U.S. Bank N.A. v. Thunder Props., Inc.
U.S. Bank N.A. v. Thunder Props., Inc.
Opinion of the Court
This case arises out of a homeowners' association foreclosure sale under Chapter 116 of the Nevada Revised Statutes. Pending before the Court is a motion to reconsider the grant of summary judgment to Plaintiff.
I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
In March 2006, Alan Yuen and Ka Man Cheng made a promissory note for $248,240 ("the Note"), secured by a deed of trust ("the DOT"), in exchange for funds in that amount to purchase real property at 245 Dawson Jacob Lane, Reno, Nevada, 89503 ("the Property"). (Compl. ¶¶ 9-12, ECF No. 1). Plaintiff U.S. Bank, as trustee for a mortgage-backed security, is the current beneficiary of the Note and DOT. (Id. 1, ¶ 13). In February 2014, an agent of Defendant Rancho San Rafael Townhomes, Phase II Homeowners Association ("the HOA") sold the Property at auction *1044under Chapter 116 to Defendant Thunder Properties, Inc. ("Thunder") for $11,700. (Id. ¶¶ 6, 5-19). The fair market value of the Property at the time was at least $167,000. (Id. ¶ 20).
US Bank sued Thunder and the HOA in this Court to quiet title to the Property, i.e., for a declaration that the February 2014 sale did not extinguish the DOT. US Bank argued that the sale cannot have extinguished the DOT under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and that the sale was commercially unreasonable under state law. The HOA moved to dismiss, disclaiming any interest in the Property, but the Court denied the motion because US Bank had asked in the alternative for the sale to be voided altogether, which implicated an ongoing interest of the HOA. The Court also refused to dismiss for failure to mediate, because although one or more theories upon which the quiet title claim was based potentially implicated a state statute requiring mediation, the failure to exhaust administrative remedies is an affirmative defense, and facts indicating failure to exhaust did not appear on the face of the Complaint. US Bank moved for summary judgment, and Thunder moved for a stay.
After the Court granted summary judgment, denied a stay, and ordered a proposed judgment to be submitted,
II. LEGAL STANDARDS
Motions to reconsider are generally disfavored. Moreover, under the law-of-the-case doctrine, a court will not generally reconsider issues previously decided by the same court or a higher court in the same case, except in narrow circumstances. Milgard Tempering, Inc. v. Selas Corp. of Am. ,
III. ANALYSIS
A. The Effect of SFR II on Bourne Valley
Regardless of any ruling by the Nevada Supreme Court, this Court is *1045bound by Bourne Valley on all federal issues unless and until the Court of Appeals sitting en banc or the U.S. Supreme Court indicates otherwise. The Supreme Court has already once denied certiorari, Bourne Valley Court Tr. v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. , --- U.S. ----,
B. The Facial and As-Applied Constitutionality of Chapter 116
"An elementary and fundamental requirement of due process in any proceeding which is to be accorded finality is notice reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances, to apprise interested parties of the pendency of the action and afford them an opportunity to present their objections." Mullane v. Cent. Hanover Bank & Tr. Co. ,
[A] mortgagee possesses a substantial property interest that is significantly affected by a[n HOA] sale. Under [Nevada] law, a mortgagee acquires a lien on the owner's property .... A mortgagee's security interest generally has priority over subsequent claims or liens attaching to the property, and a purchase money mortgage takes precedence over virtually all other claims or liens including those which antedate the execution of the mortgage. The [HOA] sale immediately and drastically diminishes the value of this security interest by granting the [HOA]-sale purchaser a lien with priority over that of all other creditors. Ultimately, the [HOA] sale may result in the complete nullification of the mortgagee's interest, since the purchaser acquires title free of all liens and other encumbrances ....
....
Neither notice by publication and posting, nor mailed notice to the property owner, are means "such as one desirous of actually informing the [mortgagee] might reasonably adopt to accomplish it." Because they are designed primarily to attract prospective purchasers to the tax sale, publication and posting are unlikely to reach those who, although they have an interest in the property, do not make special efforts to keep abreast of such notices. Notice to the property owner, who is not in privity with his creditor and who has failed to take steps necessary to preserve his own property interest, *1046also cannot be expected to lead to actual notice to the mortgagee. The County's use of these less reliable forms of notice is not reasonable where, as here, "an inexpensive and efficient mechanism such as mail service is available."
Personal service or mailed notice is required even though sophisticated creditors have means at their disposal to discover whether [HOA dues] have not been paid and whether [HOA] sale proceedings are therefore likely to be initiated. In the first place, a mortgage need not involve a complex commercial transaction among knowledgeable parties, and it may well be the least sophisticated creditor whose security interest is threatened by a tax sale. More importantly, a party's ability to take steps to safeguard its interests does not relieve the State of its constitutional obligation.
