The Court of Appeal of the State of California, Sixth Appellate District, recently held that a loan owner may be liable for misrepresentations made by the loan servicer. The Court also held that a loan servicer may owe a duty of care to a borrower through application of the “Biakanja” factors, even though its involvement in the loan does not exceed its conventional role. A copy of the opinion in Daniels v. Select Portfolio Servicing, Inc. is available at: Link to Opinion. In May 2005, the borrowers obtained an adjustable rate mortgage. In early 2008, the borrowers asked their servicer to…
Posts tagged as “California”
The Court of Appeals of California, Fourth District, recently held that a homeowner who has been foreclosed on by one with no right to do so — by those allegations alone — sustains prejudice or harm sufficient to constitute a cause of action for wrongful foreclosure. Citing Glaski v. Bank of America (2013) 218 Cal.App.4th 1079, the Appellate Court also held that, because the plaintiff properly alleged the foreclosure was void and not merely voidable, tender was not required to state a cause of action for quiet title or for cancellation of instruments. A copy of the opinion in Sciarratta v.…
The Supreme Court of California recently held that, in determining whether punitive damages awards are within constitutional limits, attorney’s fees may be included in the calculation of the ratio of punitive to compensatory damages, regardless of whether the fees are awarded by the trier of fact as part of its verdict or are determined by the trial court after the verdict has been rendered. A copy of the opinion in Nickerson v. Stonebridge Life Insurance Company is available at: Link to Opinion. The plaintiff suffered a broken leg and was taken to a veterans hospital. He experienced several complications from his…
The Court of Appeal of the State of California, First Appellate District, recently upheld a trial court’s demurrer without leave to amend in a case in which a judicially noticed Purchase and Assumption Agreement (“P&A Agreement”) contradicted the borrower’s allegations that a subsequent purchaser of the loan had no authority to foreclose on her property. A copy of the opinion in Brown v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Company as Trustee for WAMU Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates Series et al. can be found at: Link to Opinion. In 2004, a borrower obtained a $450,000 loan secured by a deed of trust recorded against…
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California recently held that an amendment to the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) enacted as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 applies to calls made in 2014 “solely to collect a debt owed to or guaranteed by the United States,” and therefore granted summary judgment in favor of the defendant. A copy of the opinion in Silver v. Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency is available at: Link to Opinion. The plaintiff filed a putative class action under the TCPA alleging that, in or around January 2014, the defendant student…