Court Denies Bank Default Judgement and Appointment of Referee

September 28, 2015 By Elliot S. Schlissel

Homeowners had originally taken out mortgage with Countrywide Mortgage Company. Countrywide assigned the mortgage to Bank of New York Mellon. Bank of New York Mellon brought a foreclosure lawsuit in Kings County, New York. The foreclosure proceeding was based on the fact the homeowners had failed to make their payments pursuant to the terms of the mortgage.

Non-Party to the Lawsuit Opposes Foreclosure

Rivera, claiming he was not a defendant or a party to the lawsuit but nevertheless an interested party based on his ownership of Ozone Park Management, submitted an affidavit opposing Bank of New York Mellon’s application for a default judgment and appointment of a referee. Justice Francois Rivera sitting in the Supreme Court Part in Kings County which deals with foreclosure lawsuits, found Rivera, a non-party to the lawsuit, had failed to bring a cross-petition for leave to intervene in the case. Since he was not a party to the lawsuit and didn’t intervene in the litigation, his affidavit in opposition to Bank of New York Mellon’s motion could not be considered by the court.

Court Denies The Bank’s Motion

Justice Rivera found the Complaint in the lawsuit was verified by the attorney for the bank. Since it was not verified by a bank officer with knowledge of the transaction, the affidavit of the attorney did not meet statutory requirements. In addition, an affidavit of merit which was submitted from Ussery, an individual representing New Penn Financial, the servicing agent, also did not provide information with regard to what relationship this entity had with Bank of New York Mellon. In addition, the court found the moving papers did not provide documentary evidence showing New Penn Financial even had the authority to make a presentation on behalf of Bank of New York Mellon. Based on the aforementioned, Justice Rivera denied the application for a default judgment and the appointment of a referee brought by the bank.

Conclusion

If you hire a foreclosure defense attorney who digs deep enough, they sometimes find mistakes, omissions, failures to provide appropriate information and other defenses which can be utilized to cause the foreclosure lawsuit to be dismissed.