7th Circuit holds homeowner failed to show harm from servicer’s QWR failing

Courts Seventh Circuit RESPA Mortgages

On November 7, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit affirmed a grant of summary judgment in favor of a mortgage servicer. The court, noting the District Court had concluded there was insufficient evidence to support a claim the servicer had violated RESPA, affirmed the lower court decision that even if such a violation had occurred, the homeowner plaintiff failed to demonstrate any actual harm from the servicer’s alleged failure to fully respond to his qualified written request (QWR). According to the opinion, in November 2012, a state court entered a judgment of foreclosure against a homeowner who struggled to make payments on his mortgage loan; and after numerous reschedulings due to bankruptcy filings, a sheriff sale was set to be conducted in October 2016. In August 2016, the homeowner sent a letter to his mortgage servicer with “twenty-two wide-ranging questions about his account.” The mortgage servicer treated the letter as a QWR under RESPA, acknowledged receipt of the letter and stated it would provide a substantive response by September 30, the deadline under the statute. Two days prior to the statutory deadline, the homeowner and his wife filed a lawsuit against the mortgage servicer, alleging violations of RESPA and Wisconsin law for failing to respond to the QWR, which they argued, would have provided information to assist in their fight against forthcoming sheriff’s sale. The mortgage servicer mailed a response on September 30, consisting of a three-page letter and 58 pages of attachments, which addressed “most of [the homeowner]’s questions to some degree, but not all of them,” and also invited further information from the homeowner to consider further responses. The district court granted the mortgage servicer’s motion for summary judgment, concluding that the homeowner failed to provide evidence the mortgage servicer violated RESPA or state law and failed to show how any alleged failure, even had it occurred, caused harm.  

On appeal, the 7th Circuit determined the homeowner had standing to sue the mortgage servicer but his wife did not, as she had no legal interest in the property. As for the alleged RESPA violation, assuming such a violation occurred, the court concluded that the homeowner failed to establish an actual harm that resulted from the mortgage servicer’s alleged violation. Specifically, the appeals court disagreed with the homeowner that the fees paid to an attorney to review the mortgage servicer’s response “could be a cost incurred as a result of an alleged violation” of RESPA. The appeals court also rejected claims of damages for physical and emotional distress because the homeowner’s “stress had essentially nothing to do with any arguable RESPA violations.”