National City Bank of Indiana v. Ortiz, 401 S.W.3d 867

Ortiz purchased a home in 2004, financed by a note secured by a deed of trust; National City Bank Indiana (the Bank) held the note and National City Home Loan Services (HLS) managed the mortgage.
HLS insured the property for Ortiz’s lapse in insurance and charged his escrow; misaddressed notices caused miscommunications and accelerated default timing.
Foreclosure notices were misaddressed, leading to an attempted sale that Ortiz sought to enjoin; the sale occurred and title transferred to National City.
Two Letter Agreements were signed by an HLS employee and an authorized representative, purportedly releasing and waiving claims related to the property, including the note and deed of trust; Ortiz later alleged these agreements were invalid for lack of consideration.
The trial court granted Ortiz partial summary judgment on wrongful foreclosure and later entered a final judgment declaring the note and deed of trust fully satisfied and expunging the deed; the trial court also awarded Ortiz substantial damages and fees against National City but denied foreclosure relief.
This court on rehearing held the Letter Agreements are ambiguous and remanded for retrial of the bank’s judicial-foreclosure claim and related contract claims; Ortiz’s mandamus petition was denied except as to other specified issues.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the Letter Agreements unambiguously waive the Bank’s rights under the Note	Ortiz argues waivers are explicit and unambiguous and bar any Note claims	Bank contends letters are ambiguous and law allows hidden intent to be inferred	Ambiguity exists; remand needed for contract interpretation and retrial
Whether the Note and Deed of Trust are fully satisfied and the foreclosure claim time-barred	Bank argues timely foreclosure claims; Ortiz contends time-barred	Ortiz contends accrual and notices failed; insufficient acceleration notices	Not time-barred on remand; issues to be retried together
Whether the trial court properly expunged the lis pendens	Ortiz seeks expunction as improper under statute	Bank argues probable validity of real-property claim supports denial	Mandamus denied; court left open retrial considerations
Whether Ortiz can recover multiple damages for the same injury under one-satisfaction rule	Ortiz seeks cumulative damages from multiple theories	One-satisfaction rule limits damages to a single recovery	Damages bifurcated; one-satisfaction generally applies, but retrial may adjust totals
Whether the Letter Agreements’ effect on the Note requires retrial of contract claims	Waivers bar Note claims entirely	Contractual claims must be retried as single transaction	Contract claims and foreclosure retried; final judgment remanded for coherent resolution

Golden v. McNeal, 78 S.W.3d 488 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2002) (summary judgment grounds and when grounds are asserted)
G & H Towing Co. v. Magee, 347 S.W.3d 293 (Tex.2011) (standard for summary judgment grounds)
Cincinnati Life Ins. Co. v. Cates, 927 S.W.2d 623 (Tex.1996) (interpretation of contract; ambiguity doctrine)
Mustang Pipeline Co. v. Driver Pipeline Co., 134 S.W.3d 195 (Tex.2004) (mixed questions of law and fact; jury submission)
U.S. Fire Ins. Co. v. Republic Nat’l Life Ins. Co., 602 S.W.2d 527 (Tex.1980) (release/waiver consideration requirements)
Bowden v. Phillips Petroleum Co., 247 S.W.3d 690 (Tex.2008) (ambiguity and summary judgment)
Memorial Medical Center of East Texas v. Keszler, 943 S.W.2d 433 (Tex.1997) (integration of related documents; contract interpretation)
Hall v. Wichita State Bank & Trust Co., 254 S.W.1036 (Tex.1930) (formation/recognition of waiver and renunciation)
Scholarly citations omitted for brevity, - () (-)