Christiana Trust, of Wilmington Sav. Fund Soc'y, FSB v. Riddle
Opinion
*801 Mary Sue Riddle, who took out a home-equity loan from Bank of America, alleges that the bank is vicariously liable for the failure of the bank's loan servicer to comply with the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). The district court dismissed Riddle's claims under Rule 12(b)(6). We affirm for two independent reasons. First, Riddle did not plead an agency relationship between Bank of America and the loan servicer, an essential element of a vicarious liability claim. Second, even if Bank of America had an agency relationship with the loan servicer, the bank cannot be held vicariously liable, as a matter of law, for the servicer's alleged RESPA violations.
I.
In December 2006, Mary Sue Riddle executed a home-equity note with Bank of America for a loan of $127,000. To secure her obligations on the note, Riddle executed a security instrument-a Homestead Lien Contract and Deed of Trust on her property in San Angelo, Texas-in favor of Bank of America. In September 2012, Bank of America sent a letter to Riddle stating that Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC (Ocwen), would start servicing the loan. 1 In January 2015, Bank of America assigned the loan, including the security interest in Riddle's property, to Christiana Trust, a division of the Wilmington Savings Fund Society. In April 2015, Ocwen notified Riddle that BSI Financial Services (BSI) would take over as the new loan servicer.
In October 2016, Christiana Trust filed a complaint against Riddle for judicial foreclosure of her property, alleging that Riddle had failed to make payments on the note. In response, Riddle filed an answer, counterclaims against Christiana Trust, and a third-party complaint against Ocwen, BSI, and Bank of America. Bank of America responded to Riddle's complaint with a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss. Riddle then filed both an amended complaint against the same third-party defendants and a response in opposition to Bank of America's motion to dismiss the original third-party complaint. The amended complaint-like the original one-includes, as relevant for this appeal, 2 claims under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures *802 Act (RESPA), a federal statute that governs the procedures of mortgage loans. Bank of America quickly moved to dismiss the amended third-party complaint, too. In her response opposing this second motion to dismiss, Riddle clarified her RESPA theory against Bank of America, alleging that "Ocwen was [Bank of America's] servicing agent" and that Bank of America "is vicariously liable for [Ocwen's] RESPA violations."
The district court dismissed all of Riddle's claims against Bank of America with prejudice. 3 Soon after, Riddle filed a motion for reconsideration, which the district court denied. Riddle then filed a notice of interlocutory appeal. 4
II.
We review a district court's dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) de novo.
Sullivan v. Leor Energy, LLC
,
A.
"To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to 'state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.' "
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
,
Riddle asserts that Ocwen and BSI received timely loss-mitigation applications but failed to consider them and notify Riddle of her loss-mitigation options. 6 Specifically, Riddle alleges the following in her amended third-party complaint:
44. Third-Party Defendants, Ocwen and BSI failed to comply with their RESPA obligations under12 C.F.R. § 1024.41 . Specifically, Ocwen and BSI violated12 C.F.R. § 1024.41 (c) because they received a complete or facially complete loss mitigation applications [sic] at least 37 days before a scheduled foreclosure sale, and yet failed to consider Mary for all loss mitigation options and notify Mary in writing of all loss mitigation options available to her.
See Counter-Plaintiff/Third-Party Plaintiff's First Amended Counterclaim and Third-Party Complaint at 12, Christiana Trust , No. 6:16-CV-59-C (N.D. Tex. Apr. 6, 2017), ECF No. 28.
Noticeably absent from this part of the pleading is any reference to Bank of America. In opposition to Bank of America's motion to dismiss, Riddle claims that we should overlook this omission because "Ocwen was [Bank of America's] servicing agent" and Bank of America "is vicariously liable for the RESPA violations of its servicing agent." Her amended third-party complaint does reference vicarious liability principles generally: she states that "mortagees [sic] can be vicariously liable for the RESPA violations of their servicers." The beginning of the complaint also states that whenever she alleges that a "Third-Party Defendant did, or failed to do" something, she means either (1) that the defendant itself did or failed to do it; or (2) that the defendant's "agents, officers, servants, employees, vice principals, or representatives" did or failed to do it and the defendants are liable under respondeat superior .
But Riddle's theory of vicarious RESPA liability theory requires pleading facts that suggest an agency relationship between Bank of America and either Ocwen or BSI.
