Baehr v. Creig Northrop Team, P.C.

Baehr v. Creig Northrop Team, P.C.

Opinion

 [*247]  KING, Circuit Judge:

This appeal arises from a purported kickback scheme orchestrated by the defendants, The Creig Northrop Team, P.C., Creighton Northrop, III (the "Northrop Defendants"), the Lakeview Title Company, Inc., and Lindell Eagan (the [**2]  "Lakeview Defendants"). Homeowners Christine and Patrick Baehr (the "Baehrs"), as representatives of the putative class of plaintiffs, specify in their operative single-count complaint that the kickback scheme, in which the Lakeview Defendants paid the Northrop Defendants for marketing services that were actually illegal business referrals, deprived them and the other class members of "impartial and fair competition between settlement service[s] providers," in contravention of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ("RESPA"), 12 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq. See Baehr v. The Creig Northrop Team, P.C., No. 1:13-cv-00933, at ¶¶ 23, 41-47 (D. Md. Aug. 15, 2014), ECF No. 89 (the "Operative Complaint").

After conducting discovery, the Northrop and Lakeview Defendants jointly moved for summary judgment, arguing, inter alia, that the Baehrs had not established that they possessed Article III standing to sue. The district court thereafter awarded summary judgment to the defendants on that ground. More specifically, the court reasoned that the Baehrs had not suffered a concrete injury, and thus could not establish the necessary injury-in-fact for standing. See Baehr v. The Creig Northrop Team, P.C., No. 1:13-cv-00933, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 206721, slip op. at 21-22 (D. Md. Dec. 7, 2018) [**3] , ECF No. 244 (the "Summary Judgment Opinion"). Alternatively, the Summary Judgment Opinion barred the Baehrs's claim under RESPA's statute of limitations based on their failure to establish that the claim was equitably tolled. 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 206721, [slip op.]  [*248]  at 29. As explained below, we agree that the Baehrs lack standing to sue. Because ] a federal court cannot exercise jurisdiction in the absence of standing, we vacate and remand for dismissal of this case. See Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Env't, 523 U.S. 83, 94, 102, 118 S. Ct. 1003, 140 L. Ed. 2d 210 (1998) (recognizing that standing "is part of the common understanding of what it takes to make a justiciable case" and that when jurisdiction does not exist, "the only function remaining to the court is that of announcing the fact and dismissing the cause" (internal quotation marks omitted)).

In July 2008, the Baehrs purchased a home in Glenwood, Maryland (the "Glenwood home").¹ They hired Maija Dykstra, a real estate agent who was a member of The Creig Northrop Team, P.C. ("The Northrop Team"), to represent them as buyers. The Northrop Team is comprised of real estate agents who independently provide real estate brokerage services under the brokerage license of Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc.² Creighton Northrop, III, a real estate agent, is the President of The Northrop Team. As President of The Northrop Team, Northrop splits real estate commissions with the other real estate agents who are independent-contractor members of the Team.

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