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District Court: Servicer’s QWR responses did not violate RESPA
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington recently granted summary judgment in favor of a defendant mortgage servicer related to alleged RESPA violations concerning qualified written requests and notices of error. Plaintiff entered into a permanent loan modification for which she made timely payments until she applied for new financing. One year later, plaintiff noticed a deferred principal balance that she claimed was not listed on her 2019 loan modification agreement. Plaintiff asserted that she called seeking to have the deferred principal balance removed and sent a notice of error (NOE) letter to the defendant, claiming, among other things, that the loan documentation did not mention the deferred amount. Defendant acknowledged the NOE and timely responded that the modification agreement included the deferred principal balance.
In granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment, the court held that while plaintiff’s allegations “are framed as a RESPA violation … [p]laintiff’s true concern is that [defendant] misrepresented the terms of the 2019 loan modification.” The defendant, however, complied with RESPA by providing “a statement of the reasons for which the servicer believes the account of the borrower is correct as determined by the servicer,” and plaintiff’s “disagreement with the servicer’s determination does not create a claim under RESPA.” Further, the court found that the deferred principal balance was in fact included on the executed loan modification agreement, and that the plaintiff did not suffer any actual harm under RESPA or otherwise.
District Court: Plaintiff failed to prove damages in RESPA suit
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas recently granted summary judgment in favor of a defendant mortgage servicer related to alleged RESPA violations. Plaintiff obtained a refinanced loan that was serviced by the defendant. Plaintiff later sued the defendant after becoming frustrated by receiving repeated calls suggesting he refinance the loan. Once litigation commenced, the defendant began sending the monthly mortgage statements to plaintiff’s counsel. In 2021, plaintiff sent a request for information to the defendant seeking a range of monthly billing statements, which the defendant allegedly only partially provided. Plaintiff’s attorney further claimed to have received an escrow review statement from the defendant referencing an escrow surplus check that the plaintiff also claimed not to have received. The plaintiff claimed violation of RESPA by pointing to the defendant’s alleged failure to adequately respond to his requests for statements or to provide the surplus check. The defendant moved for summary judgment, arguing that neither the facts nor the law supported the plaintiff’s claims.
The plaintiff eventually conceded that there is no private right of action under RESPA’s escrow payment regulation and withdrew the claim. The court also took issue with his claim that the defendant failed to adequately respond to his request for information. Even if the defendant failed to adequately respond, the plaintiff could not plead or prove actual damages, the court said. “Neither party disputes that RESPA requires plaintiffs to plead and prove actual damages from an alleged violation,” the court wrote. “Instead, they focus their arguments on the sufficiency of the alleged damages. [Defendant] alleges that [plaintiff] provides no evidence to demonstrate how he suffered damages from the fact that it provided only three of the fourteen requested monthly statements.” Plaintiff tried to argue he was owed monetary damages due to being deprived of the escrow surplus funds and by being unfairly assessed convenience fees when making payments through the defendant’s online portal. He further claimed he suffered medical and mental anguish. However, the court concluded that evidence presented by the defendant refuted these claims (the convenience fee claim, the court said, could not be connected to the RESPA claim) and said plaintiff also failed to support his claims of medical and mental anguish. Further, plaintiff failed to present evidence supporting his claim for statutory damages, the court said, finding no genuine dispute of material fact in the record.