Yates v. U.S. Bank National Ass'n

912 F. Supp. 2d 478, 2012 WL 6115016, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174178
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedDecember 10, 2012
DocketCase No. 11-10778
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 912 F. Supp. 2d 478 (Yates v. U.S. Bank National Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Yates v. U.S. Bank National Ass'n, 912 F. Supp. 2d 478, 2012 WL 6115016, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174178 (E.D. Mich. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

LAWRENCE P. ZATKOFF, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This matter is before the Court on Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket # 44). The Motion for Summary Judgment has been fully briefed.1 The Court also must address Defendants’ Objections to the Magistrate’s Order Regarding Discovery (Docket # 45), which also has been fully briefed, and Defendants’ Motion for Stay of Effect of Magistrate’s Order (Docket #51). The Court finds that the facts and legal arguments pertinent to the motions are adequately presented in the parties’ papers, and the decision process will not be aided by oral arguments. Therefore, pursuant to E.D. Mich. Local R. 7.1(f)(2), it is hereby ORDERED that the motions be resolved on the briefs submitted by the parties, without this Court entertaining oral arguments. For the reasons that follow, Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART and Defendants’ Objections to the Magistrate’s Order Regarding Discovery and Motion for Stay of Effect of Magistrate’s Order are DENIED.

II. BACKGROUND

A. Creation of the Home Affordable Modification Program

Congress enacted the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (the “Act”) [481]*481in response to the foreclosure crisis. The purpose of the Act is to grant the U.S. Secretary of Treasury authority to restore stability to the financial system and ensure that such authority is used in a manner that “preserves homeownership.” The Act grants the Secretary of the Treasury the authority to establish the Troubled Asset Relief Program (“TARP”). 12 U.S.C. § 5201. Under TARP, the Secretary created the Making Home Affordable Program a/k/a Home Affordable Modification Program (“HAMP”) to help at-risk homeowners avoid foreclosure.

A HAMP modification consists of two stages. First, a participating servicer is required to gather information and, if appropriate, offer the homeowner a Trial Period Plan (“TPP”). The TPP consists of a three-month period in .which the homeowner makes mortgage payments based on a formula that uses the initial financial information provided. If the homeowner executes the TPP Agreement, complies with all the documentation requirements, and makes all three TPP monthly payments, the second stage of the HAMP process is triggered and the homeowner is offered a permanent modification.

Defendant Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (‘Wells Fargo”) signed a “Servicer Participation Agreement for the Home Affordable Modification Program” with Fannie Mae. Once Wells Fargo signed its contract with Fannie Mae to participate in HAMP, Wells Fargo was required to review all mortgage loans that are in default or in imminent risk of default for a possible modification.

B. Plaintiffs’ Loan Modifications

Plaintiffs Angela Yates and Gary Yates (wife and husband) and Jeramie Yates (son of Angela and Gary Yates) reside at 7030 Textile, Ypsilanti, MI 48197. Plaintiffs purchased the home in 1983. In February 2005, Gary Yates suffered a stroke, which severely disabled him and caused the closing of the family business and accumulation of significant medical debts. In November 2005, Jeramie Yates obtained a loan from BNC Mortgage, Inc. in the amount of $196,000. The mortgage was later assigned to Defendant U.S. Bank National Association (“U.S. Bank”), and Wells Fargo serviced the loan for U.S. Bank through its servicing division, America’s Servicing Company (“ASC”). The loan had an adjustable interest rate, such that the initial payments were approximately $1,400 per month. Once the interest rate increased and the payments exceeded $2,000 per month, Plaintiffs could no longer afford the payments. In 2008, Plaintiffs’ loan went into default, and in April 2008, Defendants posted and published notice of a foreclosure sale scheduled for May 8, 2008. In May 2008, Plaintiffs applied for a loan modification and the May 8, 2008, foreclosure sale was adjourned.

In April 2009, Defendants offered Plaintiffs a loan modification, which Plaintiffs accepted (the “April 2009 Modification Agreement”). The April 2009 Modification Agreement was executed by all three Plaintiffs • and a representative of Wells Fargo. The . April 2009 Modification Agreement required Plaintiffs to make: (a) an initial payment of $3,868.37, to be applied to the delinquency, and (b) monthly payments of approximately $1,403.58, plus escrow payments for taxes "and insurance, beginning on July 2, 2009. Plaintiffs failed to. make the first, payment of $3,868.37, within 5 days of the April 15, 2009, the day Plaintiffs executed the April 2009 Modification Agreement, as required thereunder. Instead, Plaintiff made a payment of $3,128.52 — more than $700 less than was required — via a check dated June 1, 2009. This is the amount that, at her deposition, Angela Yates testified she was [482]*482told to pay by an ASC representative when they spoke on the phone. ASC cashed Plaintiffs’ check for the lesser amount, and ASC subsequently executed the April 2009 Modification Agreement on June 6, 2009. Plaintiffs never paid Wells Fargo any of the $1,403.58 monthly payments required under the April 2009 Modification Agreement.

According to the deposition testimony of Angela Yates, before the first April 2009 Modification Agreement payment was due on July 1, 2009, ASC told Plaintiffs that they might be eligible for a new modification, with better terms, under HAMP. Plaintiffs state that they were advised by ASC to: (1) not submit the July payment under the April 2009 Modification Agreement, but (2) instead submit a new packet and application for the HAMP program. ASC received the HAMP application from Plaintiffs, including the IRS 4506-T (Request for Transcript of Tax Return), on or about July 31, 2009. On August 22, 2009, ASC determined that Plaintiffs qualified for the 90-Day HAMP Trial, with monthly payments of $861.79. Soon thereafter, Plaintiffs received from ASC a letter dated August 22, 2009 (the “Letter”), wherein ASC stated that Plaintiffs were awarded a TPP and that the first of three payments required thereunder was due October 1, 2009. The Letter states, ‘You did it! By entering into a Home Affordable Modification Trial Period Plan you have taken the first step toward making your payment more affordable.” The Letter was signed electronically by ASC.

The TPP agreement ASC sent to Plaintiff (hereinafter, the “Plan”) is a four-page document entitled “HOME AFFORDABLE MODIFICATION PROGRAM LOAN TRIAL PERIOD (Step One of Two-Step Documentation Process).” The Trial Period Effective Date under the Plan was defined as October 1, 2009. The parties rely on the following provisions of the Plan:

If I am in compliance with this Loan Trial Period Plan (the “Plan”) and my representations in Section 1 continue to be true in all material respects, then the Lender will provide me with a Home Affordable Modification Agreement (Modification Agreement), as set forth in Section 3, that would amend and supplement (1) the Mortgage on the Property, and (2) the Note secured by the Mortgage—
I understand that after I sign and return two copies of this Plan to the Lender, the Lender will send me a signed copy of this Plan if I qualify for the Offer or will send’ me written notice that I do not qualify for the Offer.

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Bluebook (online)
912 F. Supp. 2d 478, 2012 WL 6115016, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174178, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yates-v-us-bank-national-assn-mied-2012.