Oscar Calderon v. U.S. Bank National Association as Trustee for SG Mortgage Securities Trust 2006-FRE2 Asset Backed Certificates Series 2006-FRE2 ( 2021 )

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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
No. 20-14663
Non-Argument Calendar
________________________
D.C. Docket No. 6:19-cv-00890-RBD-LRH
OSCAR CALDERON,
CARMEN V. ORTIZ,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
ALTAGRACIA CALDERON,
Plaintiff,
versus
U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION AS TRUSTEE
FOR SG MORTGAGE SECURITIES TRUST 2006-FRE2
ASSET BACKED CERTIFICATES SERIES 2006-FRE2,
DOES 1-10 INCLUSIVE,
Defendants-Appellees.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
________________________
(July 9, 2021)
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Before WILSON, ROSENBAUM, and BRANCH, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Oscar Calderon and Carmen Ortiz (collectively “the Calderons”) appeal
from the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants on
the Calderons’ complaint for “declaratory relief to enforce rescission” of a
mortgage loan based on its conclusion that the Calderons lacked standing. After
review, we affirm.
I. Background
The facts in this case are not in dispute. On May 2, 2006, Oscar Calderon
closed on a mortgage loan for a residential property in Florida. Almost three years
later, on April 3, 2009, Calderon sent to defendant U.S. Bank and other related
companies a formal letter demanding recission of the mortgage due to various
alleged violations of the Truth in Lending Act (“TILA”) and other federal lending
laws. Calderon was notified in writing this his demand for recission was denied.
Approximately five months later, Calderon filed a voluntary petition for
Chapter 7 bankruptcy. He listed the mortgage loan in his bankruptcy petition as a
secured claim, and he made no mention of his demand for recission. In January
2010, Calderon received a discharge in his bankruptcy proceeding.
Over nine years later, the Calderons filed the underlying petition to enforce
recission of the 2006 mortgage loan, seeking declaratory relief, recission of the
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loan, termination of the defendants’ security interest in the property, return of any
money paid by the Calderons, statutory damages, actual damages, and attorneys’
fees and costs.
U.S. Bank ultimately moved for summary judgment, arguing, in relevant
part, that the Calderons lacked standing and were otherwise not entitled to relief on
the merits of their claim. The district court granted U.S. Bank’s motion for
summary judgment and dismissed the complaint for lack of standing. The district
court explained that, once Oscar Calderon filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy, his recission
claim, of which he was aware prior to filing bankruptcy, became—and remained—
part of the bankruptcy estate. Therefore, only the bankruptcy trustee had standing
to bring the claim. Accordingly, the district court dismissed the complaint. This
appeal followed.
II. Discussion
The Calderons argue that the district court erred in concluding that the
recission was the property of the bankruptcy estate because the recission was
complete and effective upon receipt of the recission notices by the defendants,
which occurred prior to the filing of the bankruptcy petition, and, therefore, it was
not an asset, claim, or cause of action for purposes of the bankruptcy estate. We
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disagree.1
The Bankruptcy Code provides that virtually all of a debtor’s assets and
legal and equitable interests in property “as of the commencement” of the
bankruptcy case vest in the bankruptcy estate upon the filing of the petition. See
11 U.S.C. § 541(a)(1); see also In re Witko, 374 F.3d 1040, 1042 (11th Cir. 2004)
(“The commencement of a voluntary bankruptcy case creates an estate generally
consisting of the legal or equitable interests of the debtor in property as of the
commencement of the case.” (quotation omitted)). Even if not disclosed by the
debtor during the bankruptcy proceeding, the property of the bankruptcy estate
includes causes of action and potential causes of action belonging to the debtor at
the commencement of the bankruptcy case. Parker v. Wendy’s Int’l, Inc., 365 F.3d
1268, 1272 (11th Cir. 2004); see also Ajaka v. Brooksamerica Mortg. Corp., 453
F.3d 1339, 1344 (11th Cir. 2006) (explaining that a debtor has a duty to “disclose
all assets, or potential assets, to the bankruptcy court”); In re Alvarez, 224 F.3d
1274, 1276–79 (11th Cir. 2000) (holding that, under both state and federal law, the
debtor’s legal malpractice claim was “sufficiently rooted in his pre-bankruptcy
past” that it was properly considered property of the bankruptcy estate even though
1
“We review standing determinations de novo.” A&M Gerber Chiropractic LLC v.
GEICO Gen. Ins. Co., 925 F.3d 1205, 1210 (11th Cir. 2019).
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debtor had not yet brought a cause of action against his counsel at the time of the
filing of the petition).
The bankruptcy trustee “is the only party with standing to prosecute causes
of action belonging to the estate.” Parker, 365 F.3d at 1272. Even after the close
of a bankruptcy case, property of the bankruptcy estate remains in the estate unless
abandoned back to the debtor under 11 U.S.C. § 554. Id.Although the Calderons had yet to file any formal recission-related cause of
action at the time of the filing of the bankruptcy petition, they had sent a notice
demanding recission to the defendants. Thus, the Calderons’ recission claim is a
pre-petition claim that became a part of the bankruptcy estate upon the filing of the
Chapter 7 petition. Parker, 365 F.3d at 1272; In re Alvarez, 224 F.3d at 1279.
Because there is no evidence that the trustee ever abandoned this pre-petition
recission claim, the Calderons lacked standing to bring this action. Parker, 365
F.3d at 1272. Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s entry of summary
judgment on this basis. 2
AFFIRMED.
2
In light of our standing determination, we do not reach the other arguments that the
Calderons raise in their brief which go to the merits of their claim.
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