Garrett v. The District , 645 F. App'x 710 ( 2016 )

FILED
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
April 14, 2016
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
Elisabeth A. Shumaker
Clerk of Court
TENTH CIRCUIT
GLORIA GARRETT; JANE
VANDEWALLE,
Plaintiffs Counter Defendants -
Appellants,
v. No. 14-3240
(D.C. No. 2:13-CV-02551-JAR-JPO)
BRANSON COMMERCE PARK (D. Kan.)
COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT
DISTRICT,
Defendant - Appellee,
and
SOUTHWEST TRUST COMPANY,
N.A.,
Defendant Counterclaimant -
Appellee.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before GORSUCH, EBEL, and BACHARACH, Circuit Judges.
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the
doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited,
however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th
Cir. R. 32.1.
The plaintiffs seek relief under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA).
That statute prohibits a “creditor” from “discriminat[ing] against any applicant,
with respect to any aspect of a credit transaction” on the basis of “marital status,”
among other things. 15 U.S.C. § 1691(a)(1). As parties to agreements with a
bank and community improvement district, the plaintiffs guaranteed that under
certain specified circumstances they would personally replenish a fund associated
with bonds their husbands secured in a real estate venture. Seeking both to avoid
that guarantee obligation and win damages, the plaintiffs filed this lawsuit
contending that the contracts they signed unlawfully discriminated against them
on the basis of their marital status as wives.
Soon enough, though, the district court dismissed the complaint. It held
that the defendants didn’t qualify as “creditors” within the meaning of the statute,
that no qualifying “credit” was involved in the parties’ agreements, and that in all
events the plaintiffs’ claims were barred by the statute of limitations. Now on
appeal the defendants ask us to affirm each of these holdings or to affirm the
district court’s judgment on yet another and alternative ground, claiming that
because the plaintiffs merely guaranteed their husbands’ financial arrangements
they do not qualify as “applicants” for credit within ECOA’s purview.
Among these many possible grounds for affirmance we believe the
narrowest is the statute of limitations. And whatever the strength of the various
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other arguments for affirmance the district court and defendants have advanced,
we are persuaded this one is sufficient to carry the day.
To be sure, the parties disagree avidly over just how long the plaintiffs had
to sue under ECOA. The defendants note that when the plaintiffs signed their
guarantees ECOA provided a two-year limitations period. 15 U.S.C. § 1691e(f)
(2007). In reply, the plaintiffs observe that during the life of their deal with the
bank and district, Congress amended the law to permit a five-year limitations
period. Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Pub. L.
No. 111-203, § 1085(7), 124 Stat. 1376, 2085 (2010).
But the parties’ dispute over the length of the limitations period ultimately
proves immaterial, for even assuming the longer period applies the plaintiffs still
face a problem. ECOA’s limitations period generally begins running on the
“occurrence of [a] violation” of the statute, 15 U.S.C. § 1691e(f); the district
court held and the plaintiffs do not dispute that an ECOA violation “occurs” when
an unlawful agreement is signed; the plaintiffs signed their allegedly unlawful
guarantee agreement in 2007; and the plaintiffs failed to bring this suit until 2013.
By this calculation, then, it appears the plaintiffs’ claim comes too late even
under the more generous possible limitations period they advocate.
And with that much resolved, only two wrinkles remain to confront.
First, the plaintiffs suggest that a “renewal” of credit qualifies as a new and
independent violation of ECOA, so that even if one ECOA violation occurred
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back in 2007 when they signed the original agreements, later ECOA violations
could have occurred with the subsequent “renewal” of those agreements. By way
of support, the plaintiffs point to a Federal Reserve Board regulation suggesting
this view of the statute. 12 C.F.R. § 202.2, supp. I, ¶ 7(d)(5) cmt. 3; see also
Stern v. Espirito Santo Bank of Fla., 791 F. Supp. 865, 869 (S.D. Fla. 1992).
