Wirtz v. Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC, No. 16-4069 (8th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this CaseThe Eighth Circuit reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment against Specialized Loan Servicing, in an action alleging violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) and the Minnesota Mortgage Originator and Servicer Licensing Act. The court held that plaintiff failed to prove actual damages under RESPA and therefore he failed to establish an essential element of his federal claim. In this case, the bank records that plaintiff obtained for 2012 and 2013 were irrelevant to the dispute whether his loan payments were past due before June 2011. In the alternative, plaintiff did not produce evidence to support a finding of "pattern or practice" here, and there was no evidence that Specialized failed to investigate and respond reasonably to qualified written requests from other borrowers. Consequently, the court reversed as to the state law claim as well. The court remanded with directions to enter summary judgment for Specialized on the RESPA claim and for further proceedings on the claim under the Minnesota Act.
Court Description: Colloton, Author, with Smith, Chief Judge, and Murphy, Circuit Judge] Civil case - Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. The district court did not err in finding defendant violated RESPA when defendant failed to conduct a reasonable investigation into plaintiff's loan payment history; nor did the court err in finding defendant violated RESPA by failing to provide the information plaintiff requested about his loan history since origination of the loan; however, plaintiff failed to prove actual damages because defendant's failure to comply with RESPA did not cause plaintiff's alleged harm and the district court erred in granting plaintiff's motion for summary judgment; while plaintiff incurred some expense in obtaining his bank records, those records did not relate to the time period in question and were irrelevant to the parties' dispute; as plaintiff failed to establish an essential element of his RESPA claim - actual damages- the district court erred in awarding statutory damages; plaintiff's judgment under Minnesota's Mortgage Originator and Servicer Licensing Act reversed and remanded for further proceedings.
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