Collins v. Bank of America

NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER

Electronically Filed
Intermediate Court of Appeals
CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX
23-JUL-2024
07:53 AM
Dkt. 78 SO

NO. CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX

IN THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS

OF THE STATE OF HAWAI#I

GABI KIM COLLINS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BANK OF AMERICA, N.A.;
PUU HELEAKALA COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, Defendants-Appellees,
and
JOHN DOES 1-50; JANE DOES 1-50; DOE PARTNERSHIPS 1-50; DOE
CORPORATIONS 1-50; DOE ENTITIES 1-50; and DOE
GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES 1-50, Defendants

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIRST CIRCUIT
(CASE NO. 1CC161000595)

SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER
(By: Leonard, Acting Chief Judge, Hiraoka and Wadsworth, JJ.)

Self-represented Plaintiff-Appellant Gabi Kim Collins
appeals from the Final Judgment for Defendant-Appellee Bank of
America, N.A. (BANA) entered by the Circuit Court of the First
Circuit on January 14, 2020.1 Collins challenges the circuit
court's (1) order granting BANA's motion for judgment on the
pleadings (MJOP) and (2) failure to take judicial notice.2 We
affirm.

1
The Honorable John M. Tonaki presided.
2
Collins appears to also seek some ambiguous relief against Puu
Heleakala Community Association. The circuit court entered a Hawai#i Rules of
Civil Procedure (HRCP) Rule 54(b)-certified final judgment in favor of the
Association on March 24, 2017. Collins did not timely appeal from that
judgment. We lack jurisdiction over any relief Collins may seek against the
Association in this appeal.
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER

(1) We review the order granting BANA's MJOP de novo.
Adkins v. Fischer, 152 Hawai#i 79, 85, 520 P.3d 277, 283 (App.
2022). We view the facts alleged in Collins's complaint, and the
inferences to be drawn from them, in the light most favorable to
Collins. Id. But we are not required to accept conclusory
allegations on the legal effect of the events alleged. See
Kealoha v. Machado, 131 Hawai#i 62, 74, 315 P.3d 213, 225 (2013)
(concerning HRCP Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss).
Collins argues that the circuit court erred by not
converting BANA's MJOP to one for summary judgment. The MJOP
included a number of exhibits: the docket sheet and documents
filed in BANA's Foreclosure Action against Thomas Webb, About
Time Acquisitions LLC, and the Association; Collins's notice of
appeal from the Foreclosure Action; and our Summary Disposition
Order in Bank of Am., N.A. v. Webb, No. CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX, 2019 WL
1785047 (Haw. App. Apr. 24, 2019) (SDO), which partially vacated
the writ of possession in the Foreclosure Action. Those court
records could be judicially noticed without converting the MJOP
into a motion for summary judgment. Guity v. State, 153 Hawai#i
368, 372, 538 P.3d 780, 784 (App. 2023).
Collins's complaint collaterally attacked BANA's
Foreclosure Action. It alleged that BANA violated Hawaii Revised
Statutes (HRS) Chapter 480, the federal Fair Debt Collection
Practices Act, and "HRCP Rule [sic] 17(a) and 19(a)[.]" It
sought to vacate the foreclosure sale and to "[r]ecover
possession of the [foreclosed] property to Gabi Collins and to
recover the income belonging to Collins that was confiscated by
the Commissioner, and to reconfirm title in the name of Gabi
Collins."
In addition to the court records attached to BANA's
MJOP, we take judicial notice under Hawaii Rules of Evidence
(HRE) Rule 201 (2016) that BANA filed the Foreclosure Action on
April 12, 2012. Collins wasn't named as a defendant. Her
motions to intervene were denied. Webb, 2019 WL 1785047, at *2.
A judgment of foreclosure was entered on December 29, 2014. A

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NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER

judgment confirming the foreclosure sale was entered on April 28,
2016. No party to the Foreclosure Action appealed from the
judgment of foreclosure or the judgment confirming sale. Those
judgments are final and not subject to appeal.
BANA filed a lis pendens in the Foreclosure Action on
April 12, 2012. Collins acquired her interest in the Property
from About Time on November 26, 2014, subject to the lis pendens.
The lis pendens notified Collins that any interest she acquired
in the Property would be subject to the circuit court's decision.
Knauer v. Foote, 101 Hawai#i 81, 87, 63 P.3d 389, 395 (2003).
The lis pendens didn't prevent title from passing to Collins, but
caused Collins to take the property subject to any judgment
rendered in the Foreclosure Action against About Time.
S. Utsunomiya Enters., Inc. v. Moomuku Country Club, 75 Haw. 480,
502, 866 P.2d 951, 963 (1994). Accordingly, Collins's claims of
title to, and for possession of, the foreclosed property are
subject to the judgments in the Foreclosure Action. Those
judgments are final. They are binding on Collins.
Collins, as About Time's quit-claim grantee, is in
privity with About Time. She is precluded by the doctrine of
claim preclusion (res judicata) from relitigating any claim that
was, or could have been, litigated in the Foreclosure Action.
Bremer v. Weeks, 104 Hawai#i 43, 53-54, 85 P.3d 150, 160-61
(2004). She is precluded by the doctrine of issue preclusion
(collateral estoppel) from relitigating any issue that was
litigated and decided in the Foreclosure Action. Id.
Collins argues she should have been allowed to recover
possession of the foreclosed property because our Summary
Disposition Order vacated the writ of possession entered in the
Foreclosure Action. We only vacated the writ of possession "to
the extent that it names non-party Collins in her personal
capacity" because Collins was not a party to the Foreclosure
Action. Webb, 2019 WL 1785047, at *3. We otherwise dismissed
Collins's appeal; we did not rule that Collins had a right to
possess the foreclosed property.

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NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER

(2) Collins asked the circuit court to take judicial
notice of the oath of office taken by the presiding judge. Her
statement of the points on appeal identifies the circuit court's
"failure to address mandatory judicial notice." But she presents
no argument on the point. It is waived. Hawai#i Rules of
Appellate Procedure Rule 28(b)(7) ("Points not argued may be
deemed waived.").
The circuit court did not err by granting BANA's MJOP.
The Final Judgment entered by the circuit court on January 14,
2020, is affirmed.
DATED: Honolulu, Hawai#i, July 23, 2024.
On the briefs:
/s/ Katherine G. Leonard
Gabi Kim Collins, Acting Chief Judge
Self-represented
Plaintiff-Appellant. /s/ Keith K. Hiraoka
Associate Judge
Ronald I. Heller,
for Defendant-Appellee /s/ Clyde J. Wadsworth
Puu Heleakala Community Associate Judge
Association.

Patricia J. McHenry,
for Defendant-Appellee
Bank of America, N.A.

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