ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS
I. INTRODUCTION
Plaintiffs Jason and Mikala Rivera filed their original complaint on June 2, 2010, alleging thirteen claims for relief, and on June 4, 2010 filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) enjoining defendants ReconTrust Company, N.A. (“ReconTrust”) and BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP (“BAC”) from conducting a trustee’s sale of plaintiffs property located at 153 Smith Street, Alamo, California, 94507 (the “Property”). This Court issued the TRO along with an order to show cause why a preliminary injunction should not be granted. After a hearing, the Court denied plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction. Defendants then filed a motion to dismiss, after which plaintiffs filed a First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) on August 3, 2010 alleging seven claims for relief. Defendants have filed a supplemental memorandum of points and authorities in support of their motion to dismiss, which the Riveras have opposed. For the reasons stated below, the motion
II. BACKGROUND
In the FAC, the Riveras allege that, on August 18, 2006, they purchased the Property after negotiating a mortgage and home equity line of credit (“HELOC”) with defendant Countrywide Bank, N.A. (“Countrywide Bank”), whose successor in interest is defendant Bank of America, N.A. (“BofA”). According to the FAC, the mortgage and HELOC (together, the “Home Loans”), which were memorialized by promissory notes and secured by deeds of trust, were brokered by defendant Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. (“CHL”) and were subsequently assigned by Countrywide Bank to BofA. Plaintiffs allege that the mortgage was eventually assigned from BofA to defendant Vantium Capital, Inc., dba Acqura Loan Services, while the HELOC and related promissory note and deeds of trust were assigned to defendant E*Trade. ReconTrust was the initial trustee on the deeds of trust. The promissory notes executed pursuant to the Home Loans, as well as the deeds of trust, were serviced by defendants Vantium Capital, Inc. and BAC. 1
The FAC avers that defendants failed to make a number of disclosures required by the Truth in Lending Act (“TILA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq., and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (“RE SPA”), 12 U.S.C. § 2605 et seq., prior to executing the Home Loans, including disclosing the difference between plaintiffs’ applicable interest rate and the promoted rate, a good faith estimate of the closing costs, an itemization of the amount financed, a notice of the plaintiffs’ right to cancel and right to rescind, the method used to determine the finance charges and loan balance, and the likelihood of negative amortization given the repayment structure. The FAC also avers that defendant Stephanie Saunders, on behalf of CHL, completed the loan application and that “Defendants inserted an inflated income” in order to qualify the Riveras for loans that they could not otherwise afford. 2 As a result of these alleged misrepresentations and omissions, plaintiffs contend that they were induced to accept unaffordable loans and eventually fell behind on their payments.
Once the Riveras became delinquent on their loans, ReconTrust recorded a notice of default on May 2, 2008 and eventually recorded a notice of sale on August 3, 2008.
3
RJN Ex. D. The Riveras subsequently sent to CHL, ReconTrust, Countrywide Bank and Mortgage Electronic Registration System, Inc. a “Notice of Right to Cancel and Opportunity to Cure”
III. LEGAL STANDARD
A complaint must contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2). While “detailed factual allegations are not required,” a complaint must have sufficient factual allegations to “state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.”
Ashcroft v. Iqbal,
— U.S. -,
A motion to dismiss a complaint under FRCP Rule 12(b)(6) tests the legal sufficiency of the claims alleged in the complaint.
See Parks Sch. of Bus. v. Symington,
IV. DISCUSSION
A. TILA
Plaintiffs allege that defendants failed to make required disclosures under TILA, as amended by the Home Ownership Equity Protection Act and as implemented by Regulation Z. 15 U.S.C. § 1601,
et seq.;
12 C.F.R. § 226. In particular, they contend that defendants failed to in
Here, plaintiffs executed the Home Loans on August 18, 2006, but did not filed their complaint in this Court until June 2010, nearly four years later. While the Riveras may have sent their “Notice of Right to Cancel and Opportunity to Cure” within three years of executing the loans (and less than a year before bringing their lawsuit), they still nonetheless failed to bring their TILA claims in a timely fashion under the statute. Therefore, their TILA claims must be dismissed without leave to amend. 5
Moreover, the right to rescind does not apply to residential mortgage transactions. 15 U.S.C. § 1635(e); 12 C.F.R. § 226.23(f). A “residential mortgage transaction” consists of “a transaction in which a mortgage, deed of trust ... or equivalent consensual security interest is created or retained against the consumer’s dwelling to finance the acquisition ... of such dwelling.” 15 U.S.C. § 1602(w); 12 C.F.R. § 226.2(a)(24). In their memorandum in support of the motion for a temporary restraining order, plaintiffs relied upon
Semar v. Platte Valley Fed. Sav. & Loan
Assoc. for the proposition that borrowers have three days to rescind consumer credit transactions where the borrower’s principal dwelling is the security
B. RESPA
Plaintiffs’ second claim for relief alleges a violation of Sections 2605(e) and 2608 of Title 12 of the United States Code. RES-PA claims under Sections 2608 and 2605 are subject to a one-year statute of limitations and a three-year statute of repose, respectively. 12 U.S.C. § 2614. Because more than three years passed between the execution of the loans and the filing date, and because plaintiffs have not alleged any facts in the FAC that would warrant tolling the statute of limitations, plaintiffs’ claims for damages under RESPA are time-barred and therefore must be denied without leave to amend.
