Foley v. US Bank National Association

Background

David R. Foley sued US Bank National Association and other defendants. The opinion addresses claims concerning satisfaction of a mortgage, breach of contract, wrongful foreclosure, unjust enrichment, and California’s Unfair Competition Law. The court referred to Truman Trust in discussing the alleged mortgage-insurance payouts, fees, charges, and assignment issues, but the opinion does not explain Truman Trust’s relationship to the captioned defendants.

Court’s analysis

The court granted the motion to dismiss because the complaint did not plausibly state a claim for relief.

For the satisfaction-of-mortgage claim, Foley did not provide enough factual detail to suggest that Truman Trust benefited from mortgage-insurance coverage or collected mortgage-insurance payouts. He also cited no authority supporting his theories that the alleged payouts cured his default, satisfied his obligations under the deed of trust, or allowed him to recover damages for failure to record a satisfaction of mortgage.

For breach of contract, Foley did not provide enough detail to support the basic elements of the claim. In particular, he did not identify which contract provisions were allegedly violated when Truman Trust imposed excess fees and charges.

The court stated that Foley might have intended to assert a wrongful-foreclosure claim based on allegedly void assignments. But it found that he had not adequately pleaded the basic elements of wrongful foreclosure, including prejudice beyond the foreclosure itself. The court also found that he offered little legal support for his void-assignment theory, noting that the deed of trust listed MERS as a beneficiary and gave MERS the right to assign its beneficial interest.

Because Foley had no viable underlying cause of action, the court held that his unjust-enrichment and California Unfair Competition Law claims had to be dismissed as well.

Disposition

Judge Vince Chhabria granted the motion to dismiss. The court allowed dismissal with leave to amend and required any amended complaint within 14 days of the order. The court stated that the next amended complaint would be Foley’s last in the case. It further stated that if Truman Trust successfully moved to dismiss that complaint, dismissal would be without leave to amend.