RICHARD F. BOULWARE, II, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE.
Before the Court are Plaintiffs Bank of America, N.A ("BANA") and Federal National Mortgage Association's ("Fannie Mae") Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, and Defendant SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC's ("SFR") Motion for Summary Judgment. ECF Nos. 36, 44. For the following reasons, the Court denies BANA and Fannie Mae's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and grants SFR's Motion for Summary Judgment.
BANA and Fannie Mae sued Defendants Madeira Canyon Homeowners Association ("the HOA"), SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC ("SFR") and Nevada Association Services, Inc. ("NAS") on May 10, 2016. ECF No. 1. Plaintiffs seek declaratory relief that a nonjudicial foreclosure sale conducted in 2013 under Chapter 116 of the Nevada Revised Statutes ("NRS") did not extinguish Fannie Mae's interest in a Las Vegas property.
On June 24, 2019, Plaintiffs moved for summary judgment. ECF No. 36. The motion was fully briefed. ECF Nos. 46, 48. SFR also moved for summary judgment. ECF No. 44. That motion was also fully briefed. ECF Nos. 45, 49.
The Court makes the following findings of undisputed and disputed facts.
This matter concerns a nonjudicial foreclosure on a property located at 2673 Rimbaud Street, Henderson, Nevada 89044 (the "property"). The property sits in a community governed by the HOA. The HOA requires the community members to pay community dues.
Nonparty Ronaldo A. Bumbasi borrowed funds from Pulte Mortgage LLC to purchase the property in 2006. To obtain the loan, Bumbasi executed a promissory note and a corresponding deed of trust to secure repayment of the note. The deed of trust, which lists Bumbasi as the borrower, Pulte Mortgage LLC as the lender, Lawyers Title of Nevada as the original trustee, and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. ("MERS") as the original beneficiary was recorded on November 30, 2006. MERS substituted nonparty Recontrust Company as trustee under the deed of trust as recorded on October 2, 2008. On July 12, 2010 MERS assigned the Senior Deed of Trust to BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP fka Countrywide Home Loans Servicing.
Bumbasi failed to pay the required HOA dues or his required loan payments. On October 16, 2008, a notice of default and election to sell under deed of trust was recorded. The notice stated that MERS, as beneficiary of record, had executed and delivered to Recontrust Company a written declaration of default and demand for sale, based on Bumbasi's "failure to pay the installment of principal, interest and impound which became due on 07/01/2008" and "does hereby declare all sums secured thereby immediately due and payable." On November 5, 2010, a rescission of election to declare default was recorded that stated as follows:
From September 10, 2009 through March 2013, a notice of delinquent assessment lien, a notice of default and election to sell, and a notice of foreclosure sale were all recorded by the HOA. On May 10, 2013 SFR purchased the property for $18,000. On June 4, 2019, a second notice of rescission of notice of default and election to sell under deed of trust was recorded. This rescission notice provided that the present beneficiary "does hereby rescind, cancel, withdraw and revoke without prejudice the acceleration of the Note, or Deed of Trust, or both, as referenced in the Notice of Default and Election to Sell Under Deed of Trust listed above." No payments have been made on the underlying loan since June 1, 2008.
Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae") previously purchased the note and the deed of trust on or about December 1, 2006. While its interest was never recorded under its name, Fannie Mae continued to maintain its ownership of the note and the deed of trust at the time of the foreclosure. BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP fka Countrywide Home Loans Servicing, which merged with BANA in 2011, serviced the note and was listed as the beneficiary of the deed of trust, on behalf of Fannie Mae, at the time of the foreclosure.
The relationship between Fannie Mae and BANA, as Fannie Mae's servicer, is governed by Fannie Mae's Single-Family Servicing Guide ("the Guide"). The Guide provides that servicers may act as record beneficiaries for deeds of trust owned by Fannie Mae. It also requires that servicers
The Guide also allows for a temporary transfer of possession of the note when necessary for servicing activities, including "whenever the servicer, acting in its own name, represents the interests of Fannie Mae in ... legal proceedings." The temporary transfer is automatic and occurs at the commencement of the servicer's representation of Fannie Mae. The Guide also includes a chapter regarding how servicers should manage litigation on behalf of Fannie Mae. But the Guide clarifies that "Fannie Mae is at all times the owner of the mortgage note[.]" Finally, under the Guide, the servicer must "maintain in the individual mortgage loan file all documents and system records that preserve Fannie Mae's ownership interest in the mortgage loan."
Finally, the Guide "permits the servicer that has Fannie Mae's [limited power of attorney] to execute certain types of legal documents on Fannie Mae's behalf." The legal documents include full or partial releases or discharges of a mortgage; requests to a trustee for a full or partial reconveyance or discharge of a deed of trust, modification or extensions of a mortgage or deed of trust; subordination of the lien of a mortgage or deed of trust, conveyances of a property to certain entities; and assignments or endorsements of mortgages, deeds of trust, or promissory notes to certain entities.
In 2008, Congress passed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act ("HERA"), 12 U.S.C. § 4511 et seq., which established the Federal Housing Finance Agency ("the Agency"). HERA gave the Agency the authority to oversee Fannie Mae. In accordance with its authority, the Agency placed Fannie Mae under its conservatorship in 2008. Neither FHFA nor Fannie Mae consented to the foreclosure extinguishing Fannie Mae's interest in the property in this matter.
The facts in this matter are mostly undisputed. The parties dispute the legal effect of the circumstances.
Summary judgment is appropriate when the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show "that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a);
SFR argues that NRS 106.240 extinguished Plaintiffs' interest in the property prior the foreclosure sale. Nev. Rev. Stat. § 106.240. For the following reasons, the Court agrees. Section 106.240 provides that:
The Nevada legislature and the Nevada Supreme Court have not explicitly defined the meaning of the term "wholly due." However the Nevada Supreme Court has endorsed by implication the finding that acceleration of a note serves to make the full amount "wholly due."
BANA and Fannie Mae argue that the rescission recorded on November 5, 2010 served to rescind the acceleration. However nowhere in the document is there any statement that the acceleration of the loan has been rescinded. Rather the notice merely states that the beneficiary chose not to elect to sell at that time. The rescission notice is also careful to note that the rescission shall not be construed as curing any default or altering any rights, remedies or privileges secured to the beneficiary. The Court thus agrees with SFR that more is required in order to show that deceleration of payment was intended. While the Court agrees with BANA that SFR's reliance on a pre-2016 unpublished Nevada Supreme Court decision is without any precedential or persuasive value, BANA can point to no authority or source to support its argument that the Court find in its favor. Furthermore, the recording of a second rescission in June 2019, in which the language is clear that deceleration is intended, leads the Court to infer that even Fannie Mae and BANA were aware of the insufficiency of the first recorded rescission.
Finally, the Court rejects BANA's request that the Court apply equitable tolling to the ten-year period delineated in NRS 106.240. As a preliminary matter, the Court notes that NRS 106.240 is not a statute of limitation, but a statute of repose. A statute of limitation creates "a time limit for suing in a civil case, based on the date when the claim accrued."
Based on the foregoing, the Court grants summary judgment in favor of SFR and declares that SFR acquired the property free and clear of Fannie Mae's interest, which was extinguished pursuant to NRS 106.240. The Court finds this holding to be decisive as to all claims in this matter and dismisses the remaining claims and counterclaims as a result.