for fraud, unlawful restraint on alienation of real property, unfair and deceptive business practices, and unjust enrichment, alleging that Washington Mutual had not disclosed that the prepayment penalty formula could yield a penalty rate as high as 10 percent of the unpaid balance of the loan, that he would not have borrowed from Washington Mutual had he not been misled, and that the prepayment penalty placed an exorbitant burden on the property used to secure the loans and constituted an unfair business practice. Weiss sought damages, restitution, reformation, and declaratory relief.

Washington Mutual and Monahan answered, then moved for judgment on the pleadings on the ground that Weiss's complaint is preempted by federal law, the Home Owners' Loan Act (HOLA) and the regulations promulgated by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). (12 U.S.C. § 1461 et seq.; 12 C.F.R. §§ 560.2, 560.34). Over Weiss's opposition, the motion *784 was granted without leave to amend, and Weiss now appeals from the judgment thereafter entered.

DISCUSSION

Weiss contends his claims are not preempted. We disagree.

A.

OTS has the exclusive authority to regulate the operations of federal savings associations such as Washington Mutual (12 C.F.R. § 560.2; Fidelity Federal Sav. & Loan Assn. v. de la Cuesta (1982) 458 U.S. 141, 144-145, 102 S.Ct. 3014, 73 L.Ed.2d 664) and with Congress's authorization (12 U.S.C. §§ 1463(a), 1464(a)) has preempted any state law that even incidentally affects prepayment penalties (12 C.F.R. § 560.2(b)(5) ["the types of state laws preempted ... include ... state laws purporting to impose requirements regarding ... [l]oan-related fees, including ... prepayment penalties"]; 12 C.F.R. § 560.34 [authorizing prepayment fees]).[2] Because all of Weiss's claims against Washington Mutual seek relief that if granted would necessarily impose requirements on Washington Mutual's prepayment penalty provisions, all of those claims are preempted. (Meyers v. Beverly Hills Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n (9th Cir.1974) 499 F.2d 1145, 1147 [in a class action challenging prepayment provisions as invalid liquidated damage clauses, holding that federal law preempts the field of prepayments of real estate loans "so that any California law in the area is inapplicable to federal savings and loan associations operating within California"]; see also Washington Mutual Bank v. Superior Court (2002) 95 Cal.App.4th 606, 610, 115 Cal.Rptr.2d 765; Stoneking v. Bank of America, N.A. (N.M.App.2002) 132 N.M. 79, 43 P.3d 1089, 1091; Silvas v. E*Trade Mortg. Corp. (S.D.Cal.2006) 421 F.Supp.2d 1315, 1321; National Home Equity Mortg. Ass'n v. Face (E.D.Va.1999) 64 F.Supp.2d 584, 590, affd. (4th Cir.2001) 239 F.3d 633.)

B.

To avoid this conclusion, Weiss contends his claims against Washington Mutual and, in particular, his fraud claim against Monahan are exempt from HOLA's preemption *785 because they "only incidentally affect [Washington Mutual's] lending operations ... or are otherwise consistent with the purposes" of HOLA. (12 C.F.R. § 560.2(c).) We disagree.

Although 12 C.F.R. § 560.2(c) exempts state tort laws that only incidentally affect the lending operations of federally regulated institutions, the "incidentally affect" analysis is triggered only when dealing with an activity that is not listed in 12 C.F.R. § 560.2(b). According to the OTS, "[w]hen analyzing the status of state laws under § 560.2, the first step will be to determine whether the type of law in question is listed [among the illustrative examples of preempted state

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Weiss v. Washington Mutual Bank, 53 Cal. Rptr. 3d 782, 147 Cal. App. 4th 72 (Cal. Ct. App. 2007).

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