IN RE: MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC., MERS | 9th Circuit - false, and therefore actionable, a document that is “forged, groundless, contains a material misstatement or false claim or is otherwise invalid....Pleaded their robosigning claims with sufficient particularity to satisfy Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)
FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
IN RE: MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC., JONATHAN E. ROBINSON; SALLY J. ROBINSON-BURKE; ROSA A. SILVAS; JOSEPHA S. LOPEZ; JOSE TRINIDAD CASAS; MARIA C. CASAS; LYNDON B. GRAVES; TYRONE EVENSON; MICHELLINA EVENSON; BRYAN GRAY, [for complete list of plaintiff/appellants, see Notice of Appeal]; PABLO LEON, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. AMERICAN HOME MORTGAGE SERVICING, INC.; AMERICA’S SERVICING COMPANY; AMERICA’S WHOLESALE LENDER; AURORA LOAN SERVICES, LLC; AZTEC FORECLOSURE CORP.; BAC HOME LOANS SERVICING LP; BANK OF AMERICA, NA; BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON; CALIFORNIA RECONVEYANCE CO.; CENTRAL MORTGAGE CO.; COOPER CASTLE LAW FIRM LLP; CR TITLE SERVICES, INC.; DEUTSCHE BANK; EXECUTIVE TRUSTEE SERVICES, LLC; FEDERAL HOME LOAN MORTGAGE CORPORATION; FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY; FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION; FIDELITY NATIONAL TITLE INSURANCE CO.; FIRST AMERICAN LOAN STAR TRUSTEE SERVICES, LLC; FIRST HORIZON HOME LOAN CORP.; G.E. MONEY BANK; GMAC MORTGAGE, LLC; HOUSEKEY FINANCIAL CORP.; HSBC MORTGAGE CORPORATION, USA; HSBC MORTGAGE SERVICES, INC.; HSBC BANK, U.S.A., N.A.; IB PROPERTY HOLDINGS; JPMORGAN CHASE BANK; MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC.; MERSCORP, INC.; MORTGAGE IT, INC.; MTC FINANCIAL, INC., DBA Trustee Corps.; NATIONAL CITY MORTGAGE; PNC FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUP, INC.; NATIONAL DEFAULT SERVICING CORP.; NDEX WEST LLC; OLD REPUBLIC NATIONAL TITLE INSURANCE CO.; QUALITY LOAN SERVICE CORPORATION; RECONTRUST COMPANY; SAXON MORTGAGE, INC.; T.D. SERVICE COMPANY; UTLS DEFAULT SERVICES, LLC; WELLS FARGO BANK, NA; WESTERN PROGRESSIVE TRUSTEE, LLC; CITYMORTGAGE, INC.; LIME FINANCIAL SERVICES LIMITED, Defendants - Appellees. Excerpt: Fourth, the MDL Court held that appellants had not pleaded their robosigning claims with sufficient particularity to satisfy Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a). We disagree. Section 33-420 characterizes as false, and therefore actionable, a document that is “forged, groundless, contains a material misstatement or false claim or is otherwise invalid.” Ariz. Rev. Stat. §§ 33-420(A), (B) (emphasis added). The CAC alleges that the documents at issue are invalid because they are “robosigned (forged).” The CAC specifically identifies numerous allegedly forged documents. For example, the CAC alleges that notice of the trustee’s sale of the property of Thomas and Laurie Bilyea was “notarized in blank prior to being signed on behalf of Michael A. Bosco, and the party that is represented to have signed the document, Michael A. Bosco, did not sign the document, and the party that did sign the document had no personal knowledge of any of the facts set forth in the notice.” Further, the CAC alleges that the document substituting a trustee under the deed of trust for the property of Nicholas DeBaggis “was notarized in blank prior to being signed on behalf of U.S. Bank National Association, and the party that is represented to have signed the document, Mark S. Bosco, did not sign the document.” Still further, the CAC also alleges that Jim Montes, who purportedly signed the substitution of trustee for the property of Milan Stejic had, on the same day, “signed and recorded, with differing signatures, numerous Substitutions of Trustee in the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office . . . . Many of the signatures appear visibly different than one another.” These and similar allegations in the CAC “plausibly suggest an entitlement to relief,” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 681 (2009), and provide the defendants fair notice as to the nature of appellants’ claims against them, Starr v. Baca, 652 F.3d 1202, 1216 (9th Cir. 2011). We therefore reverse the MDL Court’s dismissal of Count I.