Homeward Residential, Inc. v. Sand Canyon Corporation

Background

Homeward Residential, Inc. sued Sand Canyon Corporation, formerly known as Option One Mortgage Corporation. Homeward brought the claims solely in its capacity as master servicer for Option One Mortgage Loan Trust 2006-2, for the benefit of the trustee and certificate holders. The excerpt does not describe the underlying claims in detail.

Statute of limitations

The court held that applicable New York law required the claims to be treated as untimely. The court explained that either Homeward’s residence controlled, in which case Texas’s four-year statute of limitations applied, or Sand Canyon’s predecessor’s residence controlled, in which case California’s four-year statute applied. Under either approach, the court concluded that the discovery rule did not apply.

Rulings

The court granted Sand Canyon’s motion for summary judgment. Summary judgment is a decision resolving claims when the governing law and undisputed facts require judgment for one party. The court denied Homeward’s cross-motion for summary judgment and dismissed Homeward’s claims in their entirety. It denied the parties’ motions to preclude expert testimony as moot, meaning those motions no longer required a decision after the summary-judgment ruling.

Sealing and redactions

The court stated that filings relevant to the judicial function are judicial documents subject to a presumption of public access. It ordered any party seeking to keep currently sealed or redacted materials confidential to show cause in writing, document by document, within three weeks of the Opinion and Order. Proposed redactions had to be narrowly tailored, and sealing requests had to comply with the court’s rules. The court entered judgment in favor of Sand Canyon and closed the case.