Opinion ID: 77132
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Response to Foreclosure Complaint, Summary Judgment

Text: 25 Wyman and Lee also challenge their convictions on the two other counts of the indictment, both of which are based upon mailings sent by the appellants to opposing counsel in the foreclosure action on Lee's home. 2 After discovering that Lee's check purporting to pay off her mortgage was written on a closed account, First South 3 initiated foreclosure proceedings. Lee and Wyman responded to the foreclosure motion with documents from the Beers package. Among the many documents Lee and Wyman submitted were the final two mailings charged in the indictment, an April 11, 2003 Notice of Acceptance and an April 22, 2003 motion to dismiss, both mailed to First South's counsel. In the Notice of Acceptance, Lee wrote: 26 I have exchanged my exemption (EIN # 260027391) for the discharge of the charges. I hereby request an appearance bond at no cost to me so I can enter a plea for the Defendant. I do not intend to dispute the facts. Based upon the issuance of the appearance bond and the absence of an assessment and findings of fact and conclusions of law, I will plead guilty to the charges and exchange my exemption for full settlement of the account. 27 Lee attached copies of the summons, lis pendens, and complaint to her mailing and affixed the same Accepted for assessed value & returned in exchange for closure and settlement of this accounting stamp across each document. 28 In the motion to dismiss, Lee submitted an affidavit in opposition to foreclosure. Among her various testimonial statements, Lee affirmed: I have not seen nor been presented with any material fact which demonstrates that the Creditor is in receipt of any document that verifies, under penalty of perjury, that the Defendants owe [First South] any balance of any amount on any alleged debt, and believe that none exists. As part of the April 22, 2005 motion to dismiss, Lee also submitted to First South's counsel a Notice of Default and Entry for Notarial Protest. This document asserted that First South was in default on its contract with Lee and through this default had waived its rights. Wyman testified that the purpose of all of these documents, part of the Beers package, was to cause the lender to discharge the mortgage on Lee's home. 29 A reasonable jury in possession of this evidence could find that the Notice of Acceptance and motion to dismiss were mailed in furtherance of the scheme to defraud. Wyman testified that the purpose of the entire Beers package of documents was to get the mortgage discharged. These two mailings, part of that larger stack of documents, further that purpose. The Notice of Acceptance purports fully to settle the mortgage by exchanging Lee's exemption for a settlement of the debt. The motion to dismiss denies that any debt actually exists. Moreover, the Notice of Default, sent with that motion to dismiss, attempts to place First South in default to Lee and even informs that bank that it has somehow waived its rights to collect under any original terms. These letters to First South's counsel, part of the larger Beers blizzard of documents, are all designed to obfuscate Lee's actual obligation on the mortgage loan. Drawing upon these facts, a reasonable jury could view these letters, and the entire Beers package of documents, as steps in the scheme to keep Lee's home without payment. We must therefore find that there is sufficient evidence in the record to support the jury's verdict on the second and third counts of the indictment. 30 Wyman and Lee, however, contend that as these two mailings were sent as part of litigation, strong policy considerations prevent us from basing a mail fraud conviction upon the foreclosure documents. In support of their argument, the appellants cite United States v. Pendergraft, 297 F.3d 1198 (11th Cir.2002), in which we considered the legal sufficiency of a mail fraud indictment based upon false affidavits attached to a motion for preliminary injunction. Defendants Pendergraft and Spielvogel proposed to open an Ocala, Florida abortion clinic but faced local opposition to their plans. Id. at 1200. After receiving a phone call from Spielvogel seeking money in return for abandoning the clinic, the chairman of the County Board of Commissioners, Cretul, contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which began taping conversations between Cretul and the defendants. Id. at 1200-01. At some point after the FBI began its monitoring, Spielvogel contacted the FBI and alleged that Cretul had threatened him. Id. at 1201. Due to its monitoring, however, the FBI knew this claim to be false. Id. Subsequently, Pendergraft offered to abandon his clinic and stay away from the city at a rate of $550,000 for three years, $750,000 for five years, or $1,000,000 for a permanent absence. Id. After Cretul declined the offer, the defendants opened the clinic. Id. Pendergraft and the clinic then filed suit seeking injunctive relief to obtain protection against protesters. Id. In support of their suit, Spielvogel and Pendergraft submitted affidavits contending that Cretul threatened them in violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, 18 U.S.C. § 248. Id. These affidavits were filed with the court and also served by mail upon opposing counsel. Id. at 1208. 31 In considering the legal sufficiency of the mail fraud counts in the indictment, we acknowledged that serving a motion by mail was a common litigation practice, and that prosecuting litigation activities would tend to inhibit policies promoting access to the courts. Id. We also recognized that the mail fraud statute cannot encompass all criminal schemes, id. at 1209, and that a malicious prosecution claim might be a more appropriate vehicle to deal with mailings made in the course of litigation. Id. at 1208. These statements, however, were simply dicta. In our analysis of the legal sufficiency of the claim, this court focused on whether or not Spielvogel and Pendergraft had the necessary intent to deceive. Id. at 1209. The Pendergraft defendants were aware that Cretul would know there were never any threats, and so they could not have intended to deceive Cretul with their false allegation. Id. Ultimately, it was due to the absence of an intent to deceive, and not upon any policy concerns relating to using the mails in connection with litigation, that we held that the mail fraud indictment failed to charge an offense as a matter of law. Id. 32 Wyman and Lee's attempt to draw parallels between the facts of this case and Pendergraft are unpersuasive. Most important, the two mailings at issue were not mailings to the court, but rather mailings to First South and its counsel. Wyman and Lee did not instigate suit at all; indeed, considering that their fraudulent scheme involved obtaining goods with offset checks and then holding on to possession as long as possible, a foreclosure action would be a hindrance to their plans. Wyman's testimony indicates that the Beers package of documents was intended to influence the lender and its counsel and not at all directed toward influencing the courts. Although these documents eventually did make their way into the foreclosure record and before the trial judge, First South's attorney testified that he filed those documents, not Wyman or Lee. We have discovered no evidence that shows Wyman or Lee actively sought to involve the courts in the foreclosure dispute; 4 on the contrary, Wyman's testimony indicates that use of the Beers package of documents was designed to avoid foreclosure altogether. Second, there was no intent to deceive in the Pendergraft legal mailings. Wyman and Lee's Notice of Acceptance and motion to dismiss, by contrast, were part of a package of documents that was designed expressly to attempt to mislead the lender so as to obtain the discharge of the debt and the release of the mortgage after the bank discovered that the check was worthless. In one final point of distinction, the Pendergraft defendants were charged for a fraud which directly involved mailings to the court. Lee and Wyman were indicted and eventually convicted for knowingly writing checks on closed accounts and then using the mails to confuse and avoid their creditors. Given that Lee and Wyman's mailings were not directed by them toward the court, the fact that the appellants were indicted on the basis of these mailings does not raise the same concerns of access and finality raised in the Pendergraft opinion. 33 We recognize, of course, that there are real public policy concerns inherent in allowing litigation materials to form the basis of a mail fraud claim, but those policy concerns have never been thought to preclude perjury prosecutions. Even if we read Pendergraft as appellants would like, we do not believe the mailings in this case implicate those policy concerns for the reasons already discussed. While we must be mindful of the concerns for placing obstacles in the path of full access to our courts, we cannot countenance mailing false claims clothed in legalese to lenders, with the intent of perpetrating or perpetuating a fraud, even where litigation is ongoing. For all these reasons, we find there is sufficient evidence to affirm the jury's verdict on all three counts of the indictment.