See Huseman,
Additionally, the FAC fails to allege that defendants’ response to plaintiffs’ qualified written requests (“QWRs”) constituted a violation of RESPA. Under RESPA, “[i]f any servicer of a federally related mortgage loan receives a qualified written request from the borrower (or an agent of the borrower) for information relating to the servicing of such loan, the servicer shall provide a written response acknowledging receipt of the correspondence within 20 days.” 12 U.S.C. § 2605(e)(1)(A). A QWR is a “a written correspondence, other than notice on a payment coupon or other payment medium supplied by the servicer, that: (i) includes, or otherwise enables the servicer to identify, the name and account of the borrower; and (ii) includes a statement of the reasons for the belief of the borrower, to the extent applicable, that the account is in error or provides sufficient detail to the servicer regarding other information sought by the borrower.” 12 U.S.C. § 2605(e)(1)(B).
Here, the Riveras allege that the July 29, 2009 Notice of Right to Cancel and Opportunity to Cure and the July 24, 2009 Notice of Removal, which are both attached to the FAC, constituted QWRs to which defendants failed to respond properly. FAC. at ¶ 63.
6
As an initial matter, however, while the letters were sent to CHL, ReconTrust, Countrywide Bank and Mortgage Electronic Registration System, Inc., the FAC alleges that the promissory notes and deeds of trust associated with the Home Loans were at all times serviced by Vantium Capital, Inc. and BAC. FAC at ¶ 35. In other words, neither letter was a QWR
to a servicer,
as required under RESPA. Moreover, despite plaintiffs’ argument to the contrary, neither letter related to the servicing of the loan accounts. While the letters do state plaintiffs’ belief that the Home Loans and applicable deeds of trust were obtained fraudulently, nowhere in the letters do the plaintiffs address any errors in the account or request any additional information from defendants. Therefore, the letters attached to the FAC are not QWRs under RESPA and
C. Fraud
The Riveras’ third claim for relief for fraud alleges that “Stephanie Saunders, acting on behalf of defendant CHL, completed the loan application for Plaintiffs, and Defendants inserted an inflated income for Plaintiffs, without disclosing said change to him (sic).” FAC at ¶ 69. To satisfy the heightened pleading requirement under FRCP Rule 9(b), the FAC must allege the “who, what, where, when, and how” of the alleged fraud.
See Cooper,
Moreover, under California Code of Civil Procedure section 338(d), “[a]n action for relief on the ground of fraud or mistake” must be brought within three years after the party discovers the fraud. Cal.Civ.Proc.Code § 338. A party alleging fraud has a duty to exercise diligence in discovering the fraud, such that the three year limitation begins to run when that party “has the opportunity to obtain knowledge from sources open to his investigation.”
Lee v. Escrow Consultants, Inc.,
D. Unfair Competition Law
The Riveras aver in their fourth claim for relief that defendants engaged in unfair or unlawful business practices in violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”). Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200. They argue broadly that defendants’ acts constitute unfair or unlawful business practices “as defined in” the Code but do not actually differentiate between the defendants or pin their allegations to a particular prong of the UCL’s prohibition against “unfair, unlawful or fraudulent” business practices.
Under the “unlawful” prong, the UCL incorporates other laws and treats violations of those laws as unlawful business practices independently actionable under state law.
Chabner v. United Omaha Life Ins. Co.,
Under a “fraud” theory, a plaintiff must show that “members of the public are likely to be ‘deceived’ ” by the defendant’s practices.
