Source: http://californiafinance.mwbllp.com/2017/05/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 02:07:53+00:00

Document:
FYI: 9th Cir Amends and Reinforces Its Ruling That Foreclosure Trustees Are Not FDCPA "Debt Collectors"
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently amended its opinion in Ho v. ReconTrust Co, maintaining and affirming its prior ruling that the trustee in a California non-judicial foreclosure did not qualify as a debt collector under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).
The amendments to the prior ruling among other things add that a California mortgage foreclosure trustee meets the FDCPA's exclusion from the term "debt collector" for entities whose activities are "incidental to … a bona fide escrow arrangement" at 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(6)(F).
The Ninth Circuit also removed its prior discussion of Sheriff v. Gillie, 136 S. Ct. 1594 (2016), replacing it with a discussion of foreclosure being a "traditional area of state concern" not to be superseded by federal law without "clear and manifest purpose of Congress," which the Court found lacking here.
Splitting from the Fourth and Sixth Circuits and ruling against the position argued by the CFPB in an amicus curiae brief, the Ninth Circuit explained that the California foreclosure trustee defendant was not attempting to collect money from the plaintiff when it sent her a notice of default and notice of sale so that its activities did not qualify as debt collection.
This holding affirms the leading case of Hulse v. Owen Federal Bank, 195 F. Supp. 2d 1188 (D. Or. 2002), which has been the subject of much debate concerning whether non-judicial foreclosure constitutes debt collection.
The Ninth Circuit also vacated the trial court's dismissal of the TILA rescission claim based on its recent ruling that a claim for rescission under TILA does not require that a plaintiff allege the ability to repay the loan.
The plaintiff took out a loan to buy a house and the loan was secured by a deed of trust. There are three parties to a deed of trust: (i) the lender, who is the trust beneficiary, (ii) the borrower, who as the trustor holds equitable title to the property, and (iii) the trustee, who is an agent for the lender and the borrower, holds legal title to the property, and is authorized to sell the property if the borrower fails to pay the loan.
The plaintiff missed payments on her mortgage and the trustee initiated a non-judicial foreclosure under California law. As required by the statute, the trustee mailed to plaintiff a notice of default stating how much plaintiff owed on the loan, that she had the right bring the account into good standing, and that it could be sold without any court action.
When plaintiff didn't pay, the trustee mailed a notice of sale informing plaintiff that the house would be sold if she did not pay. The sale never took place because the plaintiff received a loan modification.
However, she sued the trustee anyway claiming that it had violated the FDCPA by misrepresenting the amount of the debt and sought to rescind the mortgage transaction under TILA for purported fraud.
The trial court granted the trustee's motion to dismiss, and the plaintiff appealed arguing that the notice of default and notice of sale were attempts to collect a debt because both threatened foreclosure unless plaintiff paid the mortgage.
As you may recall, the FDCPA defines the term "debt" to mean "any obligation or alleged obligation of a consumer to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the money, property, insurance or services which are the subject of the transaction are primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, whether or not such obligation has been reduced to judgment." 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(5).
The Ninth Circuit interpreted this to be "synonymous" with the word "money" such that the trustee would only be liable if it attempted to collect money, directly or indirectly, from the plaintiff. The Court found that the trustee did not do so because the "object of a non-judicial foreclosure is to retake and resell the security, not to collect money from the borrower" as California's non-judicial foreclosure law does not permit deficiency judgments following the foreclosure. Thus, the non-judicial foreclosure extinguishes the debt, and any action taken to advance the non-judicial foreclosure is not an attempt to collect a debt as defined by the FDCPA.
The Ninth Circuit rejected the plaintiff's argument that the possibility of repossession of the property may induce the debtor to pay off the debt explaining that such an "inducement exists by virtue of the lien, regardless of whether foreclosure proceedings actually commence." This is contrary to the Sixth Circuit's ruling in Glazer v. Chase Home Fin. LLC, 704 F.3d 453 (6h Cir. 2013) (holding that all "mortgage foreclosure is debt collection" under the FDCPA), and the Fourth Circuit's ruling in Wilson v. Draper & Goldberg, P.L.L.C., 443 F.3d 373 (4th Cir. 2006) (similar).
