Opinion ID: 1037781
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Remaining Claim.

Text: We proceed to the plaintiffs' remaining claim: that the foreclosure sale was unlawful because U.S. Bank did not possess a written assignment of the mortgage at the time of foreclosure (and, thus, could not validly exercise the power of sale contained in the mortgage). The plaintiffs base this claim on the strictures of a state statute requiring transfers of interests in land to be in writing. See Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183, § 3. This statute, as interpreted by the SJC, applies to assignments of mortgages on real -13- property. See U.S. Bank Nat'l Ass'n v. Ibañez, 941 N.E.2d 40, 5154 (Mass. 2011). We pause at the threshold to make clear that this claim is not moot. The consummation of the foreclosure sale does not render the claim moot because the plaintiffs' complaint, in part, prays for money damages as a means of ameliorating the asserted wrong. See Culhane v. Aurora Loan Servs. of Neb., 708 F.3d 282, 290 (1st Cir. 2013). We turn, therefore, to the merits of the claim. The FDIC, as a matter of federal law, succeeded to the assets of Downey Savings as receiver. See 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(2)(A). Acting in that capacity, the FDIC was empowered by federal law to transfer any asset or liability of [the failed bank] . . . without any approval, assignment, or consent with respect to such transfer. Id. § 1821(d)(2)(G)(i)(II). The plaintiffs do not contest that the FDIC, pursuant to this authority, transferred all of Downey Savings' mortgages and loans (including the mortgage and loan at issue here) to U.S. Bank. The plaintiffs argue that these circumstances are not enough to permit U.S. Bank to exercise a power-of-sale provision in a transferred mortgage. They point out that the property is in Massachusetts and that Massachusetts law requires a specific written assignment of a real estate mortgage. See Ibañez, 941 N.E.2d at 51-53. This argument is all sizzle and no steak. -14- The plaintiffs' mortgage was assigned to U.S. Bank by operation of federal law, which specifically authorizes the FDIC to transfer assets of a failed financial institution without . . . assignment. 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(2)(G)(i)(II). To demand anything beyond what is spelled out in FIRREA's statutory scheme would require us to turn the Supremacy Clause, U.S. Const. art. VI, cl. 2, upside down. We hold that a transfer of a mortgage, authorized by federal law, obviates the need for the specific written assignment that state law would otherwise require. Accordingly, the district court did not err in granting summary judgment on this claim.