Homeowners lack standing to challenge a mortgage assignment between creditors, and their notice-deficiency claim failed to state a plausible claim for relief.
Outcome: Affirmed for appellee.
What happened
The facts of the case, in plain language.
The court determined homeowners were not injured by an allegedly invalid assignment of the mortgage between creditors and therefore lacked Article III standing to challenge it.
The notice of intent to accelerate, dated April 29, 2011, calculated the specific amount ($24,850.47) in monthly charges and late charges the Browns would need to pay to cure their default.
Paragraph 19 of the Browns' mortgage imposed conditions on the right to reinstate after acceleration, so the mortgage did not provide an unconditional right to reinstate.
The notice was dated April 29 and required cure 'on or before May 29,' exactly thirty days later, and the mortgage provided that notice is deemed given when mailed by first class mail, not upon receipt.
What the court decided
Raymond and Ruth Brown sued to stop foreclosure on their home by Green Tree Servicing, claiming Green Tree lacked authority because the mortgage assignment was invalid and Green Tree's predecessor failed to comply with notice requirements for acceleration. The district court dismissed their complaint. The Eighth Circuit affirmed. The court held the Browns lack Article III standing to challenge the assignment because they were not injured by it—the injury falls to the creditor. The court also held the notice satisfied mortgage requirements because it specified the exact amount needed to cure the default ($24,850.47), the mortgage did not guarantee an unconditional right to reinstate, and the thirty-day notice period was satisfied when the notice was mailed.
- A homeowner lacks Article III standing to challenge an allegedly invalid assignment of a mortgage between creditors because the homeowner suffers no cognizable injury from such an assignment—the assignor, not the mortgagor, is the party harmed by an improper or fraudulent transfer. (*372)
- A mortgage acceleration notice satisfies the requirement to specify 'the action required to cure the default' when it calculates the specific dollar amount owed as of the notice date, notwithstanding a reference to additional charges that may accrue before the cure deadline. (*373)
- A lender's notice of intent to accelerate is not deficient for failing to inform the mortgagor of an unconditional right to reinstate when the mortgage itself conditions reinstatement on the fulfillment of enumerated requirements. (*373)
- Under a mortgage provision that notice 'shall be deemed to have been given when mailed by first class mail,' a thirty-day cure period runs from the date of mailing rather than the date of receipt, and a mortgagor who fails to allege that the notice was not mailed on its face date cannot state a plausible timing-deficiency claim. (*374)
How the court reached its decision
The court's reasoning, step by step.
Whether homeowners have Article III standing to challenge an allegedly invalid assignment of their mortgage between creditors. The Browns were not injured by the assignment of the mortgage between creditors; any harm from an improper or fraudulent assignment falls on the assignor, not the homeowners, and no harm to the Browns was fairly traceable to the assignment itself, as recognized in the materially identical claim rejected in Quale. The Browns lacked standing to challenge the mortgage assignment, and the district court properly dismissed that claim under Rule 12(b)(1).
Whether the April 29, 2011 notice of intent to accelerate complied with the notice requirements of Paragraph 22 of the Browns' mortgage. The notice specified $24,850.47 as the cure amount, satisfying the action-required element; the mortgage imposed conditional—not unconditional—reinstatement rights under Paragraph 19, so no deficiency arose from the omission of an unconditional reinstatement right; and Paragraph 15's deemed-mailed provision meant the thirty-day period ran from April 29 to May 29, which the Browns did not allege was inaccurate. The Browns failed to state a facially plausible claim that Green Tree's predecessor violated Paragraph 22, and dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) was proper.
Key quotes from the opinion
Notable passages from the opinion, in the court's own words.
Cases the court relied on
Earlier decisions the court cited as authority for its ruling.
Cases that cite this one
596 later published cases cite this decision. The 9 that cite it most often are listed here.
- Wilson v. Jefferson County Sheriff's Department (District Court, E.D. Missouri 2019)
- Keys v. Marriott International Corporation (District Court, E.D. Missouri 2025)
- Bull v. City of Saint Ann (District Court, E.D. Missouri 2025)
- Williams v. Dorr (District Court, E.D. Missouri 2025)
- Keys v. Ameren Electric & Financial Holding (District Court, E.D. Missouri 2025)
- Watson v. Delaware North (District Court, E.D. Missouri 2025)
- Guthrie v. Hampton (District Court, E.D. Missouri 2025)
- Keys v. Busey Bank (District Court, E.D. Missouri 2025)
- Gray v. Ferris (District Court, E.D. Missouri 2025)
This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.
Full opinion
The complete text of the court's opinion as published.
Opinion
Raymond and Ruth Brown, a married couple from St. Cloud, Minnesota, sued Green Tree Servicing LLC (Green Tree) to prevent Green Tree from foreclosing on the Browns’ home. The Browns alleged Green Tree lacked authority to foreclose because (1) Green Tree, as a result of an invalid assignment between creditors, did not have legal title to the mortgage on the Browns’ home, and (2) Green Tree’s predecessor failed to comply with the mortgage in giving the Browns notice of its intent to accelerate the Browns’ loan. The district court 1 granted Green Tree’s motion to dismiss, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1), (6), concluding the Browns did -not have standing to challenge the assignment and the Browns’ notice claim failed to state a plausible claim for relief under Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009), and Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955,167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). The Browns appeal, and after careful de novo review, see Mattes v. ABC Plastics, Inc., 323 F.3d 695, 697-98 (8th Cir. 2003) (standard of review), we affirm. 2
I. DISCUSSION
A. Article III Standing
We first address whether the Browns have Article III standing to challenge an allegedly invalid mortgage assignment between creditors. See U.S. Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 1; Brown v. Medtronic, Inc., 628 F.3d 451, 455 (8th Cir. 2010). To establish standing to raise their assignment claim, the Browns must -show they have “suffered a concrete and particularized injury that is fairly traceable to the challenged conduct, and is likely to be redressed by a favorable judicial decision.” Hollingsworth v. Perry, 570 U.S. -, -, 133 S.Ct. 2652, 2661, 186 L.Ed.2d 768 (2013). The Browns have not done that.
