Bigsby v. Barclays Capital Real Estate, Inc.
Bigsby v. Barclays Capital Real Estate, Inc.
Opinion of the Court
This case was originally filed by plaintiffs Lamar Bigsby, Jr., and Karla Freeland more than five years ago against the defendant, Barclays Capital Real Estate, Inc., in its capacity as successor to a mortgage-servicing company known as HomEq Servicing Corp. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendant defrauded mortgagors in the assessment of foreclosure-related fees, giving rise to claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO") and related common law claims. The defendant filed a motion to dismiss, and the Court granted the motion in part and dismissed the plaintiffs' RICO claims. See Bigsby v. Barclays Capital Real Estate, Inc.,
With leave of Court, the plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint, adding three additional plaintiffs - Maria Brandt, Kathleen Murry, and Herman Grimes - and repleading their RICO claims and adding other claims. The defendant filed another motion to dismiss, and the Court again granted the motion in part and dismissed several of the plaintiffs' claims, including their RICO claims. Bigsby v. Barclays Capital Real Estate, Inc.,
*341The dust has settled, and the plaintiffs are left with claims for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, conversion, violation of the California Unfair Competition Law ("California UCL"), and violation of § 2924c of the California Civil Code.
I.
The standard for granting summary judgment is well established. "The Court shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a) ; see Celotex Corp. v. Catrett,
In determining whether summary judgment is appropriate, a court must resolve all ambiguities and draw all reasonable inferences against the moving party. See Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp.,
II.
The plaintiffs - Lamar Bigsby, Jr., Karla Freeland, Maria Brandt, Kathleen Murry, and Herman Grimes - were mortgagors who each took out loans with various lenders. Def.'s 56.1 Stmt. ¶¶ 3, 20, 41, 54, 66. Bigsby was a resident of Georgia; Freeland was a resident of Massachusetts; and Brandt, Murry, and Grimes were residents of California. Second Am. Compl. ¶¶ 9-13. Each of the plaintiffs' loans, other than Kathleen Murry's, were securitized pursuant to a Pooling and Servicing Agreement, under which another corporation would serve as the trustee.
A.
First, to carry out the "inflated fees scheme," the defendant allegedly hired outside counsel for foreclosure and bankruptcy proceedings, either directly or indirectly, through "outsourcers." Bigsby II,
Pursuant to the Master Servicing Agreements, the intermediary entities also entered into retainer agreements with outside counsel that contained schedules for the fees counsel was permitted to charge the defendant for foreclosure and bankruptcy proceedings.
The plaintiffs contend that the defendant engaged in this scheme during the foreclosures on the homes of Brandt, Murry, and Grimes, and during Bigsby's bankruptcy. The plaintiffs bring claims of unjust enrichment and conversion against the defendant for allegedly engaging in this scheme.
B.
Second, the alleged "fee splitting scheme" is similar to the inflated fees scheme and involves the same fees. The loan documents for the plaintiffs' mortgages were standard forms issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The plaintiffs contend that this scheme affected Brandt, Murry, Grimes, and Bigsby. They claim that the scheme is unlawful because the "attorney's fees" the defendant ultimately collected from the plaintiffs had been split with a nonlegal intermediary - such as Fidelity - and such fee splitting is illegal. With respect to this scheme, the plaintiffs bring claims of unjust enrichment, conversion, and violation of the California UCL.
C.
Third, to carry out the alleged "post-acceleration late fees scheme," the defendant allegedly charged plaintiff Grimes four monthly late fees, totaling $208.32, after accelerating his loan. Def.'s 56.1 Stmt. ¶¶ 72-75; Stacy Decl. ¶ 11. Grimes's loan was accelerated on July 30, 2009, a notice of default was recorded on the loan on September 2, 2009, and the defendant collected the four monthly late fees charged to Grimes's account - covering September 2009 through December 2009 - on December 18, 2009. Def.'s 56.1 Stmt. ¶¶ 72-73; Stacy Decl. ¶ 11; see Grobman Decl. Ex. B. The plaintiffs contend that imposing monthly late fees on Grimes after his loan had been accelerated was prohibited by his loan agreement and constitutes a breach of contract. They also contend that the collection of these fees constituted unjust enrichment and conversion.
D.
