Clarence Owens v. Robertson Anschutz Schneid Crane & Partners PLLC

── Clarence Owens v. Robertson Anschutz Schneid Crane & Partners PLLC ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Date: May 29, 2026 Category: General NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ___________ No. 25-1747 __________ CLARENCE L. OWENS; FRANCES ROGERS, Appellants v. ROBERTSON ANSCHUTZ SCHNEID CRANE & PARTNERS PLLC; JOHN KUNDRAT; DUANE MORRIS LLP; BRETT L. MESSINGER; BRIAN J. SLIPAKOFF; ONITY GROUP INC, f/k/a Ocwen Financial Corporation; PHH MORTGAGE CORP., a/k/a PHH Mortgage; NEWREZ LLC; U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION; NEW RESIDENTIAL INVESTMENT CORP. ___________________________________ On Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (D.C. Civil Action No. 1:24-cv-07142) District Judge: Honorable Karen M. Williams ____________________________________ Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) May 1, 2026 Before: KRAUSE, RESTREPO, and PORTER, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed May 29, 2026) ___________ OPINION* ___________ * This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. PER CURIAM Clarence Owens and Frances Rogers (“Rogers”) appeal pro se from an order of the District Court dismissing their civil complaint. For the following reasons, we will affirm in part, and vacate in part, the District Court’s judgment. On November 28, 2006, Roger’s late husband, Thomas U. Rogers, executed and delivered a promissory note to New Century Mortgage Corporation (“New Century”) in the amount of $190,800 (“the note”), secured by a mortgage (“the mortgage”) executed the same day by Thomas and Frances Rogers in favor of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (“MERS”), as nominee for New Century, its successors, and assigns. The Mortgage, which granted a first priority mortgage on the Rogers’ property located at 11 Stafford Lane, Willingboro, New Jersey (“the property”), was recorded. The note and mortgage were purportedly placed in a securitized trust (the “GSAMP Trust”), and assigned or sold multiple times thereafter, from MERS to Bank of America, National Association (BOA), to U.S. Bank National Association (“U.S. Bank”), which claims to be the current holder of the note. Since 2009, when Thomas Rogers purportedly defaulted on the loan, the property has been the subject of two foreclosure actions in New Jersey Superior Court. The first, filed that same year by BOA, as the purported Trustee of the GSAMP Trust, was voluntarily dismissed in 2013. While that matter was pending, in 2012, Rogers filed a 99-page complaint in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey against BOA, the GSAMP Trust, and others, alleging a “deliberate racketeering mortgage related scheme to illegally 2 foreclose on [her].” D.N.J. Civ. No. 1:12-cv-07910, ECF 1 at 5 (“Rogers I”).1 The District Court gave Rogers several opportunities to amend the complaint, and ultimately dismissed her fourth amended complaint with prejudice pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e) and under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8, for failing to provide a short and plain statement for relief. Rogers’ appeal was dismissed as untimely. In 2015, U.S. Bank filed the s