Campbell v. Nationstar Mortg. & Fed. Nat'l Mortg. Ass'n
| Decision Date | 06 May 2015 |
| Docket Number | No. 14-1751,14-1751 |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
| Parties | BARBARA CAMPBELL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE and FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION, Defendants-Appellees. |
NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION
File Name: 15a0330n.06
ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN
Before: BOGGS and McKEAGUE, Circuit Judges; PEARSON, District Judge.*
BENITA Y. PEARSON, District Judge. Plaintiff-Appellant Barbara Campbell sought to have the foreclosure sale of her house in Detroit, Michigan set aside due to alleged defects in the loan modification and foreclosure proceedings initiated by Defendants-Appellees Nationstar Mortgage, LLC ("Nationstar") and Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae"). For the reasons that follow, we affirm the district court's dismissal of Campbell's case.
Campbell obtained a $165,000 loan from Flagstar Bank on July 25, 2006. As security for the loan, Campbell granted Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. ("MERS"), actingsolely as nominee for the lender and the lender's successors and assigns, a mortgage against her house. MERS assigned Campbell's mortgage to Nationstar on April 23, 2010.
Campbell defaulted on her mortgage. She alleges that financial hardship resulting from extensive medical treatment for both herself and close family members caused the default. Seeking relief, Campbell applied for a loan modification from Nationstar in January 2013. Nationstar assigned a Single Point of Contact ("SPOC") to assist Campbell with the process. Campbell also applied for assistance with the Detroit Non-Profit Housing Corporation, which prepared and submitted a loan modification application on her behalf.
Nationstar mailed a letter to Campbell on March 6, 2013, informing her that Nationstar had received her application for the "FNMA Apollo Trial Period" (Fannie Mae's loan modification program) and that it was under review. The letter states, in pertinent part: "Please note that during this evaluation period your home will not be referred to foreclosure or be sold at a foreclosure sale if the foreclosure period has already been initiated." R. 1-2 at Page ID #54. It is undisputed that Campbell's house had not yet been referred to foreclosure at the time Nationstar sent this letter. The record is ambiguous, however, on whether the FNMA Apollo Trial Period is an independent loss mitigation program separate and apart from the obligations of Nationstar and Fannie Mae under Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.3205a, or whether Nationstar's review of Campbell's FNMA Apollo Trial Period application is part of the notice requirements set forth in § 600.3205a that foreclosing parties must follow before commencing a foreclosure proceeding.
Campbell received a letter on March 14, 2013 from Trott & Trott, P.C., Nationstar's designee. The letter informed Campbell of her right, pursuant to Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.3205a, to request a meeting to discuss modification of her mortgage loan. Campbell alleges that she promptly replied and requested a loan modification meeting. Notwithstanding her alleged response to Trott & Trott, P.C.'s letter, Campbell states that she "was never given a meeting despite calls to find out why." Campbell also contends that she promptly replied to each Nationstar letter requesting additional documents to support her loan modification application, but that Nationstar employees gave her conflicting answers about whether Nationstar had received the documentation. One employee allegedly informed Campbell that "she should continue to provide documentation to [Nationstar] as requested and if a foreclosure occurred, it would be reversed."
Meanwhile, Nationstar proceeded with foreclosure by advertisement. Starting on May 27, 2013, Nationstar published notice in the Detroit Legal News. The following day, Nationstar posted a copy of the foreclosure notice on Campbell's property. Nationstar purchased Campbell's house at a Sheriff's Sale on July 11, 2013. Pursuant to Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.3240(8), Campbell had six months after the foreclosure sale to exercise her statutory right of redemption. Campbell, however, took no action to redeem her property. Campbell alleges that, while proceeding with the foreclosure, Nationstar continued to request documentation for her "FNMA Apollo Trial Period" application. Specifically, Campbell presents a letter that she received from Nationstar on June 19, 2013, in which Nationstar requested that Campbell send asigned copy of her most recent tax returns to Nationstar by July 20, 2013—nine days after the Sheriff's Sale.