Fourth, to carry out the "overcharging scheme," the defendant allegedly charged plaintiffs Murry and Grimes more than what was actually charged by the foreclosure attorneys and trustees that the defendant hired and then "employed suspect accounting transactions" to eliminate any overpayment balances that the defendant was required to refund. Opp. at 32. That is, rather than refund Murry and Grimes the alleged overcharges of $116.52 and $65 respectively, the defendant zeroed out the overcharges by posting additional suspect transactions to those plaintiffs' accounts after their loans had been paid in full. Id. at 32-37.
E.
Finally, to carry out the "improper collection scheme," the defendant allegedly collected costs charged to the California-resident plaintiffs - Grimes, Murry, and Brandt - that were prohibited by California Civil Code § 2924c. See Opp. at 38-40.
* * *
In sum, the plaintiffs' claims are alleged as follows.
*344?
The plaintiffs have not attempted to defend any claims asserted by Karla Freeland and concede that those claims should be dismissed. Accordingly, the defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing Freeland's claims is granted .
III.
The plaintiffs raised neither the overcharging scheme nor the improper collection scheme in their second amended complaint. These claims, raised for the first time in the plaintiffs' opposition to this summary judgment motion, are therefore not considered. Greenidge v. Allstate Ins. Co.,
IV.
The defendant contends that the plaintiffs' quasi-contract claims related to the "inflated fees scheme" fail because, among other reasons: (1) there can be no quasi-contract claims because the subject matter of the plaintiffs' claims is governed by their loan agreements, to which the defendant is not a party; (2) there is no evidence that the defendant kept any portion of the allegedly excessive fees and therefore the defendant was not unjustly enriched; and (3) there is no claim for conversion because conversion requires a taking of specific property rather than money. The defendant's arguments are persuasive.
*345A.
The plaintiffs argue that the allegedly inflated attorney's fees charged to their accounts were improper. The plaintiffs contend that the defendant charged them attorney's fees that were in excess of the fees that were required by the agreements the defendant reached with the intermediaries and law firms. The defendant points out, and the plaintiffs do not dispute, that the plaintiffs' obligation to reimburse attorney's fees was governed by the plaintiffs' loan agreements. The defendant was not a signatory to the plaintiffs' loan agreements but rather serviced the loans and was entitled to collect and retain various fees that the lenders could charge under the agreements. See, e.g., Turner Decl. Ex. 60 § 3.21. The defendant contends that it cannot be sued in quasi-contract for claims properly brought against the lenders with whom the plaintiffs contracted.
"[I]t is well settled that an action based on ... quasi-contract cannot lie where there exists between the parties a valid express contract covering the same subject matter." Lance Camper Mfg. Corp. v. Republic Indem. Co.,
The plaintiffs' loan agreements govern the subject matter of the plaintiffs' quasi-contract claims related to the inflated fees scheme. These claims should be brought against the lenders who are parties to the agreements. The plaintiffs' quasi-contract *346claims against the defendant therefore fail. Cf. Hanover Ins. Co. v. Hermosa Const. Grp., LLC,
B.
Moreover, the plaintiffs' unjust enrichment claim fails because the plaintiffs have not made the necessary showing that the defendant benefited unjustly at the plaintiffs' expense.
The plaintiffs contend that their payments nonetheless benefited the defendant because the payments fulfilled the defendant's debts - namely, the advanced funds - saving the defendant from expense or loss. The plaintiffs do not specify the particular type of expense or loss from which the defendant was saved. See Second Am. Compl. ¶¶ 317-21. Moreover, the two cases the plaintiffs cite in support of their argument are distinguishable. In Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co. v. Chemical Bank, the defendant used funds transferred to it mistakenly to reduce its losses on a customer's overdraft.
*347In this case, while the plaintiffs allege that the defendant charged amounts for attorney's fees that were in excess of the amounts required under various agreements with the intermediaries and attorneys, there is no evidence that the defendant was reimbursed for more funds than it advanced. Reimbursement did not save the defendant any identified expense or loss, and indeed the funds were advanced on behalf of the loan owners. There is also no evidence that the defendant retained any benefit, and therefore the defendant was not unjustly enriched. Cf. Martin v. Litton Loan Servicing LP, No. 12cv970,
C.