Meyer v. Holley
,
Riddle's amended third-party complaint alleges no such facts. Her statement that "mortagees [sic] can be vicariously liable for the RESPA violations of their servicers," sheds no light on the particular relationship
*804
between Bank of America and the two loan servicers. And her general
respondeat superior
statement at the beginning of the complaint runs in only one direction, telling us to read her allegations against principals to include allegations against agents-not vice versa. She never pleads a RESPA violation by Bank of America, the putative principal, so this section does not help her. Without facts suggesting an agency relationship, even if everything Riddle alleges in her complaint is true, her complaint does not "state a [RESPA] claim" against Bank of America at all-let alone one that is "plausible on its face."
Hinojosa
,
B.
Even if Riddle had pleaded facts suggesting such a relationship, we hold in the alternative 7 that the district court appropriately dismissed her RESPA claim for another reason: Bank of America, as a matter of law, is not vicariously liable for the alleged RESPA violations of its servicers. This is an issue of first impression in our circuit, and we are apparently the first circuit court to address it.
By its plain terms, the regulation at issue here imposes duties only on servicers.
*805
When Congress chose to impose RESPA duties more broadly, it did so clearly and explicitly. The statute's prohibition on kickbacks and unearned fees states that "no person" shall engage in the forbidden conduct.
Most of the district courts that have reached this issue agree with our reading of the statute.
See, e.g.,
Hawk
, No. 3:14-CV-1044,
We decline to adopt
Rouleau
's reasoning because it falls short even on its own terms. Congress
did
express an intent contrary to the incorporation of traditional vicarious liability rules.
"The preeminent canon of statutory interpretation requires us to presume that the legislature says in a statute what it means and means in a statute what it says there."
Asadi
,
III.
The allegations of RESPA violations in Riddle's complaint fail to even mention Bank of America-let alone allege the agency relationship that her vicarious liability theory requires. Accordingly, we AFFIRM the district court's dismissal on this basis. And even if Riddle had pleaded such an agency relationship, the text of the regulation and statute at issue here plainly and unambiguously shields Bank of America from any liability arising from its loan servicer's alleged RESPA violations. Accordingly, we alternatively AFFIRM the district court's dismissal on this independent basis as well.
Generally, loan servicers take care of "the administrative aspects of a loan."
Loan Servicing
, Investopedia (Mar. 26, 2018), https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/loan_servicing.asp. This includes "sending monthly payment statements and collecting monthly payments," as well as "maintaining records of payments and balances."
Riddle's amended third-party complaint includes claims for breach of contract, violations of the Texas Debt Collection Practices Act, violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, violations of RESPA, negligent misrepresentation, and equitable relief, and she also sued to quiet title. In her response to Bank of America's motion to dismiss the amended third-party complaint, however, she clarified that she was asserting claims against the bank only for breach of contract and vicarious liability for the RESPA violations of the bank's loan servicer. Riddle does not contest the district court's dismissal of her breach of contract claim, so this appeal concerns only the dismissal of her RESPA claims against Bank of America.
The district court denied Bank of America's motion to dismiss the original third-party complaint because it was moot in light of Riddle's filing of the amended one.
The appeal is interlocutory because the district court has not yet resolved all the claims raised against all parties. We have jurisdiction under
"A loss mitigation application is simply a request by a borrower for any of a number of alternatives to foreclosure, known as loss mitigation options, including, among others, modification of the mortgage."
Lage v. Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC
,
Riddle clarifies on appeal that Bank of America is vicariously liable "so long as it continues to own the loan" and that the bank relinquished ownership of the loan before BSI took over as the servicer. For this reason, we do not look to Paragraph 45 of the complaint-which alleges further violations of
"This circuit follows the rule that alternative holdings are binding precedent and not obiter dictum."
Texas v. United States
,
Riddle did not plead, and she does not argue on appeal, that Bank of America acted as a servicer itself. So this case turns entirely on whether Bank of America can be held vicariously-not directly-liable.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CHRISTIANA TRUST, a Division of Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB, as Trustee, Plaintiff, v. Mary Sue RIDDLE, Defendant Third Party Plaintiff - Appellant, v. Bank of America, N.A., Third Party Defendant - Appellee.
- Cited By
- 34 cases
- Status
- Published