SUE L. ROBINSON, District Judge.
Plaintiffs Jan'e Colahar ("Jan'e") and Rudolph Colahar ("Rudolph") (together "plaintiffs") proceed pro se and have paid the filing fee. They filed this lawsuit against defendants Wells Fargo Bank N.A. ("Wells Fargo") and U.S. Bank, National Association ("US Bank") (together "defendants") alleging the wrongful foreclosure of real property located at 53 Hempstead Drive, Newark, Delaware. (D.I. 2.) Before the court are numerous motions filed by the parties. (D.I. 14, 19, 20, 22, 26, 27, 29)
The court construes plaintiffs' initial pleading, "notice of lis pendens," as a complaint. The complaint was filed on April 7, 2014. (D.I. 2) It does not appear from the court docket that the parties have been served as required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 4.
The complaint states that "this action comes from a foreclosure issue involving a bankruptcy discharge." (D.I. 2, ¶ 3) The complaint alleges that Wells Fargo is using an in rem proceeding to take the property in question. (Id. at ¶ 7) Wells Fargo is the servicer of the mortgage on the property and U.S. Bank is the holder/owner of the mortgage. (D.I. 14) The complaint refers to an affidavit of obligation served upon Wells Fargo, alleges that Wells Fargo has not rebutted the affidavit, that the affidavit creates a commercial lien when not rebutted, and that the surety for the affidavit of obligation is the real property at issue. (D.I. 2, ¶¶ 8-11) The complaint alleges that property was identified by the bankruptcy trustee on grounds there are liens against the property of greater value than the property itself. (Id. at ¶ 4) The complaint challenges a judgment as "void" and alleges that "the expected end results are an offset of the balance that the alleged bank claim[s] is owed on the property, even though the house was discharge[d] in bankruptcy." (Id. at ¶¶ 2, 12)
The court takes judicial notice that the real property at issue is the subject of a foreclosure action in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware in and for New Castle County ("Superior Court"), U.S. Bank v. Colahar, C.A. No. NO9L-11-024 JAP (Del.Super.), that commenced on November 4, 2009. (D.l. 10, Ex. A) Default judgment was entered against plaintiffs on May 27, 2010. (D.l. 14, ex. A) The foreclosure proceeding was stayed after Jan'e filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, In re Jane Colahar, Bankr.No. 12-12014-BLS. (Id. at ex. B)
The property was scheduled for a sheriffs sale on April 8, 2014, but the sale was stayed when Rudolph filed a Chapter 13 petition for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland ("Maryland Bankruptcy Court") on April 3, 2014, In re: Colahar, Bankr.No. 14-15282-PM (Bankr.D.Md.). (D.l. 10, exs. A, B, C) Rudolph also filed two other bankruptcy petitions in the Maryland Bankruptcy Court, both of which resulted in an automatic stay. See In re; Colahar, Bankr.No. 11-25341 (Bankr. D.Md.) filed July 27, 2011; In re: Colahar, Bankr.No. 13-23620 (Bankr.D.Md.) filed August 9, 2-13. On April 22, 2014, the Maryland Bankruptcy Court dismissed In re: Colahar, Bankr.No. 14-15282-PM after Rudolph failed to pay the required filing fee. (Id. at Ex. D) In the same order, the Maryland Bankruptcy Court terminated the automatic stay that had been imposed pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362(a). (Id.) On July 17, 2014, plaintiffs filed a writ of de novo alleged fraud upon the court in the State foreclosure proceeding. (D.I. 24, ex.)
Defendants Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank move to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted and pursuant to the Rooker-Feldman doctrine.
Under Rule 12(b)(6), a motion to dismiss may be granted only if, accepting the well-pleaded
To determine whether a complaint meets the pleading standard as set forth in Twombly and Iqbal, the court must: (1) outline the elements a plaintiff must plead to a state a claim for relief; (2) peel away those allegations that are no more than conclusions and thus not entitled to the assumption of truth; and (3) look for well-pled factual allegations, assume their veracity, and then "determine whether they plausibly give rise to an entitlement to relief." Bistrian v. Levi, 696 F.3d 352, 365 (3d Cir.2012) (internal citations omitted) (citing Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937; Argueta v. United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 643 F.3d 60, 73 (3d Cir.2011). The last step is "a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense." Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937. Because plaintiffs proceed pro se, their pleading is liberally construed and their complaint, "however inartfully pleaded, must be held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers." Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007) (internal quotation marks omitted).
Defendants move for dismissal on the grounds that the Rooker-Feldman doctrine bars plaintiffs' claim because the relief they appear to seek would require this court to determine that the state court judgment was erroneously entered or to take action that would negate the state court's judgment. Plaintiffs do not address this issue in their opposition to the motion to dismiss.
Defendants further move to dismiss on the grounds that plaintiffs have failed to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Plaintiffs respond that they were not served with a copy of the motion to dismiss. The court finds that, even if plaintiffs were not served with a copy at the time the motion to dismiss was filed, no prejudice has occurred, given that they were ultimately served a copy of the motion to dismiss (see D.I. 16), and plaintiffs filed their objection to the motion. Plaintiffs further argue that dismissal is not appropriate because "there was no reason why Wells Fargo [] should have hired an attorney when they failed to answer the affidavit of obligation prior to the filing of this case." (D.I. 22)
The court turns first to the Younger abstention doctrine which the
The Younger elements have been met and none of the exceptions apply. First, there are on-going state proceedings for the foreclosure of real property. Second, Delaware has an important interest in resolving real estate issues, and a ruling in the Delaware courts implicates the important interest of preserving the authority of the state's judicial system. See e.g., Almazan v. 1st 2nd Mortg. Co. of NJ, Inc., 2011 WL 2670871 (D.N.J. June 2, 2011) (finding that the State has important interests in the foreclosure of property under the Younger doctrine); Gray v. Pagano, 287 Fed.Appx. 155 (3d Cir.2008) (unpublished) (court abstained under the Younger doctrine where plaintiffs sought a declaration that the judge was not authorized to nullify transfer of title and for an order enjoining the sheriff from conducting a sheriff's sale.). Finally, plaintiffs have an adequate opportunity to raise any potential claims in state court.
In the alternative, the Rooker-Feldman doctrine prohibits this court from maintaining subject matter jurisdiction over plaintiffs' complaint which effectively seeks to vacate orders of the Superior Court. "The Rooker-Feldman doctrine prevents the lower federal courts from exercising jurisdiction over cases brought by `state-court losers' challenging `state-court judgments rendered before the district court proceedings commenced.'" Lance v. Dennis, 546 U.S. 459, 460, 126 S.Ct. 1198,
For the above reasons, the court will deny as moot plaintiffs' motions and will grant defendants' motion to dismiss.
A separate order shall issue.
At Wilmington this 31st day of October, 2014, for the reasons set forth in the memorandum opinion issued this date;
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:
1. Defendants' motion to dismiss is granted. (D.I. 14) The complaint is dismissed by reason of abstention. Amendment is futile.
2. Plaintiffs' pending motions (D.I. 19, 20, 22, 26, 27, 29) are denied as moot.