DLJ Mortgage Capital, Inc. v. Neal Antonio Stevens

Summary

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed summary judgment and mortgage reformation in favor of DLJ Mortgage Capital, Inc. The court held that the heirs forfeited affirmative defenses by failing to raise them in opposition to summary judgment, even though they had pleaded those defenses in their answer. The court also held that the District Court did not clearly err in finding a mutual mistake warranting reformation of the mortgage to include an omitted property plot.

Holdings

1. A party's failure to raise a defense in opposition to summary judgment forfeits that defense, even if the party previously pleaded it in an answer. The party generally may not renew the forfeited defense on appeal.
2. The District Court did not clearly err in finding a mutual mistake and reforming the mortgage to include plot 20-BC.
3. The heirs did not establish that the mortgage's adhesive nature made enforcement or reformation inequitable; an adhesive contract is not unconscionable merely because it is adhesive.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the heirs forfeited affirmative defenses and other arguments by failing to raise or develop them in opposition to DLJ's motion for summary judgment, despite having listed some of them in their answer.
2. Whether the District Court clearly erred in finding a mutual mistake warranting reformation of the mortgage to include plot 20-BC.
3. Whether the adhesive nature of the mortgage made reformation or enforcement inequitable.

Disposition

affirmed