The New York Appellate Division, Second Department, recently decided a novel issue which may serve as a lifeline for lenders facing the expiration of the statute of limitations in mortgage foreclosure actions.
In Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., v. Eitani (No. 2014-09426, 2017 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1014; 2017 NY Slip Op 0101015, 2d Dep’t Feb. 8, 2017), the Second Department, in a 3-2 decision, held that an assignee of a note and mortgage is entitled under certain circumstances to invoke the six-month extension of the statute of limitations provided by CPLR 205(a), New York’s “Savings Statute”, even though the prior action was commenced by a prior holder of the same instruments.
In November 2005, Argent Mortgage Company LLC filed a foreclosure complaint in Supreme Court, Kings County, after the borrower-defendant Doron Eitani defaulted on his mortgage. Eitani did not answer the complaint and, in June 2008, the trial court entered an order of reference based upon his default.
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