ABSENT NOTE ACCELERATION, TIME BAR DIDN’T APPLY
In 2018, when a foreclosure action was brought against him, BM alleged that the case was barred by the governing statute of limitations, because the lender had failed to bring the case within a 6-year period. Apparently, a prior foreclosure case was commenced back in 2009, and that proceeding was alleged to have triggered the statute and thus precluded the subsequent litigation. When the Nassau County Supreme Court agreed and dismissed the 2018 foreclosure, an appeal followed.
Upon its review of the record, the Appellate Division, Second Department, noted that the 6-year statute of limitations provided by New York State law didn’t apply until such time as the noteholder accelerated the entire debt. Since the 2009 complaint hadn’t been provided, and it was unclear whether acceleration had been sought in that earlier instance, the AD2 thought the court below had erred when it concluded, “as a matter of law, that the instant action was time-barred,” and the underlying determination was thus reversed.
Will the parties now accelerate that?
# #
DECISION