Facts

Jae Sun Chung brought an action against Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BNYM), NewRez LLC, and MTC Financial Inc. dba Trustee Corps.

This case was the fourth civil proceeding concerning the foreclosure of a certain residential property in Irvine, California. Myong Suk Oh was the plaintiff in the three prior cases. In 2016, Oh brought her first lawsuit against BNYM, MTC, and others. The trial court dismissed the action with prejudice and the appellate court affirmed. Oh's subsequent cases were dismissed with prejudice, in part on the basis of preclusion.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiff claimed that Oh, his wife's friend from church, obtained mortgage loans secured by deeds of trust to purchase the property in Irvine. Through a series of grant deeds, Oh passed the property to plaintiff's wife, who passed it to plaintiff's mother-in-law, who passed it to plaintiff. The first deed of trust named Oh as borrower and nonparty Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS) as the beneficiary as nominee for the lender. Assignments transferring the beneficial interest from MERS to BNYM were recorded. Plaintiff contended that this transfer was invalid, and that subsequent lender-side attempts to foreclose on the property were improper and unlawful. Plaintiff asserted claims for violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act; violation of California's foreclosure statutes; violation of the California Unfair Competition Law; cancellation of instruments; and injunctive and declaratory relief.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS: Defendants denied all contentions and asserted that plaintiff lacked constitutional standing to complain of issues with Oh's mortgage because he was not a party to the mortgage loan. Defendants also argued that the 2016 judgment from Oh's prior lawsuit precluded plaintiff's action in its entirety.

Result

Defendants' motion to dismiss was granted.