Youkhna v. America's Wholesale Lender CA2/4

Filed 10/9/13 Youkhna v. America’s Wholesale Lender CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FOUR

B244068 SARGON YOUKHNA, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. ES056859) Plaintiff and Appellant,

v.

AMERICA’S WHOLESALE LENDER et al.,

Defendants and Respondents.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles, Laura A. Matz, Judge. Affirmed. Sargon Youkhna, in pro. per., for Plaintiff and Appellant. McGuire Woods, Leslie M. Werlin and Lila Y. Al-Marhoon for Defendants and Respondents.

Appellant Sargon Youkhna contends the trial court abused its discretion in sustaining a demurrer to three of the claims asserted in his complaint without leave to amend. We find no error and therefore affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND A. Underlying Complaint In October 2011, appellant, acting in pro per, filed a complaint against America’s Wholesale Lender (AWL), ReconTrust Company, N.A. (ReconTrust), “Countrywide Bank,” “Bank of America Home Loans,” and “MERS, Inc.”1 Respondents filed a demurrer. While it was pending, appellant substituted a first amended complaint (FAC). The FAC lacked coherence and organization, making summarization of its claims difficult. The claims apparently arose out of appellant’s February 2006 purchase of a residential property in La Canada-Flintridge financed by AWL, in whose favor appellant executed a promissory note secured by a deed of trust.2

1 Respondents explained that (1) AWL is or was a trade name for Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. (Countrywide); (2) in 2009, Countrywide Bank was merged into Bank of America, N.A. (Bank of America); (3) to their knowledge, there is no entity called “Bank of America Home Loans,” although there is a “BAC Home Loans Servicing, L.P.,” which merged into Bank of America in 2011; (4) the full name of the entity sued as “MERS, Inc.” (MERS) is “Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc.” AWL/Countrywide, Bank of America, MERS, and ReconTrust appeared in the underlying action as defendants and filed a joint respondents’ brief herein. 2 Attached as an exhibit to the FAC was a deed of trust describing appellant as the “borrower” and the “owner” of the subject property, AWL as the “[l]ender,” ReconTrust as the “[t]rustee,” and MERS as “a nominee for Lender and Lender’s successors and assigns” and as “the beneficiary under this Security Instrument.” The deed of trust stated that appellant owed $693,000 to AWL and that the obligation was evidenced by a promissory note. According to the terms of the deed of trust, “Borrower [appellant] understands and agrees that MERS holds only legal title to the interest granted by Borrower in this Security Instrument, but if necessary to comply with law or custom, (Fn. continued on next page.)