Wheeler v. Citigroup

938 F. Supp. 2d 466, 2013 WL 1403527
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedApril 8, 2013
DocketNo. 11 Civ. 472(KNF)
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 938 F. Supp. 2d 466 (Wheeler v. Citigroup) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wheeler v. Citigroup, 938 F. Supp. 2d 466, 2013 WL 1403527 (S.D.N.Y. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

KEVIN NATHANIEL FOX, United States Magistrate Judge.

Before the Court is the defendants’ motion to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, pursuant to Rule 12(h)(3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Docket Entry No. 135). The plaintiffs oppose the motion.

BACKGROUND

On July 8, 2011, the plaintiffs, proceeding pro se, commenced this action for damages against Citigroup, Citibank, CitiMortgage and CitiFinancial (collectively “Citi”), alleging violations of the: (i) Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, 12 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq; and (ii) Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. The plaintiffs also alleged breach of contract, negligence, trespass, larceny and vandalism. On November 8, 2011, the plaintiffs filed their first-amended complaint, asserting: (a) breach of contract; (b) breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing; (c) promissory estoppel; (d) trespass; (e) larceny; and (f) vandalism. On January 30, 2012, the plaintiffs filed their second-amended complaint, joining Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (“MERS”) and MERSCORP as defendants, and asserting the following claims: (1) breach of contract; (2) breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing; (3) promissory estoppel; (4) violation of New York Real Estate Recording laws; (5) “Attempting to Foreclose without Standing”; (6) trespass; (7) larceny; and (8) vandalism. On June 1, 2012, the plaintiffs filed their third-amended complaint, asserting the following claims: (1) breach of contract; (2) breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing; (3) promissory estoppel; (4) trespass; (5) larceny; (6) vandalism; (7) forgery of a mortgage assignment; (8) initiating a foreclosure without standing; (9) violation of New York Real Estate Recording laws; (10) mortgage nullification; (11) “MERS Encourages Servicers to Illegally Retain Notes”; (12) “MERS® eMortgages and eNotes are Illegal in New York”; (13) forgery of a promissory note; (14) deceptive acts and unlawful practices; and (15) punitive damages. On September 20, 2012, the parties consented, pursuant to 28 [469]*469U.S.C. § 636(c), to proceed before the undersigned for all purposes.

In their third-amended complaint, the plaintiffs allege that, on March 8, 2007, they entered into a home mortgage loan agreement with CitiMortgage, memorialized by the “Plaintiffs “wet-ink’ signature on the promissory note and the mortgage contract.” The plaintiffs assert that CitiMortgage, as a Home Affordable Modification Program (“HAMP”) participant, entered into a written agreement with them, “known as the Trial Period Plan Agreement (“TPP Agreement’)”, by which CitiFinancial “agreed to a finite “trial period,’ and promised that compliance with the TPP Agreement would result in the tender of a permanent loan modification required under [HAMP] rules.” The plaintiffs contend that they complied with the terms of the trial period plan, by “submitting the required documentation and making the three HAMP trial payments required under the Trial Period Plan.” According to the plaintiffs, CitiMortgage advised them to continue making “the reduced payments while they were awaiting the permanent modification documents to be generated through the originator and lender Defendant CitiMortgage as required under their Servicer Participation Agreement [“SPA”] and HAMP guidelines.” The plaintiffs maintain that they continued to make “the reduced HAMP payments directly to the servicer Defendant CitiMortgage on time, as agreed,” and “re-submitted the required documentation an additional eight times and made an additional seven payments directly to the servicer while waiting for the permanent modification documentation promised by the servicer, Defendant CitiMortgage.” However, the plaintiffs assert, CitiMortgage “failed to meet their contractual obligation to tender a permanent modification,” before the plaintiffs “became permanently displaced from the home by a municipal water main break on June 3, 2010.”

Thereafter, CitiMortgage commenced a foreclosure action, “as ‘assignee’ of Defendant Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems.” The plaintiffs assert that they “were never served in the electronic foreclosure matter and were only alerted to the invalid assignment by this agent’s attempt to ‘re-assign’ their electronic note using a known robo-signer in an effort to perfect the original lean [sic] on the asset.” The plaintiffs maintain that the defendants had no authority to commence the foreclosure action, since “they are not the legal owner or the holder of the ‘wet-ink’ promissory note and ‘wet-ink’ mortgage instrument physically signed by each of the Plaintiffs Wheeler.” According to the plaintiffs, they “were alerted to the dual tracking [of the mortgage loan] by Defendants after discovering on a routine visit to the home there had been a break in and burglary on May 4, 2011 by employees of a fourth sub-contractor for the servicer Defendant CitiMortgage, a third-party ‘property preservation’ contractor for Defendants MERSCORP, Safeguard Properties.” Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems and MERS created “an unregulated and completely opaque electronic mortgage registry, the ‘eRegistry’, outside the Westchester County recording system purporting to reflect actual mortgage interests.” The plaintiffs assert that, as a result, the defendants avoid “all subsequent recording fees and municipal taxes after automatically replacing the “wet ink’ promissory note and the ‘wet ink’ mortgage instrument for members immediately at closing creating electronic records and data pointers in their place.” According to the plaintiffs, the defendants also circumvent “recording statutes” and engage “in an electronic mortgage exchange purporting to trade the so-called ‘eNotes’ and ‘eMortgages’ as negotiable bearer instruments.” The plaintiffs assert that the assignment by Mortgage Elec[470]*470tronic Registration Systems is invalid, and “Defendants [sic] CitiMortgage dual tracking of the mortgage loan by negotiating a modification with Plaintiffs while simultaneously generating a ‘servicer-driveri default in the background through their loss mitigation unit of servicer Defendant CitiMortgage was deceptive and adversely affected the Wheelers.” The plaintiffs maintain that the defendants’ actions “collectively thwarted the purpose of [HAMP] and are illegal under New York State law.”

In the parties’ joint pretrial order, the defendants contended that the plaintiffs do not have a private right of action to assert a violation of HAMP or SPA. The Court directed the plaintiffs to brief the issue whether HAMP provides a private right of action and the defendants to respond (Docket Entry No. 111). The plaintiffs submitted their memorandum of law, contending “it is well established that HAMP does not provide for a private right of action,” and that their action is based on violations of Sections 493, 1341, 1343, 513 and 514 of Title 18, United States Code. In their response, the defendants challenged the plaintiffs’ assertion of diversity jurisdiction in this action. They also contended that the plaintiffs do not have a “private right of action under federal criminal statutes unless specifically granted by the statute.”

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Related

Verdi v. City of New York
306 F. Supp. 3d 532 (S.D. Illinois, 2018)
Sutton v. CitiMortgage, Inc.
228 F. Supp. 3d 254 (S.D. New York, 2017)
Jordan v. Chase Manhattan Bank
91 F. Supp. 3d 491 (S.D. New York, 2015)
Davis v. Citibank
116 A.D.3d 819 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2014)
In re Morales
506 B.R. 213 (S.D. New York, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
938 F. Supp. 2d 466, 2013 WL 1403527, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wheeler-v-citigroup-nysd-2013.