The plaintiffs' conversion claim also fails. "To state a conversion claim under Georgia law, the party alleging conversion must show that the defendant refused to return the property or actually converted the property by [a]ny distinct act of dominion and control wrongfully asserted over another's personal property, in denial of ... or inconsistent with its right of ownership." Blackburn v. BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP,
"A cause of action for conversion of money can be stated only where a defendant interferes with the plaintiff's possessory interest in a specific, identifiable sum, such as when a trustee or agent misappropriates the money entrusted to him." Kim v. Westmoore Partners, Inc.,
The allegedly inflated fees of which the plaintiffs complain "do not represent a specific, identifiable amount of money owned by them or 'earmarked' for a particular purpose, which appellees have appropriated for themselves." Park Place Cafe, Inc. v. Metro. Life Ins. Co.,
V.
The plaintiffs bring claims for unjust enrichment, conversion, and violation of the California UCL with respect to the defendant's alleged "fee splitting scheme." This scheme involves the same fees as the inflated fees scheme. Thus, the plaintiffs' unjust enrichment and conversion claims against the defendant fail for the same reasons explained above. Their claim brought under the California UCL is also unsuccessful.
The California UCL prohibits "any unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business act or practice."
The plaintiffs contend that in carrying out the fee splitting scheme, the defendant collected attorney's fees that had been split with the nonlegal intermediaries who represented the defendant in dealings with foreclosure and bankruptcy counsel in violation of California Rule of Professional Conduct 1-320.
The plaintiffs rely heavily on McIntosh v. Mills,
In this case, there are no agreements between outside counsel and the intermediaries comparable to those in McIntosh and Bertelsen. The plaintiffs provide no evidence that the intermediaries collected money for anything other than nonlegal, administrative fees pursuant to the relevant agreements. Nor do the plaintiffs provide any authority suggesting that paying such administrative fees violates Rule 1-320.
VI.
The plaintiffs next argue that, through the "post-acceleration late fees scheme," the defendant committed breach of contract, conversion, and was unjustly enriched by charging plaintiff Grimes four monthly late fees after accelerating his loan, which was in alleged violation of Grimes's loan agreement. The defendant responds that, among other things, (1) the *350relevant contract was between Grimes and the loan owner, and therefore the defendant could not have breached that contract; (2) the plaintiffs' claims are time-barred; and (3) the plaintiffs' quasi-contract claims fail because the subject matter of those claims is covered by Grimes's loan agreement, to which the defendant is not a party. The defendant's arguments are compelling.
A.
It is undisputed that the provisions relevant to Grimes's breach of contract claim are in his contract with the loan owner, not the defendant. The plaintiffs claim that, nonetheless, Grimes can bring a breach of contract claim against the defendant loan servicer because the defendant was assigned the right to retain any late fees collected from Grimes. The defendant contends that it was not "assigned" any rights in the operative contract; the contract merely set forth how the defendant would be paid for its work as a loan servicer.
In support of their argument, the plaintiffs cite In re Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, in which the court stated:
the mortgagee in this case assigned some of the rights created by the mortgage contract - the "servicing rights" - to [the defendant], which according to the complaint proceeded to violate its contractual obligations. It is no different than if the original mortgagee, or an assignee of the entire mortgage, had violated the terms of the mortgage or defrauded the mortgagor.... If an original mortgagee can be sued under state law for breach of contract, so may the partial assignee if he violates the terms of the part of the mortgage contract that has been assigned to him.
The plaintiffs' citation to California Civil Code § 1589 fares no better. That provisions states, "A voluntary acceptance of the benefit of a transaction is equivalent to a consent to all the obligations arising from it, so far as the facts are known, or ought to be known, to the person accepting."
*351Moreover, "[j]udges around the country ... have held that a loan servicer, as a lender's agent, has no contractual relationship or privity with the borrower and therefore cannot be sued for breach of contract." Edwards v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC,
Because there is no evidence that the defendant is an assignee of, or otherwise in privity with, the loan owner, the plaintiffs may not sue the defendant for breaching a contract between Grimes and the loan owner. Furthermore, because the contract between Grimes and the loan owner covers the subject matter of the plaintiffs' quasi-contract claims for post-acceleration late fees, those claims fail for the same reason that the plaintiffs' other quasi-contract claims fail.
B.
