Souders v. Bank of Am., CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:CV-12-1074

• Decision Date: 06 December 2012
• Docket Number: CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:CV-12-1074
• Parties: LORAYNE E. SOUDERS, Plaintiff v. BANK OF AMERICA, et al., Defendants
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Pennsylvania

LORAYNE E. SOUDERS, Plaintiff v. BANK OF AMERICA, et al., Defendants

CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:CV-12-1074

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

December 6, 2012

(Judge Conner)

(Magistrate Judge Blewitt)

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

I. BACKGROUND.

On June 6, 2012, pro se Plaintiff Lorayne E. Souders' Complaint, originally filed in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, York County Civil Division under the Docket Number 2012-SU-001845-93, was removed to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, by Defendants Bank of America, Bank of New York, Mellon Trustee CWABS 2007-12 Asset-Backed Certificates (hereinafter "Bank of New York, Mellon"), and MERSCORP (hereinafter "MERS") by Notice of Removal under 28 U.S.C. § 1446(d). (Doc. 1). Attached to the Notice of Removal, as required by 28 U.S.C. § 1446(a), marked as Exhibit A is Plaintiff's Complaint. (Doc. 1, p. 2). Also, Plaintiff 's Complaint had Exhibits attached to it, namely, Exhibits A to C. Defendants based their Notice of Removal on the following statutes: (1) diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1332(a)(1) and 1441(b); and (2) federal question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331, as Plaintiff asserts claims for damages under two federal statutes, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO"), 18 U.S.C. § 1961, et seq, and the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act ("FDCPA"), 15 U.S.C. § 1692, et seq. (Doc. 1, p. 4; Exhibit A, Complaint ¶¶ 2, 3, and 9 and Requests for Relief ¶¶ 2-4). This case was then referred to the undersigned for issuance of a Report and Recommendation.

On June 7, 2012, Disclosure Statements pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 7.1 were provided identifying each of the three Defendants, and on June 11, 2012, Plaintiff filed a Demand for a Trial by Jury. (Docs. 2 & 5, respectively).

On June 13, 2012, Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff 's Complaint pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). (Doc. 6). On June 20, 2012, Defendants filed a Brief in Support of their Motion to Dismiss with an attached Exhibit and an Appendix consisting of copies of unpublished decisions. (Doc. 8). On July 2, 2012, Plaintiff filed a Brief in Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 9), and on July 13, 2012, Defendants responded to Plaintiff's Opposition Brief by filing a Reply Brief. (Doc. 12).

On July 16, 2012, Plaintiff then filed an Addendum to her Document 9 Brief in Opposition. (Doc. 13). On July 20, 2012, Defendants then filed an Unopposed Motion for Leave to File a Response to Plaintiff's Addendum. (Doc. 14). Defendants' Document 14 motion was granted by an Order of the Court. (Doc. 15). On July 26, 2012, Defendants filed their Response to Plaintiff's Document 13 Addendum. (Doc. 16). On August 2, 2012, Plaintiff filed an Addendum containing information being entered into the case as a matter of record. (Doc. 17). Lastly, on October 5, 2012, Plaintiff filed a Motion for Judicial Notice. (Doc. 19).

We now turn to discuss the Defendants' Document 6 Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Complaint and the documents that followed in relation and response to this Motion (Docs. 8,9, 12, 13, and 16).

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW.

A. MOTION TO DISMISS

In Reisinger v. Luzerne County, 712 F.Supp. 2d 332, 343-44 (M.D. Pa. 2010), in describing the motion to dismiss standard, the Court stated:

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently set out the appropriate standard applicable to a motion to dismiss in light of the United States Supreme Court's decisions Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 433 (2007), and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, --- U.S. ----, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (2009). "[T]o survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true to 'state a claim that relief is plausible on its face.' " Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949 (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570). The Court emphasized that "only a complaint that states a plausible claim for relief survives a motion to dismiss." Id. at 1950. Moreover, it continued, "[d]etermining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for relief will ... be a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense." Id. (citation omitted). McTernan v. City of York, 577 F.3d 521, 530 (3d Cir.2009). The Circuit Court discussed the effects of Twombly and Iqbal in detail and provided a road map for district courts presented with a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim in a case filed just a week before McTernan, Fowler v. UPMC Shadyside, 578 F.3d 203 (3d Cir.2009).

