Quicken Loans, Inc. v. Lourie Brown and Monique Brown, 777 S.E.2d 581

Plaintiffs Lourie Brown and Monique Brown sued Quicken Loans, Inc. in the Circuit Court of Ohio County asserting WVCCPA violations, unconscionability, and related claims tied to a 2006 loan secured by Monique Brown’s home.
The loan was $144,800, secured by the home; after two payments, Quicken foreclosed and Plaintiffs sued.
Quicken I (Quicken Loans, Inc. v. Brown) held the circuit court could not cancel the loan obligation and remanded for proper Garnes analysis and an offset.
On remand (2013), the circuit court refused to enforce the Note but created a lien on the property, added damages, and increased attorney fees and punitive damages.
This WV Supreme Court opinion holds the remand was limited, reverses several remedies, reduces damages and fees, and directs offset of the loan principal from recovery.
The Court remands with directions to return the loan principal to Quicken by deducting it from Plaintiffs’ recovery, and to offset by the pretrial settlement.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Did the circuit court comply with Quicken I mandate on loan obligations	Brown urged status quo restoration; argued the lien approach violated the mandate	Quicken argued the court complied with mandate	No; the court failed to return parties to status quo as nearly as possible
Authority and scope of remand for compensatory damages	Plaintiff contends remand allowed only specific relief; sought offset	Quicken contends remand permitted broader remedy	Remand was limited; addition of $98,800 was improper
Attorney fees and costs on remand and their offset	Fees/costs on remand were proper under WVCCPA	Fees should not be awarded for appellate/remand work and should offset	Attorney fees/costs on remand reversed; offset against pretrial settlement required
Excessiveness of punitive damages after remand	Award justified by Garnes factors given harm and wealth	Award excessive under Gore/State Farm; ratio too high	Punitive damages reduced to $2,168,868.75 to align with law of the case and due process
Offset of punitive/compensatory damages by pretrial settlement	Settlement should offset only compensatory damages	Offset permitted for all compensatory, including attorney fees	Offset required; total compensatory damages to be reduced by $700,000 settlement

Quicken Loans, Inc. v. Brown, 230 W.Va. 306 (2012) (precedent governing mandate remand and punitive damages)
Garnes v. Fleming Landfill, Inc., 186 W.Va. 656 (1991) (punitive damages framework; TXO ratio; Gadghs factors)
TXO Production Corp. v. Alliance Resources Corp., 187 W.Va. 457 (1992) (TXO ratio; punitive damages review framework)
State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Campbell, 538 U.S. 408 (2003) (due process limits on punitive damages; guideposts)
BMW of N. Am., Inc. v. Gore, 517 U.S. 559 (1996) (due process; guideposts for punitive damages)
Go-Mart, Inc. v. Olson, 198 W.Va. 559 (1996) (limited remand; status quo balancing example)
Perrine v. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 225 W.Va. 482 (2010) (wealth as aggravating factor; remittitur considerations)
Alkire v. First Nat’l Bank of Parsons, 197 W.Va. 122 (1996) (Garnes/TXO consistency; appellate review structure)
American Rural Cellular, Inc. v. Systems Communication Corp., 939 P.2d 185 (1997) (post-remand attorney fees; lien-related claims)