Campbell filed her complaint in Wayne County Circuit Court on January 13, 2014, alleging four causes of action: (1) Violation of Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.3205 et seq. as to Nationstar, (2) Violation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ("RESPA"), Regulation X, and 12 C.F.R. § 1024.41 as to Nationstar, (3) Negligence of Duty under the Home Affordable Modification Program ("HAMP") as to Fannie Mae, and (4) Illegal Foreclosure as to both Nationstar and Fannie Mae. Nationstar and Fannie Mae timely removed the case to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and moved to dismiss Campbell's complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). The district court granted Nationstar and Fannie Mae's motion as to each of Campbell's claims. Campbell's timely appeal followed.
We review de novo a district court's decision to grant a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim. The purpose of a Rule 12(b)(6) motion is "to test whether, as a matter of law, the plaintiff is entitled to legal relief even if everything alleged in the complaint is true." Mayer v. Mylod, 988 F.2d 635, 638 (6th Cir. 1993) (citing Nishiyama v. Dickson Cnty., 814 F.2d 277, 279 (6th Cir. 1987) (en banc)). "Following Twombly and Iqbal, it is well settled that a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." Ctr. for Bio-Ethical Reform v. Napolitano, 648 F.3d 365, 369 (6th Cir. 2011) (quoting Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S.662, 678 (2009)) (internal quotation marks omitted). "A claim is plausible on its face if the 'plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.'" Ctr. for Bio-Ethical Reform, 648 F.3d at 369 (quoting Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678).
When considering a motion to dismiss, we must "'accept all well-pleaded factual allegations of the complaint as true and construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.'" Reilly v. Vadlamudi, 680 F.3d 617, 622 (6th Cir. 2012) (quoting Dubay v. Wells, 506 F.3d 422, 426 (6th Cir. 2007)). We do not, however, need to accept as true legal conclusions couched as factual allegations. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678 (citing Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007)). "Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice." Id. "In addition to the allegations in the complaint, [we] may also consider other materials that are integral to the complaint, are public records, or are otherwise appropriate for the taking of judicial notice." Ashland, Inc. v. Oppenheimer & Co., 648 F.3d 461, 467 (6th Cir. 2011).
Campbell argues that the district court improperly considered a motion for summary judgment that Nationstar and Fannie Mae disguised as a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim.1 Campbell contends that a number of documents relied on by Nationstar and Fannie Mae are outside the pleadings and raise factual assertions that, according to Campbell, she was unableto respond to without the benefit of discovery. Because the documents were beyond the scope of a motion to dismiss brought pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), the argument goes, the district court erred in granting the motion to dismiss.
"A copy of a written instrument that is an exhibit to a pleading is a part of the pleading for all purposes." Fed. R. Civ. P. 10(c). A court may also consider "documents incorporated into the complaint by reference, and matters of which a court may take judicial notice." Tellabs, Inc. v. Major Issues & Rights, Ltd., 551 U.S. 308, 322 (2007). Moreover, a defendant may, in certain circumstances, introduce into the pleadings documents that the plaintiff does not. "Documents that a defendant attaches to a motion to dismiss are considered part of the pleadings if they are referred to in the plaintiff's complaint and are central to her claim." Weiner v. Klais & Co., 108 F.3d 86, 89 (6th Cir. 1997) (quoting Venture Assocs. Corp. v. Zenith Data Sys. Corp., 987 F.2d 429, 431 (7th Cir. 1993), overruled on other grounds, Swierkiwica v. Sorema, N.A., 534 U.S. 506 (2002). "Hence, in this case, the panel may consider documents relating [to] the note, mortgage, assignment, loan modification process, and foreclosure that are referenced in the complaint and integral to [Campbell's] claims." Gardner v. Quicken Loans, Inc., 567 F. App'x 362, 365 (6th Cir. 2014).
Campbell attached a letter from Nationstar's designee, Trott & Trott, P.C. (R. 1-2 at Page ID #55-57), the letter confirming receipt of Campbell's request for a loan modification (id. at #58-59), and the affidavit of notice pursuant to Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.3205 (id. at #64) as exhibits to her complaint. Similarly, Campbell attached as exhibits to her complaint: her mortgage (id. at #26-37), the MERS Inc. servicers identification (id. at #31), her Detroit Non-Profit Housing Corporation Application (id. at #43-48), her HAMP application (id. at #50-52), the Sheriff's deed on mortgage sale (id. at #67-79), and various letters of correspondence between Campbell, Trott &...
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