May v. SunTrust Mortgage, Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-070-14)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us SJC‑11439 KENNETH D. MAY & another[1] vs. SUNTRUST MORTGAGE, INC. Suffolk. December 3, 2013. ‑ April 14, 2014. Present: Ireland, C.J., Spina, Cordy, Botsford, Gants, Duffly, & Lenk, JJ. Massachusetts Consumer Credit Cost Disclosure Act. Limitations, Statute of. Statute, Construction. Mortgage, Loan commitment. Contract, Rescission. Practice, Civil, Statute of limitations. Words, “Recoupment,” “Rescission.” Certification of a question of law to the Supreme Judicial Court by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts. Kenneth D. Quat for the plaintiffs. Nathalie K. Salomon for the defendant. Jeremiah Battle of New Jersey, & Stuart Rossman, for National Consumer Law Center, amicus curiae, submitted a brief. BOTSFORD, J. The Massachusetts Consumer Credit Cost Disclosure Act (MCCCDA), G. L. c. 140D, §§ 1- 35, governs the rights and duties of creditors and obligors (borrowers, or consumers) engaged in consumer credit transactions. One type of consumer credit transaction to which the MCCCDA applies is the refinancing of a consumer’s home where the consumer grants a mortgage to the creditor to secure the refinancing loan. Pursuant to S.J.C. Rule 1:03, as appearing in 382 Mass. 700 (1981), a judge in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts[2] has certified the following question: “May an obligor [borrower] who grants a mortgage in a consumer credit transaction rescind the transaction under the Massachusetts Consumer Credit Cost Disclosure Act, [G. L. c.] 140D, § 1 et seq. (the ‘MCCCDA’), defensively by way of common law recoupment after the expiration of the four year statute of limitations set forth in [§] 10 (f) of the MCCCDA?” For the reasons we discuss hereafter, we answer no to the question.[3] 1. Background. The essential background facts are undisputed by the parties. On October 7, 2005, Kenneth May and Valerie Corbin-May, the plaintiffs, refinanced their home in Brockton in a mortgage loan transaction with Summit Mortgage (Summit), for $ 300,000. The mortgage later was assigned to and is held currently by the defendant here, SunTrust Mortgage, Inc. (SunTrust).[4] On January 28, 2010, the plaintiffs, facing foreclosure, filed a petition under Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. §§ 101 et seq., in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts. In response, SunTrust filed a proof of claim alleging that the plaintiffs owed $ […]