In this foreclosure litigation, the former property owners claimed that the bank assured them until the last moment that their application for loan modification was under review and their home would not be sold at foreclosure. Slip op. at 1-2. Three days prior to foreclosure, the bank changed tack and proceeded with the sale. Id. at 2. The bank submitted the deed of trust with its Rule 12(b)(6) motion and the District Court concluded it could consider the document inasmuch as it was central to the property owners’ claims and referenced in the complaint, and could be judicially noticed since it was a public record. Id. at 3-4. Based on the deed of trust, the District Court concluded that the statute of frauds barred the property owners’ promissory estoppel claim. Id. at 4-6. And dismissal of that claim compelled the dismissal of the wrongful foreclosure and declaratory judgment claims, which were derivative of the promissory estoppel claim. Id. at 6-8.
