PER CURIAM:
S. Jay Williams, SCII-GP, L.L.C., Swis Investments, Limited, and Swis Community, Limited (the "Williams Parties") appeal the dismissal of their breach of contract claim. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.
Williams formed Swis Community, Limited, which constructed a low-income housing project. Swis Community's general partner was Swis Investments, Limited, which was owned and controlled by Williams and W. Tracy Kennedy. Swis Community's special limited partner was WNC Housing, Limited Partnership. Swis Investments and WNC Housing each had a 0.01% interest in Swis Community. Swis Community's limited partner was WNC Institutional Tax Credit Fund VII, Limited Partnership (WNC Fund), which owned 99.98% of the partnership interest. WNC Fund's general partner was WNC & Associates (WNC) which held a 0.01% interest, and its limited partner was Key Investment Fund Limited Partnership X (Key Fund), which had a 99.99% interest in WNC Fund. Fannie Mae held a 99.90% interest in Key Fund, giving it a 99.87% interest in Swis Community.
Arbor National Commercial Mortgage, L.L.C. ("Arbor") financed the project through a loan to Swis Community secured by a Deed of Trust. Arbor later assigned the note and Deed of Trust to Fannie Mae, and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. ("Wells Fargo") ultimately became the loan servicer. Swis Community earned low income housing tax credits as a result of the project. These credits were then allocated to Swis Community's investors.
After making payments on the loan for approximately a decade, Swis Community defaulted in November 2010 and made no further payments for five consecutive months. Fannie Mae elected to accelerate the note and institute non-judicial foreclosure proceedings pursuant to the Deed of Trust. Attorneys from Winstead, P.C. were appointed as substitute trustees. Upon request from one of the trustees for the
Litigation ensued between the parties associated with Swis Community and WNC, which resulted in the assignment of WNC's and Kennedy's claims against Fannie Mae to Williams. The Williams Parties brought suit against Fannie Mae and Wells Fargo, seeking to recover the value of the recaptured tax credits and corresponding interest totaling approximately $1.7 million. The Williams Parties asserted claims against the defendants for breach of contract premised on a violation of the notice terms in the Deed of Trust, violations of the Texas Property Code, and wrongful foreclosure. They also asserted a claim for breach of fiduciary duty against the substitute trustees. The case was removed to federal court, and the district court declined to remand it. The defendants moved for summary judgment, asserting jointly that the notice was not improper, that the Williams Parties had not suffered recoverable damages for their wrongful foreclosure claim, and even if recoverable, those damages were primarily suffered by Fannie Mae. The defendants also asserted that the Williams Parties had no viable claim under the Texas Property Code. Wells Fargo filed a separate motion for summary judgment on the basis that it owed no contractual duty to the Williams Parties because it was not a party to the Deed of Trust.
The Williams Parties filed a motion for partial summary judgment on their claims premised on the alleged violation of the Texas Property Code and for breach of contract premised on the Deed of Trust. The district court granted the motion for partial summary judgment in favor of the Williams Parties on the breach of contract claim and dismissed the remaining claims with prejudice. However, on a motion for reconsideration, the district court dismissed the breach of contract claim against both Fannie Mae and Wells Fargo, concluding that, having defaulted on the Deed of Trust, the Williams Parties could not maintain a cause of action based on the breach of that agreement.
The district court did not err in holding that Wells Fargo is not liable for breach of the Deed of Trust. The competent summary judgment evidence reflects that Wells Fargo was never a party to or an assignee of the Deed of Trust. The original Deed of Trust was entered into between Swis Community and the trustee, for the benefit of Arbor. Arbor then assigned the note and Deed of Trust to Fannie Mae. Wells Fargo was the loan servicer at the time of default, but once Fannie Mae was notified of default, Fannie Mae became the loan servicer. Fannie Mae then became the primary point of contact for Swis Community. Because the only claim on appeal is for breach of contract based on the Deed of Trust, and Wells Fargo was never a party to the Deed of Trust, Wells Fargo has no liability. Summary judgment in favor of Wells Fargo was appropriate.
As an initial matter, the Williams Parties contend that the district court should not have granted Fannie Mae's motion for reconsideration of its ruling that Fannie Mae had breached the deed of trust by failing to send notices to the correct addresses, contending that a motion for reconsideration is not a proper vehicle for asserting new arguments. We review a district court's grant of a motion for reconsideration for abuse of discretion.
Fannie Mae's affirmative defense of prior material breach was not raised in response to the Williams Parties' motion for summary judgment, and the Williams Parties motion for summary judgment did not squarely address it. Fannie Mae's motion for reconsideration framed the issue as a failure to allege facts supporting an element of the Williams Parties' claim for breach of contract, and the Williams Parties did not object to this characterization in their response. Nor did they raise the exceptions to the prior material breach defense they now present on appeal. The Williams Parties objected to the motion for reconsideration primarily on the grounds that Villarreal did not apply and that the defendants failed to raise new facts or legal arguments not previously presented. However, a court has broad discretion in these matters, and we cannot conclude that it was an abuse of discretion for the district court to grant the motion for reconsideration to consider the applicability of Villarreal to this case.
Based on our court's opinion in Villarreal v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.,
The Williams Parties contend that the rule from Dobbins is subject to several exceptions under Texas law that were not raised and therefore were not considered in Villareal. One of these exceptions is that a party's default under a contract will only excuse the other party's performance of the contract's terms that are dependent upon the promises that the defaulting party failed to perform.
This principle of Texas law was not presented to our court by any of the parties in Villareal, and therefore, our court did not consider it. We are therefore free to consider in this case whether an exception to the general proposition set forth in Dobbins exists in the context of a debt secured by a deed of trust covering real property. We conclude that Fannie Mae's agreement in the deed of trust to give notice of foreclosure was independent of the Williams Parties' agreement under the note to pay monthly installments to satisfy the debt. The obligation to give notice of foreclosure would not even arise unless and until the Williams Parties were in default under the note.
At least two Texas courts of appeals have held that a claim for breach of a deed of trust for failure to serve notice of foreclosure exists as a stand-alone cause of action, apart from a claim for wrongful foreclosure.
As alluded above, the requirement in a deed of trust that there be notice of intent to foreclose only has meaning if it can be enforced in the event of default. Texas courts "must ... attempt to give effect to all contract provisions so that none will be rendered meaningless."
For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the district court's judgment as to Wells Fargo, we REVERSE the judgment of the district court as to the claim that Fannie Mae breached the deed of trust by failing to give notice, and we REMAND that claim against Fannie Mae for further proceedings in the district court.