[D]istrict courts should conduct a two-part analysis. First, the factual and legal elements of a claim should be separated. The District Court must accept all of the complaint's well-pleaded facts as true, but may disregard any legal conclusions. [ Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949.] Second, a District Court must then determine whether the facts alleged in the complaint are sufficient to show that the plaintiff has a "plausible claim for relief." Id. at 1950. In other words, a complaint must do more than allege a plaintiff's entitlement to relief. A complaint has to "show" such an entitlement with its facts. See Philips [v. Co. of Allegheny], 515 F.3d [224,] 234-35 [ (3d Cir.2008) ]. As the Supreme Court instructed in Iqbal, "[w]here the well-pleaded facts do not permit the courtto infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged-but it has not 'show[n]'-'that the pleader is entitled to relief.' " Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949. This "plausibility" determination will be "a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense." Id. Fowler, 578 F.3d at 210-11.

The Circuit Court's guidance makes clear that legal conclusions are not entitled to the same deference as well-pled facts. In other words, "the court is 'not bound to accept as true a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation.' " Guirguis v. Movers Specialty Services, Inc., No. 09-1104, 2009 WL 3041992, at *2 (3d Cir. Sept. 24, 2009) ( quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555) (not precedential).

Where the parties submit exhibits with their filings, a court must determine what documents may be considered with a motion to dismiss. In reviewing a motion to dismiss filed pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals had held that "a court can consider certain narrowly defined types of material without converting the motion to dismiss" to one for summary judgment. In re Rockefeller Center Properties, Inc. Securities Litigation, 184 F.3d 280, 287 (3d Cir.1999). Specifically, a court can consider "a document integral to or explicitly relied upon in the complaint ... [and] an indisputably authentic document that a defendant attaches as an exhibit to a motion to dismiss if the plaintiff's claims are based on the document." ( Id. (internal citations and quotation omitted)). The Circuit Court explained the rationale for these exceptions: "the primary problem raised by looking to documents outside the complaint-lack of notice to the plaintiff-is dissipated where plaintiff has actual notice and has relied upon these documents in framing the complaint." FN11 Id. (internal citations and quotations omitted)). Matters of public record, including government agency records and judicial records, may be considered. Jean Alexander Cosmetics, Inc. v. L'Oreal USA, Inc., 458 F.3d 244, 257 n. 5 (3d Cir.2006) (citation omitted); Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. v. White Consol. Indus., 998 F.2d 1192, 1196 (3d Cir.1993).

See also Santiago v. Warminster Tp., 629 F.3d 121, 133 (3d Cir. 2010).

III. ALLEGATIONS OF COMPLAINT.

Plaintiff's Complaint was originally filed on April 30, 2012, in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, York County Civil Division, Docket No. 2012-SU-001845-93. As stated, Defendants filed a Notice of Removal on June 6, 2012, in this Court. Plaintiff 's Complaint filed in the Court of Common Pleas, York County Civil Division, was attached to Defendants' Notice of Removal as Exhibit A. Defendants' Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Complaint will be addressed in this Report and Recommendation.

In her Complaint, Plaintiff alleges that on June 26, 2007, she executed an Adjustable Rate Note and a Mortgage refinance with Countrywide Home Loans (n/k/a Bank of America) for one hundred twenty thousand dollars ($120,000.00). (Doc. 1, Complaint, ¶ 11, and attached Exhibit "A"). However, when Plaintiff went to the York County Register of Deeds office, she discovered that on October 14, 2011, her mortgage had been assigned by MERS to Bank of New York, Mellon Trustee to CWABS 2007-12 Asset-Backed Certificates. (Complaint, ¶ 12, Exhibit "B").

Based on these facts, Plaintiff alleges Defendants are liable for fraud, misrepresentation, and deceptive and unfair trading practices. (Complaint, ¶ 8). More specifically, she states that her loan number 171186255 was verified as being listed in the Securities and Exchange Commission's website, and that once the loan was sold to investors on Wall Street, thereby secured and converted, it lost its security making the assignment of the loan from MERS to the Bank of New York, Mellon after August 1, 2007 (allegedly the cut-off date for mortgage assignments to enter the pool according to the Trust, CWABS 2007-12, prospectus page 7)invalid, improper, fraudulent, and, according to Plaintiff, in violation of "New York Law." (Complaint, ¶¶ 13-14).

Plaintiff also questions the Mortgage's legitimacy based on the "law of 1871, Cannot separate the Note from the Mortgage," averring that if the Mortgage was never correctly endorsed by all parties according to the Trust's pooling and servicing agreement or if the Note was not conveyed with the Mortgage, the Mortgage becomes null and void. (Complaint, ¶ 15).

Additionally, Plaintiff states that there is no evidence that Countrywide endorsed the Note to anyone or that the Mortgage was properly assigned...