But here again the plaintiffs’ legal argument fails to help them given the
facts they plead. For even assuming (without deciding) that ECOA’s limitations
period is indeed triggered anew with each “renewal,” the plaintiffs do not
plausibly allege facts showing that a “renewal” ever occurred in this case. True,
the plaintiffs do conclusorily contend that a renewal happened here. But, as
ordinarily understood, a “renewal” suggests “[t]he re-creation of a legal
relationship or the replacement of an old contract with a new contract, as opposed
to the mere extension of a previous relationship or contract.” Renewal, Black’s
Law Dictionary (10th ed. 2014). And the pleadings before us contain no well-
pleaded facts suggesting anything like this. Indeed, the parties’ contract,
referenced by both sides in connection with their submissions to the district court
and our own, nowhere indicates that it would or did expire during the relevant
period. Or that the parties would or did ever re-create their legal relationship. Or
that they would or did sign a new contract. Neither do the plaintiffs attempt to
argue for some different and special meaning of the term “renewal” in the context
of ECOA. In this light, the only plausible inference from the facts before us is,
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just as the district court held, that there was one ongoing agreement in this case
and no “renewal.”
That leaves the plaintiffs’ final line of reply. Here they suggest that the
defendants may not assert a statute of limitations defense in response to their
request for a declaration that their agreement was void from its inception because
it violated ECOA. By way of support, the plaintiffs cite cases suggesting that at
least some courts in some states in some particular situations will not, as a matter
of state contract law, permit an otherwise valid limitations defense to defeat a
plaintiff’s claim seeking to have the parties’ contract declared void from
inception. See, e.g., Pacchiana v. Pacchiana, 94 A.D.2d 721, 721-22 (N.Y. App.
Div. 1983) (prenuptial agreement); Riverside Syndicate, Inc. v. Munroe, 882
N.E.2d 875, 878 (N.Y. 2008) (landlord-tenant agreement).
This argument is not sufficiently developed, however, to permit an
intelligent assessment of its application in this case. The plaintiffs do not explain
how their theory might be squared with the plain language of ECOA which,
immediately after authorizing actions for declaratory relief under 15 U.S.C.
§ 1691e(c), proceeds to explain pretty unequivocally that “[a]ny action under this
section” must be brought within five years of an ECOA violation. 15 U.S.C.
§ 1691e(f) (emphasis added). Neither do the plaintiffs attempt to show that the
ECOA’s declaratory remedies include the power to declare contracts void from
inception, despite at least some authority seeming to suggest the opposite view.
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See, e.g., F.D.I.C. v. 32 Edwardsville, Inc., 873 F. Supp. 1474, 1480 (D. Kan.
1995) (finding that “[t]he ECOA does not provide for the invalidation of a
guaranty as a remedy for an ECOA violation”). Finally, the state contract law
cases the plaintiffs cite do not appear to come close to establishing that courts in
commercial cases like ours normally reject limitations defenses to claims seeking
to have a contract held void from inception. See, e.g., Kahn v. Kohlberg, Kravis,
Roberts & Co., 970 F.2d 1030, 1032, 1042-43 (2d Cir. 1992); Diamond v. Union
Bank & Trust, 776 F. Supp. 542, 543 (N.D. Okla. 1991) (finding the statute of
limitations barred a declaratory judgment claim that a contract was void because
of an ECOA violation).
Maybe good responses exist to all these observations. Maybe, for example,
an argument can be made that ECOA’s statutory limitations period doesn’t apply
to some ECOA actions despite the statutory language suggesting it applies to any
ECOA action. Maybe, too, a good argument can be made that the remedial
powers ECOA affords courts include the power to void contracts or at least
portions of them. But questions like these just are not sufficiently explored by
the parties in this case to permit us to pass upon them intelligently, so we deem
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the matter waived and leave its resolution for another day. See Hardeman v. City
of Albuquerque, 377 F.3d 1106, 1122 (10th Cir. 2004).
The motion for leave to file a sur-reply is denied and the judgment is
affirmed.
ENTERED FOR THE COURT
Neil M. Gorsuch
Circuit Judge
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