The Court of Appeals has ruled that Chapter 116 foreclosure sales constitute state action under the Due Process Clause. The Nevada Supreme Court's recent ruling as to what notice state law previously required does not affect the applicability of the Due Process Clause to Chapter 116 sales but only the analysis of whether Chapter 116 was previously sufficient under the Due Process Clause. The question is whether the notice previously required was notice "reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances, to apprise interested parties of the pendency of the action and afford them an opportunity to present their objections." Mullane ,
Where a lienor foreclosing with the power of the state makes reasonable attempts to notify interested parties of the time and place of the sale, it usually satisfies its obligations under the Due Process Clause without more. That is because in a typical situation, e.g., where a municipality seeks to foreclose a tax lien, the lien being foreclosed is senior to all other encumbrances by law, and notice of an impending tax sale puts interested parties on notice that if the entire tax delinquency (as specified in the notice of default and/or notice of sale) is not satisfied before the sale, all other security interests against the property will be extinguished. A junior lienor therefore has the opportunity to present his objections upon mere notice of the time and place of sale. He knows that he must satisfy the entire delinquency to prevent the sale and the extinguishment of his security interest. But an HOA lien under Chapter 116 is atypical in a fundamental and critical respect. It consists of two legally distinct pieces: one senior to a first deed of trust *1047("the superpriority piece"), and one junior thereto ("the subpriority piece"). SFR Invs. Pool 1, LLC v. U.S. Bank, N.A. (SFR I ),
Because of the dual nature of a Chapter 116 lien, notice only of the total amount of such a lien is not necessarily constitutionally sufficient under all the circumstances as to a first deed of trust holder, whose lien is partially senior to the HOA's lien.
It could be argued that bare notice of an impending sale is enough to satisfy due process. After all, notice of an impending sale warns a first deed of trust holder that he must take action of some kind to prevent losing his interest, and that may require him to make further inquiries. But in many of these cases where a first deed of trust holder actually received notice of an impending sale, directly or indirectly, it has made such further inquiries, requesting the HOA or its agent to identify the superpriority piece so that it may protect the first deed of trust by tendering that amount prior to the sale. The Court cannot recall a case where an HOA or its agent has done anything but refuse when so asked, and certainly no case where the superpriority piece was specified on the initiative of the HOA or its agent, whether in the notice of sale or some other writing, or even by the auctioneer at the sale itself. Events occurring after notice is initially dispatched can be relevant. Just as one "desirous of actually informing" an interested party would not simply say "I tried" after watching a postman drop a notice down a storm drain, Jones v. Flowers ,
*1048
C. The Facts of Notice in the Present Case
Ultimately, the Court need not in this case determine whether the previous notice scheme as recently reinterpreted remains constitutionally suspect, either facially or as applied here, because the evidence previously submitted does not indicate that any party gave US Bank or its predecessor-in-interest notice of the time and place of sale that the Nevada Supreme Court has now determined it was required to give. In its opposition to US Bank's motion for summary judgment, Thunder adduced no evidence of notice having been mailed to US Bank or its predecessor-in-interest as to the DOT. Thunder previously argued that US Bank had all the notice to which it was entitled by virtue of the recordation of the notice of sale,
Thunder previously argued that certain recitals in the foreclosure deed as to notice having been given were conclusive under state law. But reasonable notice is a federal constitutional requirement of factual inquiry "under all the circumstances" that cannot be obviated by presumptions arising under state law (or even federal statute). See Jones ,
CONCLUSION
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Stipulation to Extend Time (ECF No. 65) and the Motion to Reconsider (ECF No. 55) are DENIED.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Order (ECF No. 66) is VACATED. The entry of that order was a clerical error. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(a).
IT IS HEREBY DECLARED AND ADJUDGED that the Deed of Trust recorded as Instrument No. 3357442 in the Washoe County Recorder's Office, encumbering real property at 245 Dawson Jacob Lane, Reno, Nevada, 89503, APN 003-750-37, was not extinguished by the Trustee's Deed recorded as Instrument No. 4332261 in the Washoe County Recorder's Office.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk shall close the case.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Plaintiff failed to submit a proposed judgment by May 31, 2018, as ordered, even though Defendant did not move for reconsideration until August 15, 2018.
The Court disagrees with that interpretation for reasons given in previous orders in this case and others but is bound by state appellate courts' rulings on matters of state law. See, e.g., Christiana Tr. v. K & P Homes ,
Chapter 116 liens are almost always mostly junior to first deeds of trust due to fees greatly exceeding the nine months of delinquent HOA dues that are senior to first deeds of trust. See
In many cases, first deed of trust holders have in fact "guessed" after being refused an answer, tendering the amount they believed to be senior to the first deed of trust. The Court has sometimes granted summary judgment based on such a tender. But the Court has done so simply because pre-sale tender was made, regardless of notice, not because it was constitutionally reasonable for a foreclosing entity to make a mixed lienholder guess the superpriority amount.
Thunder characterized recordation of the notice of sale as "actual notice." That is not so. Recordation is properly characterized as "constructive notice," as contradistinguished from "actual notice." See, e.g. , David A. Thomas, Thompson on Real Property § 92.09(c), at 173 (2nd Thomas ed. 2002). Thunder has never produced any evidence in this case either of actual notice or constitutionally reasonable attempts at actual notice, but only of the constructive notice provided by recordation or publication that the federal courts have long held insufficient under the Due Process Clause where the address of an interested party is known or readily ascertainable.
Similar rebuttable- or conclusive-notice statutes have not been subject to due process challenges, because, unlike Chapter 116, those statutes did not involve state action. See, e.g., Moeller v. Lien ,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- U.S. BANK N.A. v. THUNDER PROPERTIES, INC.
- Status
- Published