Opinion ID: 2234227
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: real party in interest and jurisdiction

Text: The Siegels claim that the district court did not have jurisdiction because Litton did not have authority to commence this action or to act on behalf of Deutsche Bank and, therefore, was not the real party in interest. They assert that Deutsche Bank should have brought the claim in its own behalf. Subject matter jurisdiction is a question of law for the court, which requires an appellate court to reach a conclusion independent of the lower court's decision. Gilbert & Martha Hitchcock Found. v. Kountze, 275 Neb. 978, 751 N.W.2d 129 (2008). The record shows that Litton had authority to bring the foreclosure action against the Siegels on behalf of Deutsche Bank. Accordingly, this assignment of error is without merit. Deutsche Bank was a party to the Pooling and Servicing Agreement (PSA), which designated Deutsche Bank as trustee and authorized a servicer to initiate foreclosure proceedings on behalf of Deutsche Bank. The Siegels asked for information in the PSA in discovery requests. At Deutsche Bank's request, the district court entered a protective order to keep the documents confidential, and Deutsche Bank then filed the PSA with the court on February 22, 2007. The PSA became part of the district court's file at the time of Deutsche Bank's filing. The court took judicial notice of the entire court file on two occasions. On November 24, 2008, at the hearing on Deutsche Bank's motion to confirm the sale of the real estate, the court stated that it would take judicial notice of all of the pleadings, the court file, attachments contained thereto, and all exhibits. The November 24 hearing was continued to December 1, at which time Deutsche Bank's attorney stated, Judge, I first want to confirm that you have taken judicial notice of your entire file .... The court responded, Well, if I haven't, I will. The PSA was filed with this court as a second supplemental transcript pursuant to Deutsche Bank's request on October 20, 2009. The PSA contains a section titled Administration and Servicing of Mortgage Loans, which provides: [T]he Servicer in its own name or in the name of a Subservicer is hereby authorized and empowered by the Trustee [Deutsche Bank] to institute foreclosure proceedings or obtain a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure so as to convert the ownership of such properties ... on behalf of the Trustee. To carry out these powers, the PSA states: [T]he Trustee hereby grants to the Servicer, and this Agreement shall constitute, a power of attorney to carry out such duties including a power of attorney to take title to Mortgaged Properties after foreclosure on behalf of the Trustee. An employee of Litton stated in her affidavit that Litton was the servicer for Deutsche Bank. A power of attorney authorizes another to act as one's agent. First Colony Life Ins. Co. v. Gerdes, 267 Neb. 632, 676 N.W.2d 58 (2004). Agency is the fiduciary relation which results from the manifestation of consent by one person to another that the other shall act on his behalf and subject to his control, and the consent of the other to so act. Equilease Corp. v. Neff Towing Serv., 227 Neb. 523, 418 N.W.2d 754 (1988). In the relationship of principal and agent, an agent's actual authority is the power to act on the principal's behalf in accordance with the principal's consent to the agency. Oddo v. Speedway Scaffold Co., 233 Neb. 1, 443 N.W.2d 596 (1989). The PSA granted power of attorney to Litton and created an agency relationship between Litton and Deutsche Bank. As Deutsche Bank's agent, Litton acted within the scope of its authority in bringing this action against the Siegels. Litton had the authority to commence the action in Deutsche Bank's name pursuant to the power of attorney and agency agreement. This arrangement is not improper. The PSA authorizes Litton to initiate foreclosure proceedings on behalf of Deutsche Bank; therefore, the district court properly concluded that it had jurisdiction to decide this case.