Johansen

BACKGROUND

In 2005, Johansen took out a loan for $260,000 and signed a deed of trust on her home to secure the loan. Sometime later, after Johansen fell behind on her loan payments, she and her loan servicer agreed to a loan modification. Sometime later still, after she again fell behind on her loan payments, she sought a second loan modification from her loan servicer. But she never obtained the loan modification that she believed was appropriate. In 2018, Johansen sued Bayview, which was her loan servicer at the time, and several other entities. Among other things, she alleged that Bayview threatened to foreclose on her home unless she signed a loan modification agreement that artificially inflated the amount of her loan and that Bayview, in violation of Civil Code section 2923.7, “failed to assign to [her] a designated [single point of contact] to assist her through the loan modification process.” (See Civ. Code, § 2923.7, subd. (a) [“When a borrower requests a foreclosure prevention alternative, the mortgage servicer shall promptly establish a single point of contact and provide to the borrower one or more direct means of communication with the single point of contact.”].)…