The Browns’ invalid assignment claim is nearly identical to the claim two homeowners asserted .-against a foreclosing lender in Quale v. Aurora Loan Services, LLC, 561 Fed.Appx. 582, 582-83 (8th Cir. 2014) (unpublished per curiam). In Quale, we determined the homeowners did not have standing to raise such a claim because they “were not injured by the assignment” and any harm to the homeowners was not fairly traceable to the allegedly invalid assignment. Id. at 583 (noting the assignor, not the homeowner, is “[t]he party injured by an improper or fraudulent assignment”). We reach the same conclusion here.
B. Compliance with the Mortgage
We also reject the Browns’ contention that the district court erred in dismissing their amended ’ complaint' “[bjecause the Amended Complaint, when viewed in the light most favorable to the Browns, shows that Green Tree’s predecessor failed to comply with the notice requirements of Paragraph 22” of their mortgage. “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.’ ” Iqbal, 556 U.S. - at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955). A claim is. facially plausible — rather than sheerly possible — “when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ml Although we accept the factual *373 allegations in the Browns’ amended complaint as true, we do not accept as true any “ ‘legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation.’ ” Id. (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955). In reviewing the Browns’ amended complaint, “we may consider documents attached to.” it, including the Browns’ mortgage and the notice they received. Great Plains Trust Co. v. Union Pac. R.R., 492 F.3d 986, 990 (8th Cir. 2007); see also Fed.R.Civ.P. 10(c) (“A copy of a written instrument that is .an exhibit to a pleading is a part of .the pleading for all purposes.”).
In the event of an uncured default; Paragraph 22 of the Browns’ mortgage authorizes the lender, at its option, to accelerate the Browns’ loan “without further demand and .invoke the power of sale and any other remedies permitted by” law. Before doing so, the lender must give the Browns notice by certified mail and an opportunity to cure the default. Specifically, Paragraph 22 provides in relevant part ■
The notice shall specify: (a)‘ the default; (b) the action required’to cure' the default; (c) a date, not less than 30 days from the date the notice is given to [the Browns], by which the default must be - cured; and (d) that failure, to cure the default on or before the date specified in ■the, notice-may result in acceleration of the. sums secured by [the Mortgage] and sale, of the Property. The notice .shall further inform the [Browns] of the right to reinstate after acceleration and the right to bring a court action tó assert the non-existence of a default or any other defense of [the Browns] to acceleration and sale.
The Browns acknowledge they were sent a notice of intent to accelerate from their lender by certified mail, dated'April 29, 2011. But they argue the notice was insufficient to comply with Paragraph 22 in three ways. The Browns allege the notice failed to; (1) “ ‘specify the action required to cure the default’ as required by Paragraph 22” because it “require[d] payment of a sum certain, plus unspecified ‘additional regular [monthly] payment or payments, late charges, fees and charges which become due on or before May 29, ‘2011’ ”; (2) apprise them “that they have the unconditional right to reinstate”; and (3) “give the ■requisite 30-days notice of default.”
We agree with the district court that the. Browns failed to state a facially plausible claim to relief. , See Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937; Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955. First, the notice not only notified the Browns their default resulted from missed payments, but also calculated the $24,850.47 in monthly charges and late charges the Browns would have to pay to cure that default as of the date of the notice. That was sufficiently specific to comply with Paragraph 22 of the mortgage. The reference to additional charges that might accrue depending on the Browns’ future conduct did not prevent the notice from specifying “the action required to cure the[ir] default.”
Second, the mortgage does not give the Browns an unconditional right to reinstate, so the notice could not be deficient in failing to apprise them of such a right. Paragraph 19 of the mortgage expressly declares the Browns must “meet[ ] certain conditions” for reinstatement and imposes four broad conditions on the Browns’ right to reinstate after acceleration and clarifies the right does not apply at all in certain circumstances.
Finally, the notice the Browns received was dated April 29 and required them to cure “on or before May 29,” exactly thirty days later. In their amended complaint, the Browns reasoned notice mailed on April 29 could not have been delivered *374 “until after that date,” so they must not have received the thirty-days notice Paragraph 22 required. The Browns apparently overlooked Paragraph 15 of the mortgage, which states that any notice to the Browns in connection with the mortgage “.shall be deemed to have been given ... when mailed by first class mail.” Presumably relying on their theory that the mail takes at least a day, the Browns, as noted by the district court, did not allege Green Tree’s predecessor “failed to send the Notice on the date indicated on [its] face” or otherwise challenge the date the notice purports to have been given, a date which the Browns in fact accepted as accurate in alleging that date in their amended complaint. That the Browns pled the stock phrase “[o]n or about April 29” does not convince us otherwise. The district court did not err in dismissing the Browns’ notice claim.
II. CONCLUSION
We affirm the judgment of the district court.
Continue your research
- Eighth Circuit cases applying Quale to homeowner standing challenges to mortgage assignments after 2014
- Cases interpreting Paragraph 22 FNMA/FHLMC uniform mortgage acceleration notice requirements in Minnesota and the Eighth Circuit
- Secondary sources on mortgagor standing to challenge void or voidable mortgage assignments as a foreclosure defense
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.