Hall v. North American Mortgage Co. (In re Hall)

Summarized by Benjamin Ellison , Salish Sea Legal PLLC
12 years 7 months ago

Citation:

unpublished

Tag(s):

Ruling:

The Bankruptcy Court abstained from hearing the Halls' adversary proceeding based on the fact all their claims involved state law and had already been resolved by the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals. In abstaining, the Bankruptcy Court specifically relied on the Rooker-Feldman doctrine. The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel found that the bar to appellate review of lower court abstention orders in 28 U.S.C. 1334(d) did not apply to bankruptcy appellate panels. The Panel found the Bankrupty Court properly considered the multi-factor test for abstention, and found the relief sought by the Halls in their adversary proceeding would call into question issues of fact and law already determined in state court. While a mutuality requirement for the invocation of Rooker-Feldman exists, the only parties which need to be the same are the party against whom judgment was previously-enter, in this case, the Halls. The fact the lending parties were slightly different between state court and the adversary proceeding did not preclude application of Rooker--Feldman.

Procedural context:

Chase Bank, a predecessor in interest to State Street filed a proof of claim for the defaulted mortgage and objected to confirmation of Debtors' Chapter 13 plan. Debtors then filed an adversary proceeding against a number of parties involved in the underlying foreclosure of their property, although without naming Chase. The causes of action were claims for negligence, wantonness, unjust enrichment, wrongful foreclosure, slander of title, and civil conspiracy. The other lending parties, including State Street, filed a motion to dismiss the adversary proceeding.

Facts:

Mark and Christi Hall were homeowners in Oklahoma City. They had a mortgage on their property with a bank which ultimately transferred its interest to State Street Bank and Trust. In 2007, State Street brought a foreclosure action against the Halls for defaulting on their mortgage and prevailed. The Halls appealed the ruling to the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals, claiming there was no default, and that in any event, State Street lacked standing to foreclose on their property. The Court of Appeals rejected the Halls' claims, and found for State Street. The Halls then filed a series of bankruptcies, most recently involving a Chapter 13 filing.

Judge(s):

Cornish, Nugent, Romero

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