RICHARD A. JONES, District Judge.
This matter comes before the court on Defendant Homecomings Financial LLC's motion to dismiss (Dkt. #21) and Defendant Aurora Loan Services LLC's motion to dismiss (Dkt. #22). The court has considered the parties' briefing and supporting evidence, and has heard from the parties at oral argument. For the reasons explained below, the court GRANTS the motions (Dkt. ##21, 22).
Plaintiff Matthew Lyons worked with mortgage broker David Kamai, a broker with A+ Mortgage, to refinance his home loan. 1st Am. Compl. ¶ 7.
According to Mr. Lyons, Mr. Kamai did not disclose two key features of his first loan: (1) that the loan was a negatively amortized loan (i.e., his minimum monthly payment would not cover the interest, so the difference would be added to the principal), and (2) that the interest rate was 7.75% and would later increase. Id. According to Mr. Lyons, Mr. Kamai also failed to disclose key features of his second loan: (1) that the interest rate was 13.75%, (2) that the initial required monthly payment would pay interest only on the loan, (3) that the required monthly payment would increase in February 2012, and (3) that if Mr. Lyons made the required minimum payments, the loan would not be paid off until February 13, 2032. ¶ 10.
Mr. Lyons signed the loan documents on approximately February 8, 2007, and he initialed each page of the note and deed of trust. See 1st Am. Compl., Exs. 1-3. Mr. Lyons contends that Mr. Kamai told him that he did not need to have an attorney review them before he signed. ¶ 11. Mr. Lyons claims he signed where Mr. Kamai told him to sign. Id. Mr. Lyons executed
1st Am. Compl., Ex. 1. The note also sets a minimum payment that the note holder will accept as a monthly payment, and provides that if the minimum payment "is not sufficient to cover the interest due under this Note, the difference will be added to my Principal amount [ ]. My initial Minimum Payment may not be sufficient to cover the interest due." Id. at Sec. 3(B). The note sets the minimum payment at $1,153.75, and the note discloses that that amount may change in April 2012. See id. at Sec. 3(B)-(C). The note states that the initial interest rate is 7.75 percent and may change, but will never be greater than 9.95%. See id. at Sec. 2(A), (C).
Mr. Lyons was also provided with Truth in Lending Act ("TILA") disclosure statements for the two loans. ¶ 14. Mr. Lyons admits he signed those TILA documents, but contends that he was not given copies of either his loan documents or his TILA documents to take home with him. ¶ 16. The TILA disclosure statement lists the "amount financed" as $282,687.26, the amount that will be paid after all scheduled payments are made as $836.321.52, and the "annual percentage rate" as 7.7147%. 1st Am. Compl., Ex. 4. The statement also contains a payment schedule, showing an initial payment of $1,153.75 and, starting in June 2011, a payment increase to $2,163.82. Id. The statement also discloses that "Your loan contains a variable-rate feature." Id.
Mr. Lyons made his required payments until September 2008. ¶ 15. By that time, Defendant Aurora Loan Services LLC ("Aurora") had become the servicer for the bigger loan. Id. Aurora contended that Mr. Lyons did not make his September 2008 payment (which Mr. Lyons disputes), and Aurora instituted non judicial foreclosure proceedings on the first Deed of Trust on Lyons' property. Id. To attempt to resolve his dispute with Aurora, Mr. Lyons requested copies of his loan documents from either Homecomings or Aurora, or A+ Mortgage (which had ceased doing business by that time). ¶ 16. Homecomings did not respond to Mr. Lyons' request, but Aurora provided copies of the documents it had in its possession on June 1, 2009. Id.
Upon Mr. Lyons' review of the documents provided by Aurora, he realized that the terms of his bigger loan were not what he thought (he thought it was a 30-year fixed with 7% interest, but it was in fact a negatively amortizing loan with initial interest rate of 7.75%). ¶ 19. The document collection also included a "First Payment Notice" that Mr. Lyons claims establishes that he was told that his payments would go toward principal and interest (not interest only). See id., Ex. 6.
Mr. Lyons filed this lawsuit for monetary damages in April 2010, asserting a TILA claim against Homecomings and Aurora for non-disclosure, and for the ways in which Mr. Lyons alleges the promissory
When considering a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), "the court is to take all well-pleaded factual allegations as true and to draw all reasonable inferences therefrom in favor of the plaintiff." Wyler Summit P'ship v. Turner Broadcasting Sys., Inc., 135 F.3d 658, 663 (9th Cir.1998). Facts alleged in the complaint are assumed to be true. See Lipton v. Pathogenesis Corp., 284 F.3d 1027, 1030 n. 1 (9th Cir.2002). The issue to be resolved on a motion to dismiss is whether the plaintiff is entitled to continue the lawsuit to establish the facts alleged, not whether the plaintiff is likely to succeed on the merits. See Marksman Partners L.P. v. Chantal Pharm. Corp., 927 F.Supp. 1297, 1304 (C.D.Cal.1996).
