Johnson v. Nationstar Mortgage
Johnson v. Nationstar Mortgage, 2020 UT App 127 (Pohlman, J.)
Property
The owners received a loan to purchase property. When the owners defaulted on payment, the lender filed a default notice in October 2009 and scheduled a trustee’s sale. The owners filed suit, alleging that they had filed a notice of right to cancel under the Truth in Lending Act. The district court dismissed the owners’ claims. Another trustee’s sale was scheduled, and the owners filed another lawsuit. In that lawsuit, the owners argued that the trustee’s sale could not go forward because the relevant statute of limitations had passed and they were entitled to relief under the Truth in Lending Act. The district court granted summary judgment against the owners on these claims. The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed, holding:
- The statute of limitations did not bar the trustee’s sale. The limitations period for nonjudicial foreclosures of trust deeds is six years, triggered either upon the due date provided in the note or the accelerated due date. A lender pursuing a nonjudicial foreclosure of a trust deed commences an action for nonjudicial foreclosure, and thereby satisfies the limitations period, by filing for record a notice of default. The trustee’s sale itself need not occur within any specified time period.
- The doctrine of claim preclusion bars the owner’s Truth in Lending claims, because those claims were litigated in the first lawsuit.