In a case before Justice Robert Quinlan, who sits in Suffolk County Supreme Court, a foreclosure lawsuit was brought by Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, as trustee. The action was to foreclose a mortgage on a residential property. Certain affirmative defenses in the homeowner’s answer to the bank’s complaint were dismissed by Judge Quinlan. However, Judge Quinlan did not grant the bank a full summary judgment decision striking defendant’s answer. He set the action down for a limited trial on plaintiff’s proof of defendant’s default in payment; its standing to bring the action; its proof of mailing of the notice of default required by the mortgage; and the sufficiency of the notices required under Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law Section 1304 (which involves the notice of foreclosure proceeding being brought) as well as the proof of their mailings.

The Homeowner’s Defense

The homeowners’ motion to dismiss claimed the bank could not establish the mailing of the notices under Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law Section 1304. Judge Quinlan found the homeowner’s arguments that they did not receive the notices was not sufficient to have the case dismissed. He found all the bank’s lawyers had to do was to establish the notices were mailed.

Conclusion

This is a very bad decision. The purpose of mailing is to give the homeowner the pre-foreclosure notice. If the homeowner never received the notice, there was no communication and the statutory intent behind giving the homeowner notice has not been met. In this case there are still issues to be dealt with at trial. However, I disagree with the Judge’s decision with regard to adequacy of an affidavit of mailing being sufficient with regard to the pre-foreclosure notice by the bank’s attorneys.

Elliot S. Schlissel, Esq. is a foreclosure lawyer. He has been defending homeowners throughout the Metropolitan New York area for more than 45 years. He can be reached for a free consultation at 800-344-6431 or e-mailed at Elliot@sdnylaw.com.