The Ninth Circuit noted that the Fourth Circuit "was more concerned with avoiding what it as viewed a "loophole in the [FDCPA]" than with following the [FDCPA's] text", and that the Sixth Circuit's ruling "rests entirely on the premise that "the ultimate purpose of foreclosure is the payment of money.""
The Ninth Circuit distinguished its reasoning by pointing out that the FDCPA defines "debt" as an "obligation of the consumer to pay money", whereas a trustee in a California non-judicial foreclosure collects money from the purchaser, not the consumer, so that the money is not "debt" as defined by the FDCPA.
Rather, the Court held, sending notices of default and sale under California's non-judicial foreclosure law fits into the FDCPA's exception of enforcement of a security interest, at 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(6)(F). The Ninth Circuit explained that entities whose principal purpose is the enforcement of security interests can be debt collectors under the FDCPA but that "the enforcement of security interests is not always debt collection." This is consistent with the Fourth and Sixth Circuits' premise that an entity does not become a "debt collector" where its "only role in the debt collection process is the enforcement of a security interest."
The Ninth Circuit also differentiated its reasoning by pointing out that the trustee's right to enforce the security interest as a non-debt collector under the 1692a(6)(F) exception necessarily implied that the trustee must also be able to take the statutorily-required steps leading up to the sale as a non-debt collector, including sending the notice of default and notice of sale. Such communications are necessary to effect the enforcement of the security interest and do not convert it into debt collection.
The Court further held that a trustee's role under California law as the holder of legal title means that the trustee functions as an escrow, which further satisfies the 1692a(6)(F) exclusion from "debt collector" of an entity whose activities are "incidental to …a bona fide escrow arrangement." The Ninth Circuit also pointed out that the notices of default and sale protect the debtor by informing her of her rights and of the impending foreclosure and are not for the purpose of harassing the debtor into paying a debt she might not otherwise pay.
Concerning the TILA claim, the Court held that after the plaintiff's TILA claims had been dismissed, it had ruled that a mortgagor did not need to allege her ability to repay the loan in order to state a rescission claim under TILA. Thus, the plaintiff's TILA claims were reinstated.
The Ninth Circuit's holding distinguishes debt collection from the actions taken to initiate and facilitate a non-judicial foreclosure by pointing out that those actions do not constitute an attempt to collect money from the consumer because the purpose of a non-judicial foreclosure in California is to retake and resell the security on the loan resulting in collection of money from the purchaser of the property.
Thus, non-judicial foreclosure under California law falls under the FDCPA's 1692a(6)(F) exclusion from the definition of "debt collector."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently affirmed the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel’s determination that a creditor’s pre-bankruptcy, non-recourse lien on two debtors’ real property is extinguished following a non-judicial foreclosure sale.
In April 2009, two debtors (“Debtors”) purchased real property. Rather than fund the purchase price and payoff the two existing liens on the real property, the Debtors executed a wrap-around mortgage in favor of the property seller. The Debtors then funded the balance of the purchase price with a note (“Note”) secured by a deed of trust.
In June 2012, the Debtors also filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition. The trustee of the Seller’s bankruptcy estate (“Trustee”) timely filed a proof of claim for the two liens secured by the real property.
In October 2012, the bankruptcy court lifted the debtor’s bankruptcy stay to allow the most senior lienholder to foreclose on the real property. The real property was sold at a foreclosure sale. The foreclosure trustee sent the surplus proceeds from the sale to the Trustee. The Trustee then filed an amended proof of claim for the unsecured balance of the Note.
On appeal to the Ninth Circuit, the trustee of Seller’s bankruptcy estate argued that the phrase “property of the estate” in Section 1111(b)(1)(A) refers to the property that existed at the time of filing the petition and that the bankruptcy court was required to fix his rights as of that date.