In re Tobacco II Cases,
As to UCL’s “unfair” prong, California courts traditionally have applied a balancing test. Under this test, “the determination of whether a particular business practice is unfair necessarily involves an examination of its impact on its alleged victim, balanced against the reasons, justifications and motives of the alleged wrongdoer.”
Motors, Inc. v. Times Mirror Co.,
Here, plaintiffs fail to establish a claim for relief under any of the UCL prongs. Indeed, while the Court raised these issues in the order denying a preliminary injunction, the FAC left the UCL claim unchanged. Moreover, plaintiffs fail to address this claim in their opposition to the motion to dismiss. In short, because plaintiffs have added no factual support to their conclusory claim of damages as a result of “Defendants’ wrongful conduct,” the UCL claim must be dismissed. As an opportunity for further amendment would be futile on this record, dismissal is without leave to amend.
E. Negligence
The Riveras’ fifth claim for relief for negligence is based on the proposition that “Defendants’ duty was to perform the acts of brokers to loans in such a manner as to not cause Plaintiffs harm.” FAC at ¶ 82. It is settled California law, however, that “[t]he relationship between a lending institution and its borrower-client is not fiduciary in nature.”
Nymark v. Heart Fed. Savings and Loan Ass’n,
Here, although the FAC states in conclusory fashion that CHL was a loan broker and that defendants owed a duty to perform the acts of loan brokers, plaintiffs have made no averments, nor provided any facts, to suggest that the relationship between the defendants and the Riveras is anything more than a routine relationship between a lender and borrower. The only agreements alleged in the FAC are the Home Loans themselves; there are no averments that these agreements created anything more than an obligation by CHL to fund a loan and an obligation by the Riveras to repay that loan. Again, while the Court raised these issues in the order denying a preliminary injunction, plaintiffs left the negligence claim unchanged in their FAC and failed to address it in their opposition to the motion to dismiss. Therefore, by failing to establish a duty owed by defendants, plaintiffs’ negligence claim must be dismissed without leave to amend.
F. Accounting
The sixth claim for relief seeks an accounting from defendants. Notwithstanding the fact that accounting is more appropriately characterized as a form of relief rather than as an independent claim,
Borrego v. BMG U.S. Latin,
To assert a right to accounting, plaintiffs must demonstrate either “(1) ... the relationship of the parties created an equitable duty to account ...; (2) ... the complicated nature of accounts would make it difficult, if not impossible, for a jury to unravel the numerous transactions; [or] (3) ... an accounting on an otherwise legal claim [is] incidental to a demand for an injunction or other equitable relief.”
Towers v. Titus,
G. Quite Title
The FAC’s last claim for relief is for “quiet title” to the Property. Defendants make a number of arguments against “quiet title,” but it is dispositive as to this claim that, under California law, a borrower may not assert “quiet title” against a mortgagee without first paying the outstanding debt on the property.
See Miller v. Provost,
For the reasons stated above the motion to dismiss is granted without leave to amend.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Notes
. According to defendants, plaintiffs' lender was CHL, and BofA (as successor in interest to Countrywide Bank) is neither a parent nor subsidiary of CHL and therefore had no involvement in the origination of plaintiffs' loans. Additionally, the FAC, in a confusing manner, refers in some instances to each of the defendants individually while at other instances to the "Defendants” collectively. These distinctions between the defendants, however, do not affect the Court’s findings.
. Saunders was added as a defendant in the FAC, as were the allegations as to her involvement in the loan process. The FAC makes no averments, however, as to Saunders' position within CHL.
.Defendants ask the Court to take judicial notice of a number of documents attached to the motion to dismiss. Judicial notice is limited to facts not subject to reasonable dispute and either generally known in the community or capable of accurate and ready determination by reference to sources whose accuracy cannot be reasonably questioned. Fed. R.Evid. 201;
see Lee v. City of Los Angeles,
. Although the FAC alleges that plaintiffs sent the "Notice of Right to Cancel and Opportunity to Cure” on July 29, 2009, the letter attached as Exhibit A to the FAC appears to be dated July 10, 2009.
.
As the Court stated in its order denying the preliminary injunction, while TILA recognizes the principal of equitable tolling under certain circumstances, that principal will not save the Riveras' TILA claim because the Ninth Circuit has held that "Congress placed a three year absolute limit on rescission actions, demonstrating its willingness to put a limit on the scope of some types of TILA actions.”
King,
. In their response to the motion to dismiss, plaintiffs focus only on the Notice of Right to Cancel and Opportunity to Cure.