Moreover, Grimes's breach of contract claim is time-barred. The plaintiffs filed this action on March 8, 2014, and Grimes was added as a plaintiff on May 4, 2017. Grimes paid the late fees on December 18, 2009. A four-year statute of limitations applies to Grimes's breach of contract claim. See Bigsby II,
The California statute of limitations for a breach of contract claim generally begins to run at the time of breach. Church v. Jamison,
the discovery rule applies to unique breach of contract cases when: 1) [t]he injury or the act causing the injury, or both, have been difficult for the plaintiff to detect; 2) the defendant has been in a far superior position to comprehend the act and the injury; or 3) the defendant had reason to believe the plaintiff remained ignorant [that] he had been wronged.
All of the plaintiffs' claims based on fraud have been dismissed throughout this lawsuit, and the plaintiffs do not offer any other specific reason why the discovery rule applies to Grimes's claim. The plaintiffs only state generally that the defendant has "not even attempted" to argue that there were facts available to Grimes *352that should have made him aware that the defendant was collecting improper late fees. Opp. at 44. But the evidence shows that Grimes entered a contract with the loan owner, his loan was accelerated, he was subsequently charged late fees, and he paid those fees on December 18, 2009. See Def.'s 56.1 Stmt. ¶¶ 66-68, 72-73; Stacy Decl. ¶ 11; Grobman Decl. Ex. B; Turner Decl. Ex. 60. Thus, Grimes knew or should have known each fact essential to his claim by the time he paid the late fees. The plaintiffs have put forth no evidence suggesting otherwise.
The plaintiffs contend that the statute of limitations was equitably tolled starting in November 2008, when a similar case, Kline v. Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., No. 3:08cv408, was filed in the Southern District of Ohio. See Second Am. Compl. ¶¶ 146, 261. California law permits equitable tolling during the pendency of a prior putative class action involving claims similar to those brought in a subsequent class action suit. Hatfield v. Halifax PLC,
The plaintiffs do not contend that Grimes had notice of the Kline suit, much less that Grimes delayed bringing his own suit because of the pending action. Indeed, the plaintiffs do not dispute that Grimes first contemplated bringing suit in 2016 (after the statute of limitations had expired) when he was contacted by counsel and told that he might have claims against the defendant. See Def.'s 56.1 Stmt. ¶¶ 78-79. Moreover, the plaintiffs could not possibly claim that the discovery rule applies. They argue inconsistently that there is no evidence that Grimes should have known about his cause of action but at the same time argue that Grimes was aware of his cause of action and delayed bringing it because of the Kline case. The equitable tolling doctrine therefore does not save Grimes's time-barred breach of contract claim.
In short, no equitable exception applies to the four-year statute of limitations that governs Grimes's breach of contract claim. The statute of limitations began to run on December 18, 2009, and the plaintiffs filed suit on March 8, 2014 and added Grimes to the suit on May 4, 2017. Grimes's breach of contract claim regarding the alleged post-acceleration late fees scheme is time-barred. Moreover, under California law the statutes of limitations for unjust enrichment and conversion claims are shorter than for breach of contract claims. See Fed. Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Dintino,
* * *
All of the plaintiffs' claims, with respect to each the schemes allegedly carried out by the defendant, fail for the reasons explained above. The defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the plaintiffs' claims is granted.
*353VII.
After the parties finished briefing this motion for summary judgment, the plaintiffs moved to strike (1) Karen L. Stacy's supplemental declaration; (2) any facts alleged, or arguments made, for the first time in the defendant's reply brief; and (3) a "check log" purporting to show that the defendant refunded the post-acceleration late fees charged to plaintiff Grimes. The plaintiffs' motion to strike appears primarily to be an effort to get the last word.
In any event, none of the materials that the plaintiffs move to strike influenced this Court's decision. Stacy's supplemental declaration does not add to the arguments made elsewhere in the papers that the Court finds persuasive. And the check log need not be considered because the claim to which it is relevant - Grimes's breach of contract claim regarding post-acceleration late fees - is time-barred. That claim also fails on another ground, namely, that the defendant is not a party to the relevant agreement. Finally, the arguments made in the defendant's reply brief were plainly arguments made in response to the plaintiffs' opposition papers, not new arguments. Moreover, the Court did not rely on the arguments to which the plaintiffs' object. The plaintiffs' motion to strike is therefore denied .