The Ninth Circuit rejected the Trustee’s argument. The Ninth Circuit found that what must be determined as of the date of the filing of the petition is solely the amount of the claim. The Ninth Circuit reasoned that the plain language of Section 1111(b) mandates that it cannot apply if the lien does not exist.
The Court observed that under California law, the liens securing the Trustee’s claim were extinguished following the judicial foreclosure sale. As a result, extending the protections of Section 1111(b) to the Trustee would allow the Trustee to assert a deficiency claim against the Debtors following the foreclosure sale, which would afford him more rights in bankruptcy than he would otherwise have under state law.
The Ninth Circuit then noted that the purpose of section 1111(b) is to put the Chapter 11 debtor who wishes to retain collateral property in the same position that a person who purchased property subject to a mortgage lien would face in the non-bankruptcy context. The Court explained that these purposes were not at issue in the Debtors’ proceeding because the Debtors were not seeking to retain the collateral property.
The Court held that section 1111(b)’s requirement that a creditor hold a “claim secured by a lien on the property of the estate” means that if a creditor’s claim, for any reason, ceases to be secured by a lien on property of the estate, the creditor can no longer transform a non-recourse claim into a recourse claim.
As a result, the Ninth Circuit held that section 1111(b) had no applicability to the Trustee’s claim.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently affirmed that consolidating multiple actions for pre-trial purposes and a bellweather-trial process is insufficient to justify the removal of those actions to federal court under the "mass action" provision of the Class Action Fairness Act ("CAFA").
In doing so, the Ninth Circuit rejected several arguments the removing defendant made based on language contained in the plaintiffs' motion to consolidate. The Court concluded that even though, as consolidated, the matters satisfied the numerosity requirement of a "mass action" under CAFA, the plaintiffs did not intend a joint trial for all of the plaintiffs, which is also required under CAFA. Therefore, according to the Ninth Circuit, the consolidated cases should not have been removed pursuant to CAFA's mass action provision.
As you may recall, under CAFA, large multi-state class actions can be removed to federal court. In addition, Congress made "mass actions" also removable based on similar standards as class actions. Under CAFA, a "mass action" is defined as a civil action, other than a class action, "in which monetary relief claims of 100 or more persons are proposed to be tried jointly on the ground that the plaintiff's claims involve common questions of law or fact." See 28 U.S.C. § 1332(d)(11)(B)(i).
Here, the defendant was a manufacturer of medical devices facing eight different product liability lawsuits filed against it in state court. The plaintiffs requested that the matters be consolidated "for all pretrial purposes, including discovery and other proceedings, and the institution of a bellweather-trial process." The plaintiffs further asserted that consolidation for a bellweather-trial process "will avoid unnecessary duplication of evidence and procedures in all of the actions, avoid the risk of inconsistent adjudications, and avoid many of the same witnesses testifying on common issues in all actions, as well as promote judicial economy and convenience."
The defendant removed the matters to federal court based on the mass action provision in CAFA. The plaintiffs challenged the removal. The trial court ruled that plaintiffs' consolidation motion did not propose a joint trial of plaintiffs' claims, as required under § 1332(d)(11)(B)(i), and remanded the matters back to state court. The Ninth Circuit accepted the defendant's immediate appeal.
The Ninth Circuit identified another provision in CAFA that factored into whether removal was appropriate. Specifically, the definition of a mass action under CAFA excludes any civil action in which the plaintiffs' claims "have been consolidated or coordinated solely for pretrial proceedings." 28 U.S.C. § 1332(d)(11)(B)(ii)(IV). Thus, according to the Court, the issue presented was, based on the language contained in plaintiffs' motion to consolidate, whether the plaintiffs' proposal for a bellweather-trial process constituted a proposal to try the claims jointly. If so, the Court held, the requirements of § 1332(d)(11)(B)(i) would be satisfied.
The Court acknowledged that there were two types of bellweather-trials to be held in class or mass actions. The first type is when the claims of a representative plaintiff or small group of plaintiffs are tried and the parties in the other cases agree they will be bound by the outcome of that trial, at least as to common issues. According to the Ninth Circuit, this was the least common type of the bellweather-trials.
