Hernandez v. Green Tree Services, LLC et al
Filing
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ORDER granting 11 Motion to Dismiss, without prejudice and with leave to amend. (Amended Complaint due within 15 days.) Signed by Judge Miranda M. Du on 5/9/16. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - JC)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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DISTRICT OF NEVADA
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***
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RAMIRO HERNANDEZ,
Case No. 2:15-cv-02084-MMD-NJK
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Plaintiff,
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ORDER
v.
GREEN TREE SERVICES, et al.,
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Defendants.
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I.
SUMMARY
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This removed action involves a dispute relating to a loan modification. Before the
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Court is Defendants Green Tree Servicing LLC (“Green Tree”) and Ditech Financial
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LLC’s (“Ditech”) Motion to Dismiss. (ECF No. 11.) The Court has reviewed Plaintiff’s
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response and Defendants’ reply.1 (ECF Nos. 17, 18.)
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II.
BACKGROUND
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Plaintiff is pursuing this action pro se. The following facts are taken from the
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Complaint. Plaintiff “initially fell behind on mortgage payments” on a loan that was
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presumably secured on the real property located at 2205 Jansen Avenue in Las Vegas
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(“the Loan”). (ECF No. 1-1 at 3.) In May 2010, Bank of America approved Plaintiff’s loan
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modification and Plaintiff “was instructed that said ‘Modification Agreement’ would
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become a permanent modification upon completion of the trial payments.” (Id. at 3.)
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The servicing rights to the Loan were subsequently transferred to Green Tree and then
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Plaintiff’s response was untimely. However, the Court will consider Plaintiff’s
response.
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to Ditech, but despite his request for “information on said ‘permanent modification,’”
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Plaintiff has yet to receive confirmation. (Id.) Nor has Plaintiff received other pertinent
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information, such as a form amortization schedule or how his payments in the last five
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years have been applied. (Id.) The statements Plaintiff has received show the amount of
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“Deferred P&I” has remained the same. (Id.) The loan modification agreement made
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with Bank of America “appears to never have been made final nor recorded.” (Id.)
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The Complaint recites the elements of misrepresentation and the requirements
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for pleading fraud. (Id. at 5-6.) The Complaint further moves for preliminary injunction
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and seeks to quiet title as a relief. (Id. at 6-7.) Accordingly, it appears that Plaintiff is
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trying to assert claims for misrepresentation and fraud and he seeks injunctive relief.2
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Defendants move for dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) and Rule 9 of the Federal Rules of
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Civil Procedure.
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III.
DISCUSSION
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A court may dismiss a plaintiff’s complaint for “failure to state a claim upon which
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relief can be granted.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). A properly pleaded complaint must
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provide “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to
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relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2); Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007).
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While Rule 8 does not require detailed factual allegations, it demands more than “labels
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and conclusions” or a “formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action.”
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Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 US 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555) (internal
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quotation marks omitted). “Factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief
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above the speculative level.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555. Thus, to survive a motion to
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dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter to “state a claim to relief that
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is plausible on its face.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678 (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570)
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(internal quotation marks omitted).
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In Iqbal, the Supreme Court clarified the two-step approach district courts are to
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apply when considering motions to dismiss. First, a district court must accept as true all
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Plaintiff does not contend otherwise in his response brief.
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well-pleaded factual allegations in the complaint; however, legal conclusions are not
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entitled to the assumption of truth. Id. at 679. Mere recitals of the elements of a cause of
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action, supported only by conclusory statements, do not suffice. Id. at 678. Second, a
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district court must consider whether the factual allegations in the complaint allege a
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plausible claim for relief. Id. at 679. A claim is facially plausible when the plaintiff’s
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complaint alleges facts that allow a court to draw a reasonable inference that the
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defendant is liable for the alleged misconduct. Id. at 678. Where the complaint does not
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permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has
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“alleged — but it has not shown — that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Id. at 679
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(quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2)) (internal quotation marks and alteration omitted). When
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the claims in a complaint have not crossed the line from conceivable to plausible, the
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complaint must be dismissed. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570. A complaint must contain
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either direct or inferential allegations concerning “all the material elements necessary to
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sustain recovery under some viable legal theory.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 562 (quoting
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Car Carriers, Inc. v. Ford Motor Co., 745 F.2d 1101, 1106 (7th Cir. 1984)). Mindful of
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the fact that the Supreme Court has “instructed the federal courts to liberally construe
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the ‘inartful pleading’ of pro se litigants,” Eldridge v. Block, 832 F.2d 1132, 1137 (9th Cir.
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1987), the Court will view Plaintiff’s pleadings with the appropriate degree of leniency.
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Plaintiff’s claims for fraud and misrepresentation are subject to Rule 9(b)’s
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particularity requirements. “In alleging fraud or mistake, a party must state with
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particularity the circumstances constituting fraud or mistake.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(b). To
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meet the heightened pleading requirements, a plaintiff must specify the time, place, and
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content of the misrepresentation as well as the names of the parties involved. See
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Yourish v. Cal. Amplifier, 191 F.3d 983, 993 n.10 (9th Cir. 1999). In a case with multiple
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defendants, “Rule 9(b) does not allow a complaint to merely lump multiple defendants
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together but requires plaintiffs to differentiate their allegations when suing more than
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one defendant and inform each defendant separately of the allegations surrounding his
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alleged participation in the fraud.” Swartz v. KPMG LLP, 476 F.3d 756, 764-65 (9th
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Cir.2007) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).
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Here, the Complaint fails to allege fraud and misrepresentation with even general
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allegations, let alone with the level of details that meet Rule 9’s particularity
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requirements. Plaintiff recites the elements of misrepresentation and recites case law
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about the requirements for pleading fraud, but such “formulaic recitation of the elements
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of a cause of action” is insufficient. See Iqbal, 556 US at 678. For example, in support
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of the misrepresentation claim, the Complaint fails to allege what false statements were
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made and by which Defendant, when the false statements were allegedly made,
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whether Defendant knew or believed the representation to be false, whether Defendant
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intended to induce Plaintiff to act, whether Plaintiff relied on Defendant’s statement, and
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how Plaintiff was damaged. Plaintiff sues Green Tree and Ditech, but he fails to
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differentiate their alleged conduct and lumps them with Bank of America, who is not a
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defendant.
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The Court has discretion to grant leave to amend and should freely do so “when
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justice so requires.” Allen v. City of Beverly Hills, 911 F.2d 367, 373 (9th Cir. 1990)
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(quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)). As Plaintiff is proceeding pro se, the Complaint has not
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been previously amended, and the Court cannot conclude from the scant Complaint that
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amendment would be futile, the Court grants leave to amend the Complaint to cure the
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deficiencies set forth in this Order.
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IV.
CONCLUSION
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It is therefore ordered that Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 11) is
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granted. Dismissal is without prejudice and with leave to amend. Plaintiff has fifteen (15)
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days to file an amended complaint. Failure to file an amended complaint will result in
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dismissal with prejudice.
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DATED THIS 9th day of May 2016.
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MIRANDA M. DU
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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