Ulloa v. JPMorgan Chase Bank CA4/2

Filed 9/3/13 Ulloa v. JPMorgan Chase Bank CA4/2

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

RAUL MUNOZ ULLOA,

Plaintiff and Appellant, G047232

v. (Super. Ct. No. 30-2011-00456923)

JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A. et al., OPINION

Defendants and Respondents.

Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, James Di Cesare, Judge. Affirmed. Raul Munoz Ulloa, in pro. per., for Plaintiff and Appellant. AlvaradoSmith, Theodore E. Bacon and Mikel A. Glavinovich for Defendants and Respondents. * * *

Raul Munoz Ulloa filed this action against various entities associated with a loan he obtained in 2006 to buy a Santa Ana apartment building. All but one of his claims were winnowed out in a sustained demurrer, and the remaining cause of action was then the subject of a successful motion for summary judgment. Ulloa has now appealed from the ensuing judgment. Much of his appeal centers on the legal authority of the trial judge to dismiss his claims prior to a jury trial. As we explain below, the trial judge acted within his legal authority and acted correctly. We affirm. FACTS In April 2006, Ulloa purchased an apartment building on Broadway in Santa Ana, borrowing $640,000 from Alliance Bancorp. Thereafter the loan was transferred to JP Morgan Chase Bank (hereafter, Chase). Sometime prior to December 2008 Ulloa stopped making regular payments, and a foreclosure sale was set for March 16, 2011. Ulloa was unable to obtain a loan modification, but five days before the scheduled sale, on March 11, 2011, he filed this action against Chase and a group of other entities related to the servicing of his mortgage. Ulloa obtained a temporary restraining order, but the restraining order was dissolved when the trial court denied his request for a preliminary injunction on July 1. According to respondent‟s brief, the property remains unsold to this day. Ulloa‟s complaint alleged these causes of action: (1) intentional fraud; (2) violation of section 2923.5 of the Civil Code; (3) declaratory relief; (4) intentional infliction of emotional distress; (5) promissory note; and (6) unfair competition. Chase and the other defendants demurred to all these causes of action. The trial court sustained the demurrer to all the causes of action except the one for violation of Civil Code section 2923.5. A summary judgment motion followed. The motion was supported by the declaration of Carlos Barrios, a senior loan research specialist at Chase. Barrios‟ declaration recounted that Chase‟s business records showed that in the period October through November 2008, Ulloa applied for a loan modification, and representatives of