CONCLUSION
The Court has considered all the arguments raised by the parties. To the extent not specifically addressed, the arguments are either moot or without merit. For the reasons explained above, the defendant's motion for summary judgment is granted , and the plaintiffs' motion to strike is denied . The Clerk is directed to enter judgment dismissing this case. The Clerk is also directed to close all pending motions and to close this case.
SO ORDERED.
California Civil Code § 2924c relates to a mortgagor's right to cure a default on a mortgage. The plaintiffs did not plead a violation of the California Civil Code in their second amended complaint.
The parties have not identified any reason why the fact that Murry's loan was not securitized pursuant to a Pooling and Servicing Agreement would affect the outcome of this motion.
While the plaintiffs recounted in the second amended complaint the various fees paid by Murry and Grimes, absent from that complaint is the claim that Murry and Grimes were overcharged for fees that the defendant never actually paid. Rather, the fees paid by Murry and Grimes were detailed as part of the other schemes, such as the failure to advise those plaintiffs that amounts were shared with Fidelity and allegedly constituted fee splitting, or were in excess of amounts that the defendant could be charged under the Master Servicing Agreement with Fidelity. See Second Am. Compl. ¶¶ 236-37, 256-57. The alleged overcharging scheme was not part of the schemes pleaded by the plaintiffs for which they claimed to represent a class. See id. ¶ 19. Therefore, the second amended complaint does not allege properly claims based on overcharging or improper collection as described above and cannot be asserted in opposition to a motion for summary judgment.
The only case the plaintiffs cite in direct support of their argument, Cannon v. Wells Fargo Bank N.A.,
In California Medical Association, the plaintiff - the assignee of claims owned by various physicians - raised a quasi-contract claim against the defendants related to compensation allegedly owed to the physicians under contracts associated with healthcare service plans the defendants operated.
See MH Pillars Ltd. v. Realini,
Unlike the current case, it was plain in County of Solano that the defendant who received the funds benefited at the expense of the plaintiff who was owed the funds. The court also found that the defendant redevelopment agency breached its contract with the plaintiff county by diverting funds to pay off bonds issued by another county. There is no discussion of the issue of whether the existence of a breach of contract claim should foreclose an unjust enrichment claim against a nonparty to the contract.
The plaintiffs also claim that such fee splitting violated Rule 5.4 of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct. They do not provide any authority stating that a violation of Georgia's Rules of Professional Conduct constitutes "unlawful conduct" under California's UCL. In any event, for the same reasons explained below with respect to the California Rules of Professional Conduct, the defendant's alleged conduct does not violate Georgia's Rules.
A new version of the California Rules of Professional Conduct went into effect on November 1, 2018. The updated version of this rule is now codified as Rule 5.4.
Indeed, the plaintiffs cite the dissent, which was construing the Washington Rules of Professional Conduct. See
In a related case, the plaintiffs failed to prove after trial that fees paid to Fidelity for administrative services constituted fees that were prohibited by law. See Mazzei v. Money Store,
To the extent the plaintiffs contend that the defendant's conduct is unlawful because the defendant collected fees listed as "attorney's fees" or "legal fees" that also included administrative fees, the plaintiffs do not state a claim against the defendant. Any alleged mislabeled fees are tied to the plaintiffs' loan agreements, which set out the fees for which the plaintiffs can be charged. The defendant is not a party to the plaintiffs' loan agreements. Thus, for the same reasons discussed with respect to the plaintiffs' claims under the "inflated fees scheme," a claim against the defendant related to this alleged mislabeling fails.
The plaintiffs also cite Hearn Pacific Corp. v. Second Generation Roofing, Inc., which similarly holds that "an assignee's voluntary acceptance of the benefits of a contract may obligate the assignee to assume its obligations as a matter of law."
This Court decertified a class of borrowers who asserted a "post-acceleration late fees" claim against a loan servicer because the plaintiff had failed to prove that the class members were in privity with the loan servicer defendant. See Mazzei,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Lamar BIGSBY, Jr., Karla Freeland, Maria Brandt, Kathleen Murry, and Herman Grimes, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated v. BARCLAYS CAPITAL REAL ESTATE, INC., doing business as HomEq Servicing
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published