The second, far more common, type of bellweather-trial is where the claims of a representative plaintiff or plaintiffs are tried, but the outcome is binding only on those parties to the trial, and not any of the other parties in other cases. Instead, the parties in the other cases use the trial outcome for informational purposes and to aid in settlements.
The Ninth Circuit determined that if plaintiffs proposed holding a bellweather-trial of the first type (i.e., the claims of a representative plaintiff or small group of plaintiffs are tried and the parties in the other cases agree they will be bound by the outcome of that trial, at least as to common issues), then the plaintiffs proposed a joint trial of their claims under § 1332(d)(11)(B)(i) because the findings in the bellweather-trial would have preclusive effect on the plaintiffs in the other cases.
However, the Ninth Circuit held, if the plaintiffs proposed holding a bellweather-trial of the second type (i.e., where the claims of a representative plaintiff or plaintiffs are tried, but the outcome is binding only on those parties to the trial, and not any of the other parties in other cases), then the plaintiffs did not propose trying the plaintiffs' claims jointly under § 1332(d)(11)(B)(i).
The defendant argued that plaintiffs' motion to consolidate made several references that required the court to conclude plaintiffs were requesting a bellweather-trial of the first type.
The first argument defendant made was that the plaintiffs moved to consolidate the matters pursuant to California Code of Civil Procedure § 1048(a). According to the defendant, § 1048(a) did not allow consolidation for pretrial purposes only. The Ninth Circuit rejected this argument, finding that no such language existed in that provision. In addition, the Ninth Circuit concluded that § 1048 was amended in 1971 to mirrorFed.R.Civ.Pro. 42, which "has long been interpreted to allow for consolidation for pretrial purposes only." The Court also found that the one case the defendant relied on in support of this argument actually acknowledged that § 1048(a) authorized two types of consolidation, one for purposes of trial and the other for all purposes, including trial.
The defendant's second argument in support of its assertion that plaintiffs intended for a bellweather-trial that had a preclusive effect was that one of the reasons plaintiffs gave for consolidating the matters was to "avoid the risk of inconsistent adjudications." The Ninth Circuit rejected this argument as well, finding that the plaintiffs could have been referring to several different issues related to "inconsistent adjudications," including evidentiary motions, dispositive motions and motions in limine. The Court determined that defendant did not satisfy its burden of eliminating alternative interpretations of "inconsistent adjudications," and, as a result, its second argument was not persuasive to the Court.
The final argument the defendant made was that plaintiffs' motion to consolidate defined "inconsistent adjudications" to mean "different results because tried before different judge and jury, etc." The Ninth Circuit found that, when read in isolation, the plaintiffs' definition supported defendant's argument. According to the Court, however, the defendant took the definition out of context. The definition was given in a passage related to the general purposes of consolidation. More importantly, the plaintiffs immediately followed the definition with a disclaimer stating they were not seeking consolidation "for purposes of a single trial to determine the outcome for all plaintiffs," and that they were seeking "a single judge to oversee and coordinate common discovery and pretrial proceedings." The plaintiffs went on to state that the bellweather-trial "would likely prove an effective tool to resolution of the [other] cases."
Taken collectively, according the Ninth Circuit, the plaintiffs' motion to consolidate established plaintiffs were seeking a bellweather-trial of the limited-binding type, such that the plaintiffs did not propose trying the plaintiffs' claims jointly under § 1332(d)(11)(B)(i).
Thus, in affirming the trial court's remand of the matters to state court, the Ninth Circuit concluded that plaintiffs' request for consolidation of pretrial proceedings does not trigger the mass action removal under CAFA, and that plaintiffs' request for a bellweather-trial process did not indicate they were seeking a trial whose result would have a preclusive effect on the plaintiffs in the other cases. In the absence of such an intent, the Court held, removal jurisdiction under the mass action provision of CAFA did not exist.

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