TIMOTHY J. CORRIGAN, District Judge.
Maria Pucci says that, even before her first payment on her loan was due, she started receiving erroneous dunning letters from her bank leading to negative consequences that have persisted. She sued the banks and servicers involved with her loan. This case is now before the Court on Defendant Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC's ("SLS") partial motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint (Doc. 25) and a motion to dismiss jointly filed by Defendants Nationstar Mortgage, LLC and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (Doc. 34).
On March 22, 2007, Pucci executed and delivered an interest only promissory note ("Note") in the amount of $1,260,000 to Bank of America which was secured by a mortgage. (Doc. 24 ¶¶ 11, 14.) The first installment payment under the note was due on May 1, 2007. (Doc. 24 ¶ 16.) However, in March 2007 Bank of America improperly assessed a late fee. (Doc. 24 ¶ 17.) Pucci issued a check on May 3, 2007 for the first installment payment, but Bank of America incorrectly applied the funds to the wrong loan number. (Doc. 24 ¶¶ 18, 19.)
One month after origination, Pucci began receiving foreclosure letters and learned that Bank of America was submitting negative reports to national credit reporting agencies ("NCRAs"). (Doc. 24 ¶ 20.) Pucci contacted Bank of America regarding the errors and was assured that the problem had been resolved and the funds were applied to the correct account. (Doc. 24 ¶ 21.) However, Bank of America continued to assess late fees and Pucci repeatedly contacted Bank of America to correct the errors, but to no avail. (Doc. 24 ¶¶ 23-26.) She eventually learned that the NCRAs listed her account as delinquent or associated with late payments. (Doc. 24 ¶ 27.) Bank of America's actions negatively impacted Pucci's credit rating such that she was unable to take advantage of refinancing options. (Doc. 24 ¶ 33.)
Bank of America transferred the servicing rights to Pucci's loan to SLS on November 1, 2012. (Doc. 24 ¶ 36.) Upon transfer, Pucci notified SLS of the prior servicing errors and SLS assured her that they had been resolved; however, Pucci continued to receive delinquency and foreclosure notices. (Doc. 24 ¶¶ 38, 39, 43.) SLS continued to report the debt to the NCRAs as past due, delinquent, and late. (Doc. 24 ¶ 41.) Pucci received as many as 10 to 20 calls per day from SLS regarding her delinquent balance. (Doc. 24 ¶ 43.)
On August 29, 2013, while SLS remained the servicer of the obligation, ownership rights to Pucci's loan were transferred from Bank of America to Wells Fargo. (Doc. 24 ¶ 46.) Wells Fargo boarded the loan upon receipt but failed to correct the late fees and past due balance. (Doc. 24 ¶ 47.) Servicing rights were transferred from SLS to Nationstar on April 1, 2014. (Doc. 24 ¶ 48.) Pucci notified Nationstar of the errors and despite her making monthly payments and Nationstar assuring her that the errors had been resolved, Pucci continued to receive correspondence that her account was delinquent. (Doc. 24 ¶¶ 49, 50, 51.) Due to the actions of Defendants, Pucci was unable to refinance or restructure the Note. (Doc. 24 ¶ 54.)
When reviewing a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), the Court must view the allegations in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and accept the allegations of the complaint as true.
Under Florida law, to state a claim for breach of contract a plaintiff must allege the existence of a contract, a material breach, and resulting damages.
The Amended Complaint does allege that "[a] contract existed between [Pucci] and [SLS because], as the servicer of this particular debt obligation there is a contractual duty to competently service the loan and apply payments or assess late fees according to the terms of the Promissory Note and Mortgage." (Doc. 24 ¶ 78.) The Amended Complaint further alleges that SLS breached Paragraph 6(a) of the Promissory Note
The Amended Complaint alleges that SLS breached the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, specifically acting in bad faith by being complicit in Bank of America's actions and failing to correct its mistakes despite Pucci informing SLS of the errors. (Doc. 24 ¶ 143.)
The covenant of good faith and fair dealing "ensures that neither party will do anything that will injure the right of the other party to receive the benefits of the contract."
The Amended Complaint alleges that a contract exists between Pucci and Nationstar because "as the servicer of this particular debt obligation there is a contractual duty to competently service the loan and apply payments or assess late fees according to the terms of the Promissory Note and Mortgage." (Doc. 24 ¶ 105.) The Amended Complaint further alleges that Nationstar breached the contract by "failing to competently correct the invalid delinquency" on Pucci's loan, and by failing to correct mistakes and being complicit in Bank of America's and SLS's "improper late fees, invalid delinquency and demands for varying mortgage payment amounts." (Doc. 24 ¶¶ 108, 109.)
The analysis regarding the breach of contract claim asserted against SLS applies to the breach of contract claim asserted against Nationstar. For the same reasons that the Amended Complaint fails to state a breach of contract claim against SLS, it also fails to state a breach of contract claim against Nationstar.
The Amended Complaint fails to state a claim for breach of contract against Nationstar. Accordingly, for the reasons set forth in section III.B.,
The Court has considered and will deny SLS's motion to dismiss the FDCPA and libel counts (Counts V and XVI). The Court has also considered and will deny Nationstar and Wells Fargo's motion to dismiss the remaining counts of the Amended Complaint.
Accordingly, it is hereby
1. Specialized Loan Servicing LLC's Partial Motion to Dismiss Counts II, V, VIII, and XVI of Amended Complaint (Doc. 25) is
2. Defendants Nationstar Mortgage LLC's and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.'s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Amended Complaint (Doc. 34) is
3. At the upcoming telephone status conference, the Court will address whether the breach of contract and covenant claims should be dismissed with or without prejudice.
4. No later than
5. This case is set for a telephone status conference on