WAITED TOO LONG TO RECOMMENCE CASE
Back in 2008, PG took out a mortgage on his Bellmore property. The following year (2009), based on purported defaults, the bank started foreclosure proceedings against PG but ended up dropping that case in 2010.
In 2015, the lender sent a letter reversing the acceleration of the mortgage debt, and in 2016, a new foreclosure action was filed with the Nassau County Supreme Court.
When the bank later sought a pre-trial win in its favor (via a motion for summary judgment), PG argued that the new proceeding was untimely and barred by New York’s statute of limitations because the litigation had been brought more than six years after the mortgage had been previously accelerated. And after the Nassau County Supreme Court sided with PG and dismissed the case, an appeal ensued.
Because the Appellate Division, Second Department, agreed that the clock started back in 2009, when the first foreclosure action was filed, and thought the lender's 2015 letter did not reset or toll the statute of limitations, the dismissal was affirmed.
Do you think this case met an untimely demise?
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DECISION