JERRY E. SMITH, Circuit Judge:
Robert and Wendy Ferguson defaulted on their residential mortgage loan and sought to enjoin Bank of New York Mellon Corporation ("BNY") from foreclosing, claiming that the assignment of the deed of trust ("DOT") to BNY was void. The Fergusons also brought a false-lien claim under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 12.002 against BNY and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems ("MERS"). The district court granted BNY's motion to dismiss, and the Fergusons appeal. We find no error and affirm.
In 2006 the Fergusons purchased a house in Texas with a $510,000 loan from Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. ("Countrywide"), executing a promissory note in favor of Countrywide and its successors and assigns secured by a DOT.
The Fergusons sued BNY, MERS, and Residential Credit Solutions seeking an injunction and declaratory relief preventing BNY from foreclosing; the Fergusons also brought a false-lien claim under Texas state law. The district court granted BNY's Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim.
Because jurisdiction is based on diversity of citizenship, "Texas substantive law and federal procedural law apply to these state-law claims." Harris Cnty. v. MERSCORP Inc., 791 F.3d 545, 551 (5th Cir.2015). "We review a district court's decision on a [Rule] 12(b)(6) motion de novo, accepting all well-pleaded facts as true and viewing those facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff." Stokes v. Gann, 498 F.3d 483, 484 (5th Cir.2007). We assess a Rule 12(b)(6) motion only on "the facts stated in the complaint and the documents either attached to or incorporated in the complaint." Lovelace v. Software Spectrum, Inc., 78 F.3d 1015, 1017 (5th Cir.1996). To avoid dismissal, a plaintiff must plead sufficient "facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face."
The Fergusons bring two issues on appeal. First, they claim MERS's assignment of the DOT to BNY was void, so BNY cannot foreclose. They contend the assignment was void because Texas law does not permit MERS — as a book-entry system
Borrowers have limited standing to challenge their lenders' assignments of their promissory notes and DOTs. "In Texas [] an obligor cannot defend against an assignee's efforts to enforce the obligation on a ground that merely renders the assignment
The DOT specifically named MERS as a beneficiary with the right to "exercise any or all of those interests" in the DOT. The Fergusons concede that language but claim that Chapter 51 of the Texas Property Code ("Chapter 51") does not allow MERS to act as a beneficiary. They contend that Chapter 51 includes book-entry systems as eligible mortgagees only to allow book-entry systems to aid in administering foreclosures, not to act as beneficiaries. Our precedent forecloses that argument.
We rejected a similar claim in MERSCORP, 791 F.3d at 559. There, various Texas counties claimed MERS fraudulently misrepresented itself as the beneficiary of DOTs recorded in the counties. The DOTs — using language identical to the language in the Fergusons' DOT — named MERS as a beneficiary with the right to exercise all of the interests in a DOT. The counties contended MERS had no interest in the debts or promissory notes and thus could not be a beneficiary of the DOTs. We concluded MERS had committed no fraudulent misrepresentation because it was a valid beneficiary as a matter of contract law and under Chapter 51. Id. at 558-59. We reasoned that the DOTs explicitly designated MERS as a beneficiary, the borrowers agreed to the DOTs, and it was immaterial that MERS had no interest in the promissory notes or debts because Texas law treats a DOT and a note as separate instruments. See id. at 558 (citing Athey v. Mortg. Elec. Registration Sys., Inc., 314 S.W.3d 161, 162, 165-66 (Tex.App. — Eastland 2010, pet. denied)). Further, we observed that Chapter 51 grants MERS authority to act as a beneficiary of DOTs by including book-entry systems in Chapter 51's definition of "mortgagees" capable of initiating foreclosure. Id. at 559.
The Fergusons agreed to a DOT that explicitly designated MERS as the beneficiary with a right to exercise all the interests in the DOT. Our precedent precludes the notion that MERS cannot act as a beneficiary under Chapter 51. As a beneficiary, MERS had the right to assign the DOT. Therefore, MERS' acting as the beneficiary did not render the transfer to BNY void, and the Fergusons' first issue fails as a matter of law.
The Fergusons posit that the assignment to BNY was void because it violated
The Fergusons also take the position that New York law governs whether the alleged PSA violation renders the transfer void, because the Trust is a common-law trust formed under New York law and the PSA states it should be construed in accordance therewith. They say an assignment that violates the PSA is void — rather than voidable — under New York's Estate Powers & Trust Law § 7-2.4,
The Fergusons rely on the unreported New York trial-court decision in Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Erobobo, No. 31648/2009, 39 Misc.3d 1220, 2013 WL 1831799 (N.Y.Sup.Ct. Apr. 29, 2013). There, a trustee accepted assignment of a note and mortgage after the trust was closed, which violated the trust's PSA. Id. at *8. The court concluded that Section 7-2.4 rendered void any conveyance made in violation of a PSA. Id.
The Appellate Division reversed: "[A] mortgagor whose loan is owned by a trust[] does not have standing to challenge the [assignee's] possession or status as assignee of the note and mortgage based on purported noncompliance with certain provisions of the PSA."
Assuming the Fergusons had standing to challenge violations of a PSA, New York courts have not applied Section 7-2.4 in the manner the Fergusons would hope but instead have treated a trustee's act in violation of the trust as voidable but not void.
It therefore makes no difference which state's law applies. The Fergusons lack standing to challenge BNY's efforts to foreclose on the ground that MERS's assignment to BNY was void for violating the PSA. See Reinagel, 735 F.3d at 225.
The Fergusons claim BNY violated Texas's false-lien statute — Section 12.002 — by falsely asserting the right to foreclose. To state a claim under Section 12.002, a plaintiff must plead facts showing that the defendant
The Fergusons fail to state a claim under Section 12.002. Their theory goes that BNY's attempt to foreclose was an assertion of a false lien because MERS could not validly assign BNY the right to foreclose. Without a valid assignment, BNY could only falsely assert the right to foreclose. Their false-lien claim is thus entirely derivative of their first claim that the assignment to BNY was invalid. But as we have explained, the assignment was valid.
It follows that BNY's lien (the right to foreclose) is in no way fraudulent. The DOT explicitly designated MERS as a beneficiary with the right to foreclose and gave MERS the right to assign the DOT. MERS validly assigned the DOT to BNY. The right to foreclose was validly created and assigned, so it is not a fraudulent lien. Moreover, assuming the Fergusons pleaded facts to show it was fraudulent, they have not pleaded facts to show that BNY knew it was fraudulent or intended any injury. In any event, because they have failed to plead facts showing BNY's lien was in fact fraudulent, the Fergusons have failed to state a claim under Section 12.002.
The judgment of dismissal is AFFIRMED.