Lenny Acevedo, Appellant v. Federal National Mortgage Association a/k/a Fannie Mae, Appellee (2017)

MEMORANDUM OPINION

This is an appeal from the judgment of the county court-at-law of Travis County in a forcible-detainer suit. Appellant is Lenny Acevedo, appearing pro se, and appellee is Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae). After a hearing, the court rendered judgment that Fannie Mae was entitled to possession of the premises at 1108 Fox Sparrow Cove in Pflugerville, (the Property). This Court will affirm the judgment.

Acevedo purchased the Property in 2003. The purchase was financed by a note and secured by a deed of trust. Section 22 of the deed of trust provides in part:

If the property is sold pursuant to this paragraph 22, Borrower or any person holding possession of the Property through Borrower shall immediately surrender possession of the Property to the purchaser at that sale. If possession is not surrendered, Borrower or such person shall be a tenant at sufferance and may be removed by writ of possession or other court proceeding.

When Acevedo failed to make his mortgage payments, foreclosure proceedings were commenced, and Fannie Mae purchased the Property at the foreclosure sale on April 5, 2011.

After Acevedo refused to yield possession in response to a notice to vacate, Fannie Mae filed a forcible-detainer suit in 2011. Then Acevedo, through John Rady, filed suit in the district court of Travis County challenging the foreclosure. The justice court abated the forcible-detainer action, presumably pending the resolution of the district court suit. After an adverse judgment in district court, Rady perfected an appeal to this Court. He dismissed that appeal in 2014. Rady's litigation prevented Fannie Mae from obtaining possession of the Property for several years.

Fannie Mae filed several forcible-detainer suits The last of such suits, filed on December 11, 2014, culminated in the judgment of the justice court on January 8, 2015, “dismissing” Fannie Mae's suit “with prejudice” on the basis that the suit was barred by the two-year statute of limitations. Fannie Mae appealed from that judgment to the county court-at-law of Travis County. After a bench trial, the court rendered judgment awarding Fannie Mae possession of the Property.

In his brief to this Court, Acevedo asserts that Fannie Mae's claim was barred two years from the date Fannie Mae first sent him notice to vacate in 2011. Acevedo's position is contrary to the determinations of this and other courts of appeals—that a forcible-detainer action accrues each time a person refuses to surrender possession of real property after receiving written notification to vacate from one who is entitled to possession. Montenegro v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., No. 03-13-00123-CV, 2015 WL 3543055, at *4 (Tex. App.—Austin June 3, 2015, pet. dism'd) (mem. op.); Massaad v. Wells Fargo Bank, Nat'l Ass'n, No. 03-14-00202-CV, 2015 WL 410514, at *1 (Tex. App.—Austin Jan. 30, 2015, no pet.) (mem. op.); see Federal Home Loan Mortg. Corp. v. Trinh Pham, 449 S.W.3d 230, 235–36 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2014, no pet.); Puentes v. Fannie Mae, 350 S.W.3d 732, 739 (Tex. App—El Paso 2011, pet dism'd w.o.j.).

Accordingly, in the case at bar, a new limitations period began to run as a result of Fannie Mae's notice to vacate of November 12, 2014. Its suit for forcible detainer, filed a few weeks later, was well within the two-year limitations period.

The judgment is affirmed.

Affirmed

Bob E. Shannon, Justice