A complaint must provide more than a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action, and must assert facts that "raise a right to relief above the speculative level." Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 1965, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). The Ninth Circuit has summarized Twombly's plausibility standard to require that a complaint's "nonconclusory `factual content,' and reasonable inferences from that content, must be plausibly suggestive of a claim entitling the plaintiff to relief." Moss v. U.S. Secret Service, 572 F.3d 962, 969 (9th Cir.2009) (citing Ashcroft v. Iqbal, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009)). "Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice." Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949.
In general, claims for money damages under TILA are subject to a one-year statute of limitations. See 15 U.S.C. § 1640(e). The statutory period starts to run on "the date of the occurrence of the violation," but courts may apply the doctrine of equitable tolling to extend the start of the statutory period until the plaintiff discovers or had reasonable opportunity to discover the violation. See King v. State of California, 784 F.2d 910, 915 (9th Cir.1986). See also Ralston v. Mortgage Investors Group, Inc., 2009 WL 688858 (N.D.Cal. Mar. 16, 2009) (applying equitable tolling where "a reasonable person in [plaintiff's] position might not have understood the true terms of the loan based upon the documents provided, and might not have understood at the time of the transaction that [d]efendants had failed to make required disclosures").
The court finds that the circumstances of this case do not support an application of equitable tolling. Mr. Lyons admits that he signed the promissory note, deed of trust, and disclosure statement in February 2007. At the time Mr. Lyons signed and initialed every page of those documents, he could have compared their terms and discovered the discrepancies that he now contends form the basis of a TILA violation. See Hubbard v. Fidelity Fed. Bank, 91 F.3d 75, 79 (9th Cir.1996) (refusing to apply equitable tolling where "nothing prevented [plaintiff] from comparing the loan contract, [defendant's] initial disclosures, and TILA's statutory and regulatory requirements"). Thus, this case is distinguishable from cases where plaintiffs never saw the documents that form the basis of a TILA claim: Mr.
Furthermore, Mr. Lyons made payments for a year and a half, and only brought suit after he faced foreclosure. Thus, any attempt by Mr. Lyons to analogize this case to Ralston is disingenuous, because he was not so confused by the loan documents as to not understand how to comply with payment terms. For these reasons, the court does not find that equitable tolling is appropriate here, and thus Mr. Lyons' TILA claims against Homecomings and Aurora are time-barred.
There are five elements of a private CPA claim: "(1) an unfair or deceptive act or practice; (2) which occurs in trade or commerce; (3) that impacts the public interest; (4) which causes injury to the plaintiff in his or her business or property; and (5) which injury is causally linked to the unfair or deceptive act." Washington State Physicians Ins. Exchange & Ass'n v. Fisons Corp., 122 Wn.2d 299, 312, 858 P.2d 1054 (1993) (citing Hangman Ridge Training Stables, Inc. v. Safeco Title Ins. Co., 105 Wn.2d 778, 780, 719 P.2d 531 (1986)). According to Homecomings, Mr. Lyons has failed to allege that Homecomings made any false or deceptive statements and instead attributes deception to Mr. Kamai, the mortgage broker. See ¶¶ 7-11. Homecomings contends that Mr. Lyons' allegation that Mr. Kamai "at all times acted as Homecomings' agent" is conclusory and unsupported by any factual allegations, and thus should be disregarded. See Def.'s Mot. at 13-14.
The court agrees that the complaint attributes deceptive or unfair conduct to Mr. Kamai, and also lacks any factual basis for the conclusory allegation that Mr. Kamai acted on Homecomings' behalf. But, even assuming that Mr. Lyons has alleged a CPA claim against Homecomings, the claim nonetheless fails because Mr. Lyons has failed to allege a deceptive or unfair act committed by Homecomings. To whatever degree Mr. Lyons attempts to base his CPA claim on the allegations related to his TILA claim, the court has already found the TILA claims to be time-barred. Time-barred claims under TILA cannot support a CPA claim. See, e.g., Kotok v. Homecomings Financial, LLC, 2009 WL 2057046 *4 (W.D.Wash. July 14, 2009) (rejecting plaintiffs' argument that a TILA violation is a "per se unfair trade practice affecting public interests" for purposes of Washington's CPA, because plaintiffs' TILA claims were time-barred).
Thus, Mr. Lyons has failed to allege any facts to support at least one element of his CPA claim, that claim must be dismissed.
For the reasons stated above, the court GRANTS the Defendants' motions (Dkt. ##21, 22).