Bank of America v. Buenzli CA3

BACKGROUND

The Bank filed a complaint against Buenzli on April 20, 2023. A copy of the complaint is not in the appellate record.

1 Buenzli filed an answer on August 25, 2023. The answer included a document titled “Affidavit of Truth” dated July 28, 2023, but the purported affidavit did not contain an affirmation or declaration under penalty of perjury. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2003 [an affidavit is a written declaration under oath]; Evid. Code, § 165 [an oath includes an affirmation or declaration under penalty of perjury].) The purported affidavit stated that on November 2, 2022, Buenzli sent the Bank a coupon for $25,735.30 as payment from Buenzli’s trust, the Bank kept the coupon, and the Bank was required to accept the payment under “HJR 192 of 1933 and 15 USC 1992 A-K.”1 A copy of a November 2, 2022 letter from Buenzli to the Bank regarding an account ending in 9209 was attached to the answer. In that letter, Buenzli acknowledged he had received statements from the Bank and had sent the Bank payments by check or electronic fund transfer over the years, but he claimed there was a trust, with Buenzli as beneficiary and the Bank as trustee, that existed to pay his debts. He accused…