Opinion ID: 787570
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Borrowers' Remaining Contentions Regarding Standing Are Without Merit

Text: 64 Borrowers contend that the Home Owners Equity Protection Act of 1994 (HOEPA), 15 U.S.C. § 1641(d) confers joint and several liability on all Trust Defendants and therefore creates a juridical link between them. HOEPA states that an assignee of a mortgage shall be subject to all claims and defenses with respect to that mortgage that the consumer could assert against the creditor of the mortgage.... 15 U.S.C. § 1641(d)(1). Nothing in the language of HOEPA purports to confer standing on a plaintiff to sue a defendant against whom that plaintiff cannot otherwise assert a cause of action. Nor does the possible imposition of joint and several liability on an assignee create a juridical link between an assignee and other unrelated parties. Borrowers have failed to demonstrate that they have injuries in fact traceable to those Trust Defendants who never held a named plaintiff's loan. The district court correctly held that HOEPA does not confer standing against the Trust Defendants who did not hold their loans. 65 Borrowers also contend that the district court erred in dismissing the Trust Defendants for lack of standing because they may be permissively joined as parties under FED. R. CIV. P. 20. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure do not create standing in a plaintiff who otherwise lacks it and this contention is without merit. FED. R. CIV. P. 82 (These rules shall not be construed to extend or limit the jurisdiction of the United States district courts....).