Guillermo Luna v. U.S. Bank National Association ( 2020 )


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  •                  United States Court of Appeals
    For the Eighth Circuit
    ___________________________
    No. 19-3309
    ___________________________
    Guillermo Luna; Lourdes Diana Luna
    lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiffs - Appellants
    v.
    U.S. Bank National Association as Trustee, for LSF9 Master Participation Trust
    lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellee
    Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC; Millsap & Singer, P.C.; Substitute Trustee Corporation
    lllllllllllllllllllllDefendants
    ____________
    Appeal from United States District Court
    for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City
    ____________
    Submitted: September 14, 2020
    Filed: September 17, 2020
    [Unpublished]
    ____________
    Before GRUENDER, WOLLMAN, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges.
    ____________
    PER CURIAM.
    Guillermo and Lourdes Luna appeal the district court’s1 adverse entry of
    summary judgment in their diversity action, which sought to set aside the foreclosure
    sale of their property for failure to comply with the Due Process Clause of the
    Fourteenth Amendment. Upon de novo review, see Smith v. Toyota Motor Corp.,
    
    964 F.3d 725
    , 728 (8th Cir. 2020) (standard of review), we affirm. We agree that the
    extrajudicial foreclosure sale did not involve state action and thus was not required
    to satisfy the Due Process Clause. See Mildfelt v. Cir. Ct. of Jackson Cty., 
    827 F.2d 343
    , 346 (8th Cir. 1987) (per curiam) (under Missouri law, there is no significant
    state involvement in conduct of trustee’s sale, which is undertaken pursuant to
    contractual right, and thus no state action); Fed. Nat’l Mortg. Ass’n v. Howlett, 
    521 S.W.2d 428
    , 433, 439 (Mo. 1975) (en banc) (extrajudicial foreclosure process derives
    from contractual right of power of sale provision in deed of trust, and does not
    involve sufficient state action to implicate Due Process Clause). We also agree that
    the foreclosure sale notice sent to the Lunas complied with Missouri law. See Mo.
    Rev. Stat. § 443.325.3 (foreclosing trustee shall, not less than 20 days prior to sale
    date, deposit notice in certified mail addressed to mortgagor at his last known
    address; actual receipt by mortgagor shall not be necessary to establish compliance);
    Woolsey v. Bank of Versailles, 
    951 S.W.2d 662
    , 667 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997) (§ 443.325
    requires only that notice be mailed to last address of mortgagor known to mortgagee;
    mortgagor’s failure to receive foreclosure notice will not condemn foreclosure sale).
    The judgment is affirmed. See 8th Cir. R. 47B.
    ______________________________
    1
    The Honorable Gary A. Fenner, United States District Judge for the Western
    District of Missouri.
    -2-