United States District Court for the Northern District of California, 2025

Liu v. Fidelity National Title Company

Liu v. Fidelity National Title Company
United States District Court for the Northern District of California · Decided October 3, 2025
Liu v. Fidelity National Title Company

Trial Court Opinion

4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA STEVEN LIU, Case No. 25-cv-03728-JD 8 Plaintiff, ORDER RE REPORT AND 9 v. RECOMMENDATION 10 FIDELITY NATIONAL TITLE COMPANY, et al., Defendants.

13 Pro se plaintiff Steven Liu filed this civil action bringing various claims about the foreclosure of his sister’s property and the subsequent filing of unlawful detainer actions against himself and his sister. See Dkt. No. 1; see also Dkt. No. 22. The magistrate judge issued a screening order concluding that the complaint failed to state a claim under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rules 8 and 12, and granted Liu leave to file an amended complaint. See Dkt. No. 7.

18 Liu filed a first amended complaint (FAC). See Dkt. No. 15. The FAC did not establish standing or plausibly state a claim, and so the magistrate judge filed a report and recommendation advising dismissal on the grounds that the FAC is frivolous under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2). See Dkt. No. 22.

22 Liu filed an “Opposition to the Magistrate Judge’s Finding and Recommendation,” see Dkt. No. 25, which the Court will take as a timely objection. The objections were not specific responses to the report, as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 72(b)(2). They mainly repeat Liu’s opposition to defendant BayMark Financial, Inc.’s motion to dismiss, Dkt. No. 24, with a few statements to the effect that the “Magistrate Judge has decided to pick winners and losers,” Dkt. No. 25 at 5.

1 Nothing in the objections fills in the shortcomings of the FAC. Liu says that he has standing because he is a tenant in the foreclosed property, but the cited case does not support this proposition. Dkt. No. 25 at 17 (quoting Green v. Superior Ct., 10 Cal. 3d 616, 620 (1974)). Liu’s || wholly conclusory statement that “the allegerd [sic] deficiencies in the RICO portion of the lawsuit can be easily fixed,” id., does not meaningfully address the pleading issues. It is also not an accurate observation about the state of the allegations in the FAC.

7 After an independent review by the Court of the record and the magistrate judge’s order, || and reviewing Liu’s claims with the generous eye afforded to pro se litigants, dismissal is warranted for lack of standing and failure to state a claim. Further amendment is not warranted || because Liu has had multiple opportunities to allege his case, and guidance about the places where 11 he stumbled. The report and recommendation is adopted in full, and the case is closed. Defendant 12 BayMark Financial, Inc.’s pending motion to dismiss, Dkt. No. 18, is denied as moot. The hearing 13 set for October 9, 2025, is vacated.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

3 15 Dated: October 3, 2025 JAMES#PONATO Z 18 United Btates District Judge

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.