Justia U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Plaintiffs sued Wells Fargo for fraudulent misrepresentation and promissory estoppel after Wells Fargo initiated foreclosure when plaintiffs stopped paying on their mortgage loan. The court held that plaintiffs have not stated a plausible claim for fraudulent misrepresentation regarding the modification of their home loan and therefore, the district court did not err in dismissing plaintiffs' claims under Rules 12(b)(6) and 9(b). The court also held that plaintiffs have not stated a plausible claim for promissory estoppel and the district court did not err in dismissing their claim. View "Freitas, et al v. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc." on Justia Law

Oakdale and Cincinnati disputed whether the commercial property insurance policy Oakdale purchased from Cincinnati covered a loss suffered by Oakdale in August 2009. The court affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to Cincinnati, concluding that the policy excluded Oakdale's damages where the district court accepted Oakdale's specific calculations of common area and decided that they were insufficient to allow a reasonable jury to find the vacancy provision of the policy was met. View "Oakdale Mall Assoc. v. Cincinnati Ins. Co." on Justia Law

Minneapolis police arrested defendant in 2003 and seized several items of his property. After his conviction and the disposition of his appeals, defendant moved under Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to have his property returned. The district court denied the motion. The court reversed and remanded for an evidentiary hearing. On remand the district court denied defendant's request to subpoena a witness and declined to convert his motion into a civil action for damages. Defendant subsequently appealed. Since the state court judge voluntarily wrote the district court and confirmed that she had not handled the evidence before or during trial and had been absent after trial when the property was lost, the court need not address any issue of judicial immunity or whether the district court abused its discretion by not issuing a subpoena. The court also held that the district court abused its discretion in denying defendant's motion to convert the Rule 41 action into a civil claim for damages where defendant should have been allowed an opportunity to convert his Rule 41 motion into an action for damages against the government because the government no longer possessed the property at issue. View "United States v. Bailey" on Justia Law

U.S. Bank appealed from an order granting the motion of debtor to value U.S. Bank's allowed secured claim pursuant to section 506(a) of the Bankruptcy Code, and valuing the claim at $3,500,000. The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel held that the order was not final but that U.S. Bank's alternative request to grant leave to appeal it as an interlocutory order should be granted. The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel also concluded that low income tax credits that the owner of the property was eligible to claim, as well as the obligations they imposed, did affect the value of the property and should have been considered as part of the property's value. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded. View "U.S. Bank Nat'l Assoc. v. Lewis & Clark Apartments, et al" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs, property owners of the Subdivision, filed a declaratory judgment against defendants, alleging that defendants, who also own property in the Subdivision, violated certain restrictive covenants by renting their property to friends and others to use as a vacation home. The district court granted defendants' motion for summary judgment. The court concluded that the Arkansas rule of strict construction favoring the "unfettered use of land" required that the court affirm the judgment of the district court. Accordingly, defendants' rental of the property did not violate the restrictive covenants. View "Dunn, et al v. Aamodt, et al" on Justia Law

Debtors appealed from the ruling of the bankruptcy court granting summary judgment to SunTrust and denying summary judgment to debtors, on debtors' adversary complaint that challenged SunTrust's standing to enforce a promissory note and deed of trust on debtors' property, and sought to remove the deed of trust from the chain of title to such property. The court affirmed the bankruptcy court's judgment and held that the promissory note was a negotiable instrument and that SunTrust was entitled to enforce it and the deed of trust. The bankruptcy court properly used evidence from the affidavit of SunTrust's representative and properly applied judicial estoppel. View "Knigge, et al v. SunTrust Mortgage, Inc." on Justia Law

LAC Minerals and plaintiff were bound by an agreement relating to 944 acres of property once targeted for mining development. Plaintiff filed suit, arguing that the agreement required LAC to assign to plaintiff certain portions of the property no longer needed for mining operations. LAC counterclaimed, seeking to quiet title. The court held that the district court did not err in holding that plaintiff retained an ongoing reversionary interest in the property. View "Fowler v. LAC Minerals (USA), LLC" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs brought this suit in Minnesota state court challenging the foreclosure of the mortgage of their home. The Bank defendants removed the case to federal court and filed a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), as did the PFB defendants. The district court granted the motions to dismiss and plaintiffs appealed. The court held that the lack of any factual allegations regarding PFB rendered plaintiffs' complaint deficient and the district court did not err in dismissing it for failure to state a claim. The court also held that the district court properly dismissed plaintiffs' claims against the Bank, finding no merit in plaintiffs' claims. View "Butler, et al. v. Bank of America, N.A., et al." on Justia Law

Plaintiff was the president and owner of Company. Plaintiff and Company were sued by an employee for sexual harassment, among other claims. Plaintiff retained Law Firm to represent him and Company. The district court entered judgment against Company. The court later granted Company's motion for a new trial, and the parties subsequently settled. Plaintiff was the personal guarantor on the loans and credit lines provided by lenders to Company. After the original jury verdict, banks and lenders refused to continue extending credit to Plaintiff. As a result, Plaintiff's real estate holdings crumbled, causing Plaintiff to lose dozens of commercial and residential properties. Plainiff then sued the attorney who acted as lead defense counsel and Law Firm (collectively, Appellees), contending that Appellees committed a series of negligent errors during their representation. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Appellees and dismissed Plaintiff's claims for legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty, holding that Plaintiff failed to show that his loss of net worth was proximately caused by the actions of Appellees. View "Hamilton v. Bangs, McCullen, Butler, Foye & Simmons, LLP" on Justia Law

Theodore Wolk filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and the trustee sought an order from the bankruptcy court authorizing the sale of the home Wolk owned as a tenant in common with his wife, Kathryn Tennyson. After several proceedings the bankruptcy court denied the motion to sell the home, concluding that the detriment of such a sale to Tennyson outweighed the benefit to the bankruptcy estate. Wolk appealed, and the bankruptcy appellate panel affirmed. The trustee appealed. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the bankruptcy court had not abused its discretion in denying the trustee's motion to sell the home, as (1) the court's findings with respect to the benefit to the estate and the detriment to Tennyson were not clearly erroneous, and (2) the court carefully balanced the equities in its judgment. View "Lovald v. Tennyson" on Justia Law