Can a failure to act be a fraudulent transfer?
Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 2:50 pm
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Dear Pat,
Thank you for your thoughts.
Unfortunately, the relevant case law is less than favorable. In Rehbein v. CitiMortgage, Inc., 937 F. Supp. 2d 753, 762 (E.D. Va. 2013), Lawrence v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., No. 14-1272-PJH, 2014 WL 2705425, at *6 (N.D. Cal. June 13, 2014), and Jurewitz v. Bank of Am., N.A., 938 F. Supp. 2d 994, 998 (S.D. Cal. 2013) we have statements like individual borrowers are merely incidental beneficiaries of the National Mortgage Settlement, and so have no right to bring third-party suits to enforce the Consent Judgment. Thus, any claims that allege a violation of the Consent Judgment should be dismissed.
In light of the standing problem, my thought was to get into the shoes of the U.S. using the IRS, which is a subdivision of the U.S. Department of the Treasury a signatory to the Consent Judgment. The only way I can see to do this is to appeal to 544(b)(1) and use the IRSs fraudulent transfer avoidance power in 28 U.S.C. 3301-3308. (The Chapter 11 debtor has the power of a trustee under 1107(a).) Since the IRS filed a proof of claim for unsecured taxes that include liabilities from before the Consent Judgment, I can use the In re CVAH, Inc., 570 B.R. 816 (Bankr. D. Idaho 2017) holding John Faucher mentioned to get into the IRSs shoes with a six-year look-back period if I can establish that there was a fraudulent transfer.
For that reason I want to argue the following: Based on the relevant terms of the Consent Judgment B of A was required to extinguish the second, and reconvey back to the debtor. When they didnt, they received the value of the then current balance on the second, without giving the debtor a reasonably equivalent value in exchange. At the time, the debtor was in a pending Chapter 7 (he didnt receive a discharge) and according to his schedules he was insolvent. Thus, B of As failure to reconvey constituted an avoidable fraudulent transfer.
The big hurdle: Can a failure to act constitute a transfer? That was the point of my previous post.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Nicholas Gebelt
Nicholas Gebelt, Ph.D., J.D.
Attorney at Law
Certified Bankruptcy Law Specialist State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization
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