Given the wreckage created by mortgage servicing modifications negligence has predictably become an issue in litigation and a confusing one with courts split both ways. Banks claim there's no cause of action due to the lack of a duty of care between a financial institution and a borrower which is deemed to be an arm's length transaction. This thinking appears to leave a homeowner upstream without a paddle with a wrong without a remedy.
It's had me befuddled for some time now because obviously a borrower signing a legally enforceable agreement that places the lender in a position of discretion and that allows the confiscation of property if specified events don't occur is far from an arm's length arrangement. Instead it's a contract that includes duties on both parties.
Then came along Conroy v Wells Fargo in 2017 with amici curiae from a bundle of consumer law groups as well as then Attorney General Kamala Harris in support of homeowners and they got shot down. I'm not even too pissed about it because well, they were wrong or at least didn't really do their homework and the court called them out on it.
I'd been wondering when someone was going to notice a key issue here and the Conroy court finally did and provided a handy explanation. It involves the Biakanja factors (Biakanja v. Irving (1958) 49 Cal.2d 647 [320 P.2d 16] that are used to determine the existence of a duty of care. What people had been overlooking is they are only applicable in the absence of privity. I'd noticed it and wondered why it wasn't addressed. Privity is the relationship created by a contract which brings with it various duties similar to a duty of care, e.g., the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
Conroy ruled that negligence isn't an applicable remedy because a remedy is already available: breach of contract.
They didn't completely foreclose a remedy in tort for misconduct, they just raised the bar a bit by requiring the conduct to be intentional rather than careless.
I like this ruling because it makes sense and things fall into place, well sort of.... but I like it for another reason as well. These legal experts overlooked an essential element of the strange and screwy relationship created by mortgage companies in their eagerness to avoid liability: there's no contract between a borrower and a mortgage servicer. The contract is between the borrower and the lender, the servicer is acting as agent and without privity. Therefore the lender incurred liability for the negligent actions of their agent under contract and the agent in their individual capacity may have incurred liability under tort.
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12935210887321900074&hl=en&as_sdt=2006