MIRANDA M. DU, District Judge.
Pending before this Court are two motions: Plaintiffs Gunter and Janis Heidig's Motion for Reconsideration on Newly Discovered Evidence (ECF No. 64) and Plaintiffs' Motion for Final Decision on their Motion for Reconsideration (ECF No. 71). The Court has reviewed Defendants'
For the following reasons, the Motion for Reconsideration is denied and the Motion for Final Decision is denied as moot.
Plaintiffs initiated this action on October 4, 2016, against a variety of Defendants stemming from the attempted foreclosure of their home. (ECF No. 1.) On September 15, 2017, the Court dismissed all claims with prejudice against Defendants on the basis that the legal theories advanced by Plaintiffs—invalid assignment and securitization of their mortgage loan—are not recognized by Nevada law or by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as successful theories. (ECF No. 63.) Plaintiffs now ask for reconsideration of that final order, attaching a purported expert opinion to their Motion for Reconsideration to argue that the invalid assignments and securitization of their mortgage loan make any attempted foreclosure of their home illegal.
Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e), a motion to reconsider must set forth "some valid reason why the court should reconsider its prior decision" and set "forth facts or law of a strongly convincing nature to persuade the court to reverse its prior decision." Frasure v. United States, 256 F.Supp.2d 1180, 1183 (D. Nev. 2003). Reconsideration is appropriate if this Court "(1) is presented with newly discovered evidence, (2) committed clear error or the initial decision was manifestly unjust, or (3) if there is an intervening change in controlling law." Sch. Dist. No. 1J v. ACandS, Inc., 5 F.3d 1255, 1263 (9th Cir. 1993). "A motion for reconsideration is not an avenue to re-litigate the same issues and arguments upon which the court already has ruled." Brown v. Kinross Gold, U.S.A., 378 F.Supp.2d 1280, 1288 (D. Nev. 2005).
Plaintiffs argue for reconsideration of the Court's prior order dismissing this action on the basis of "newly discovered information that was not allowed into the Court Record." (ECF No. 64 at 4.) Specifically, Plaintiffs state that "prior to the decision of this court [to] dismiss the instant matter, plaintiff hired an expert witness [and] learned through an Affidavit . . . by said expert witness of proof." (Id.) Defendants respond with three arguments: this expert declaration was available to Plaintiffs before the Court's order dismissing this case was issued, meaning that it is not new or previously unavailable; the declaration is inadmissible; and the declaration does not change the Court's findings of fact or law in the prior order because the declaration merely regurgitates the improper assignment and securitization of Plaintiffs' mortgage loan, which the Court previously found not to be a legally cognizable theory. (ECF No. 65 at 3-4.) The Court agrees with Defendants and will deny the Motion for Reconsideration.
First, Plaintiffs admit that they knew of and possibly had already seen the expert declaration prior to the Court's order. (See ECF No. 64 at 4.) A motion for reconsideration "may not be used to . . . present evidence for the first time when [it] could reasonably have been raised earlier[.]" Kona Enters., Inc. v. Estate of Bishop, 229 F.3d 877, 890 (9th Cir. 2000) (emphasis in original). Thus, the expert declaration is not "newly discovered."
Second, the Court cannot consider the expert declaration insofar as it makes legal conclusions. The declaration is made by Thomas Hargreaves, who previously worked as a branch manager of a mortgage company, a mortgage loan officer, and an auditor in the mortgage industry. (ECF No. 64-1 at 2.) In the declaration, Hargreaves identifies certain loan origination and assignment documentation as lacking usual signs of authentication, such as a stamp demonstrating the document to be a true and correct copy of the original, an endorsement, or proper notarization. (See id. at 4, 9.) After making a factual conclusion about the authenticity of the documents, Hargreaves goes on to assert legal conclusions while citing to various case law. Such conclusions include that PNC does not have authority to foreclose upon Plaintiffs' home and MERS is not a proper beneficiary with the authority to substitute a trustee (see id. at 8).
Finally, even if the Court were to accept Hargreaves' legal finding that the mortgage loan was invalidly assigned, the Nevada Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Therefore, even considering this declaration and accepting its findings of invalid assignment to be true, the Court's decision remains the same, and the Motion for Reconsideration is denied.
The Court notes that the parties made several arguments and cited to several cases not discussed above. The Court has reviewed these arguments and cases and determines that they do not warrant discussion or reconsideration as they do not affect the outcome of the motions.
It is therefore ordered that Plaintiffs' Motion for Reconsideration (ECF No. 64) is denied.
It is further ordered that Plaintiffs' Motion for Final Decision (ECF No. 71) is denied as moot.