The Bank of New York Mellon v. High Noon at Arlington Ranch Homeowner's Association

Filing 26

ORDER that this case is administratively stayed pending exhaustion of all appeals. All pending motions are denied without prejudice with leave to refile. Beginning 10/24/2017, parties must file a joint status report. Signed by Chief Judge Gloria M. Navarro on 4/30/2017. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - JM)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 1 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 2 3 THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON, 4 5 6 7 8 Plaintiff, vs. HIGH NOON AT ARLINGTON RANCH HOMEOWNER’S ASSOCIATION, et al., Defendants. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Case No.: 2:17-cv-00332-GMN-GWF ORDER 9 10 Lenders and investors have been at odds over the legal effect of a homeowners’ 11 association’s (“HOA”) nonjudicial foreclosure of a superpriority lien on a lender’s first trust 12 deed pursuant to Nevada Revised Statutes § 116.3116. See Freedom Mortg. Corp. v. Las Vegas 13 Dev. Grp., LLC, 106 F. Supp. 3d 1174, 1180 (D. Nev. 2015). The Nevada Supreme Court 14 seemed to have settled the debate in SFR Invs. Pool 1, LLC v. U.S. Bank, 334 P.3d 408, 419 15 (Nev. 2014), holding that “NRS 116.3116(2) gives an HOA a true superpriority lien, proper 16 foreclosure of which will extinguish a first deed of trust.” SFR, 334 P.3d at 419. 17 However, on August 12, 2016, two members of a Ninth Circuit panel held in Bourne 18 Valley Court Trust v. Wells Fargo Bank that Chapter 116’s nonjudicial foreclosure scheme 19 “facially violated mortgage lenders’ constitutional due process rights” before it was amended in 20 2015. Bourne Valley Ct. Trust v. Wells Fargo Bank, 2016 WL 4254983, at *5 (9th Cir. Aug. 12, 21 2016). As a result, Bourne Valley is likely dispositive of this and the hundreds of other 22 foreclosure cases pending in both state and federal court. To save the parties from the need to 23 invest resources briefing the effect of the Bourne Valley opinion before the finality of that 24 opinion has been determined, the Court STAYS all proceedings in this case pending exhaustion 25 of all appeals of Bourne Valley. Page 1 of 4 1 I. LEGAL STANDARD “[T]he power to stay proceedings is incidental to the power inherent in every court to 2 3 control the disposition of the causes of action on its docket with economy of time and effort for 4 itself, for counsel, and for litigants.” Landis v. N. Am. Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254 (1936). “A trial 5 court may, with propriety, find it is efficient for its own docket and the fairest course for the 6 parties to enter a stay of an action before it, pending resolution of independent proceedings 7 which bear upon the case.” Leyva v. Certified Grocers of Cal., Ltd., 593 F.2d 857, 863 (9th Cir. 8 1979). In deciding whether to grant a stay, a court may weigh the following: (1) the possible 9 damage which may result from the granting of a stay; (2) the hardship or inequity which a party 10 may suffer in being required to go forward; (3) the orderly course of justice measured in terms 11 of the simplifying or complicating of issues, proof, and questions of law which could be 12 expected to result from a stay. CMAX, Inc. v. Hall, 300 F.2d 265, 268 (9th Cir. 1962). 13 However, “[o]nly in rare circumstances will a litigant in one case be compelled to stand aside 14 while a litigant in another settles the rule of law that will define the rights of both.” Landis, 299 15 U.S. at 255. A district court’s decision to grant or deny a Landis stay is a matter of discretion. 16 See Dependable Highway Exp., Inc. v. Navigators Ins. Co., 498 F.3d 1059, 1066 (9th Cir. 17 2007). 18 19 II. DISCUSSION At the center of this case are the HOA-foreclosure sale conducted pursuant to Nevada 20 Revised Statutes § 116.3116 and the competing arguments that the foreclosure sale either 21 extinguished the bank’s security interest under the SFR holding or had no legal effect because 22 the statutory scheme violates due process. Because the Ninth Circuit in Bourne Valley held that 23 the scheme was facially unconstitutional, see Bourne Valley, 2016 WL 4254983, at *5, the 24 Bourne Valley opinion and any modification of that opinion have the potential to be dispositive 25 of this case. Under this circumstance, the Landis factors weigh strongly in favor of staying this Page 2 of 4 1 action pending final resolution of the Bourne Valley decision. Indeed, the possible prejudice to 2 the parties is minimal as the only potential harm is that the parties may wait longer for 3 resolution of this case if it is stayed. However, if this case is not stayed, a delay would also 4 result from any motions for reconsideration that may be necessitated if the current decision in 5 the Bourne Valley case does not stand. Accordingly, a stay is not likely to appreciably lengthen 6 the life of this case. Further, in the absence of a stay, judicial resources may be unnecessarily 7 expended to resolve issues which may ultimately be decided by higher courts to which this 8 Court is bound to adhere. Because the Bourne Valley decision is squarely on point, the orderly 9 course of justice likewise weighs in favor of a stay. Accordingly, the Court finds that staying 10 this action pending final resolution of Bourne Valley would be efficient for the Court’s own 11 docket and the fairest course for the parties. See Leyva, 593 F.2d at 863. 12 III. 13 CONCLUSION IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that this case is administratively STAYED pending 14 exhaustion of all appeals of Bourne Valley Court Trust v. Wells Fargo Bank, No. 15-15233 (9th 15 Cir. Aug. 12, 2016). Once exhaustion occurs, any party may move to lift the stay. Until that 16 time, all proceedings in this action are stayed. 17 18 19 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that all pending motions are DENIED without prejudice with leave to refile within twenty-one days after the stay is lifted. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendant SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC (“SFR”), 20 who acquired title to the Property following the foreclosure sale, shall care for, preserve, and 21 maintain the Property. 22 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, beginning on October 24, 2017, the parties must 23 file a joint status report updating the Court on the status of this case every one-hundred and 24 eighty days. Along with the joint status report, SFR shall submit a statement affirming that all 25 expenses necessary to maintain the property, including but not limited to, timely and full Page 3 of 4 1 payment of all homeowners association assessments, property taxes, and property insurance 2 premiums due and owing or past due at any time during the effective period of this Stay are 3 current and up to date. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this Order does not prevent the parties from 4 5 continuing to engage in settlement conference negotiations with the assistance of the Magistrate 6 Judge. 7 8 30 DATED this _____ day of April, 2017. 9 10 11 ___________________________________ Gloria M. Navarro, Chief Judge United States District Judge 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Page 4 of 4

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