Timbes v. Deutche Bank National Trust Co.
Opinion of the Court
Pamela Timbes, proceeding pro se, appeals the district court’s denial of her motion to remand to state court and dismissal of her complaint against Deutsche Bank National Trust Company (“Deutsche Bank”), Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC (“Ocwen”), and Aldridge Pite, LLP (“Al-dridge”), raising state and federal claims related to the foreclosure of her property. After the defendants removed her complaint from state court, the district court denied Timbes’s motion to remand and dismissed her complaint for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6), Fed. R. Civ. P. On appeal, Timbes argues that the district court should have declined to exercise jurisdiction and instead remanded her complaint to state court. She also challenges the dismissal of her complaint. After careful review, we affirm.
I.
In connection with the purchase of her home in St. Simons Island, Georgia, in 2006, Timbes executed a security deed to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (“MERS”), as nominee for American Home Mortgage Acceptance, Inc. The security deed contained a power-of-sale provision authorizing a non-judicial foreclosure sale in the event of default. In 2010, the security deed was assigned to Deutsche Bank and recorded in Glynn County, Georgia, where St. Simons Island is located.
Timbes alleges that the assignment to Deutsche Bank was prepared and signed by Lender Processing Services (“LPS”), which she says is “a known document fabricator” for lenders and law firms.
In December 2015, Aldridge placed an advertisement for foreclosure of Timbes’s property in The Brunswick News, Then on January 5, 2016, Deutsche Bank exercised the power of sale in the security deed and conducted a non-judicial foreclosure sale of the property,
The day before the scheduled foreclosure sale, Timbes filed suit against Deutsche Bank, Ocwen, and Aldridge in Georgia state court. In her complaint, Tim-bes brought causes of action for fraud upon the court, void assignment of a deed, wrongful foreclosure, violations of the Georgia and federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Acts, and violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”).
With Aldridge’s consent, Deutsche Bank and Ocwen removed the case to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. Soon after, Timbes moved to remand the case and to stay ruling on a motion to dismiss that had been filed in state court. The defendants moved to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim. Timbes did not respond to the motions to dismiss.
In January 2017, the district court denied Timbes’s motion to remand and granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss. The court rejected Timbes’s contention that the Rooker-Feldman doctrine barred its exercise of jurisdiction, reasoning that the doctrine did not apply because Tim-bes’s challenge to the non-judicial foreclosure sale did not concern any state court
II.
Timbes first argues that the district court should have remanded her complaint to state court either because it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction under the Rooker-Feldman
“Generally speaking, the Rooker-Feldman doctrine bars federal district courts from reviewing state court decisions.” Nicholson v. Shafe,
Neither doctrine applies, however, where there is no state proceeding, either concluded or ongoing, to which the present federal action relates. No related state proceeding is involved in this case. It is undisputed that Timbes’s property was sold through non-judicial foreclosure proceedings under Georgia law. See You v. JP Morgan Chase Bank,
Because Timbes’s property was sold through non-judicial foreclosure proceedings, it was conducted without court oversight, which means that there was no state-court proceeding, no state-court judgment, and no sheriffs sale. Therefore, Rooker-Feldman does not apply because there is no state-court judgment that could be reviewed, and Younger does not apply because there is no pending state-court or court-like proceeding with which the federal district court could interfere by exercising jurisdiction over the case. Timbes does not otherwise dispute that the district court had federal subject-matter jurisdiction over her complaint in light of her federal claims. See
III.
Next, Timbes argues that the district court denied her due process of law by
We review de novo the dismissal of a complaint for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6), accepting as true the facts alleged in the complaint and construing them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Hunt v. Aimco Props., L.P.,
We review for an abuse of discretion a district court’s denial of a motion to stay litigation. Klay v. All Defendants,
As an initial matter, even liberally construing her initial brief on appeal, we find no argument Timbes has raised as to the district court’s dismissal of her FDCPA claim, so she has abandoned that issue. See Timson,
Turning to Timbes’s challenge to the validity of the assignment, we agree with the district court that she lacks standing to contest the assignment. Under Georgia law, “a person who is not a party to a contract, or an intended third-party beneficiary of a contract, lacks standing to challenge or enforce a contract.” Haynes v. McCalla Raymer, LLC,
Even in cases alleging forgery, we have found that “Georgia law is clear that borrowers do not have standing to attack a forged assignment of their security deed, which — if attacked by a party with standing — would provide the basis for a claim of wrongful foreclosure.” Haynes,
Nor does it make any difference if Tim-bes frames her challenge as asserting a facial defect, rather than a latent defect, in the assignment. In Haynes, we held that even a facial defect in the assignment— such as the lack of proper attestation— does not provide a borrower with standing to challenge a security deed. See
Timbes points out that Georgia courts have not gone quite so far as Haynes, In Ames, the Supreme Court of Georgia adopted the general rule that a borrower lacks standing to challenge an assignment of his or her security deed.
Nevertheless, while Ames did not fully foreclose the possibility of borrower standing to challenge an assignment, it also did not work any changes in existing Georgia law. Significantly, nothing in Ames appears to cast doubt on our statement in Haynes that “Georgia law is clear that borrowers do not have standing to attack a forged assignment of their security deed.” Haynes,
The § 44-14-162(b) issue left unresolved by Ames concerns borrower standing based on an “unrecorded or facially invalid assignment,” Ames,
Moreover, the fact that Ames declined to address an issue of law that Haynes addressed does not clarify or change state law in a way that casts doubt on or is inconsistent with Haynes. We are bound to follow prior panel precedent even when addressing state-law issues, unless the
Finally, the district court did not abuse its discretion by failing to provide Timbes with an opportunity to amend her complaint. While a pro se plaintiff ordinarily must be given at least one chance to amend her complaint, Bank v. Pitt,
For the reasons stated, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.
. The Rooker-Feldman doctrine is named for Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co.,
. Younger v. Harris,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Pamela M. TIMBES v. DEUTCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY, as Indenture Trustee FOR AMERICAN HOME MORTGAGE INVESTMENT TRUST 2005-3, Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, Aldridge Pite, LLP, f.k.a. Aldridge Conners
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published