One W. Bank, FSB v. Rosenberg

• Decision Date: 30 December 2020
• Docket Number: Index No. 11515/09,2017–03089
• Parties: ONE WEST BANK, FSB, appellant, v. Susan ROSENBERG, respondent, et al., defendants.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

189 A.D.3d 1600

140 N.Y.S.3d 86

ONE WEST BANK, FSB, appellant,

v.Susan ROSENBERG, respondent, et al., defendants.

2017–03089

Index No. 11515/09

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York.

Submitted—December 5, 2019

December 30, 2020

McCabe, Weisberg & Conway, LLC, New Rochelle, NY (Allison J. Sanders of counsel), for appellant.

MARK C. DILLON, J.P., JEFFREY A. COHEN, COLLEEN D. DUFFY, FRANCESCA E. CONNOLLY, JJ.

DECISION & ORDER

In an action to foreclose a mortgage, the plaintiff appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Rockland County (Victor J. Alfieri, Jr., J.), dated November 7, 2016. The order denied the plaintiff's motion, in effect, to restore the case to the calendar and, upon restoration, for summary judgment on the complaint and for an order of reference.

ORDERED that the order is reversed, on the law, without costs or disbursements, and the plaintiff's motion, in effect, to restore the case to the calendar, and, upon restoration, for summary judgment on the complaint and for an order of reference is granted.

In May 1998, the defendant Susan Rosenberg (hereinafter the defendant) executed a note that was secured by a mortgage on residential property located in Wesley Hills. In 2009, the plaintiff, alleging, inter alia, that it was the successor in interest to the lender, commenced this action against the defendant, among others, to foreclose the mortgage. The defendant interposed an answer, but did not raise standing as an affirmative defense. In August 2012, the plaintiff moved, inter alia, for summary judgment on the complaint insofar as asserted against the defendant, to strike the defendant's answer, and for an order of reference. In an order dated January 10, 2013, the Supreme Court denied the motion on the ground that the plaintiff failed to demonstrate, prima facie, that it had standing to commence the action. In February 2015, the court scheduled a status conference on the case, but the plaintiff failed to appear and the case was marked off the calendar. In May 2015, the plaintiff moved, in effect, to restore the case to the calendar and, upon restoration, for summary judgment on the complaint and for an order of reference. The defendant opposed the motion. The court denied the plaintiff's motion on the grounds that it had failed to rebut the presumption of abandonment of the case, and that the plaintiff's excuse of law office failure was not reasonable. The plaintiff appeals.

CPLR 3404 provides, in pertinent part, that "[a] case in the supreme court or a county court marked ‘off’ or struck from the calendar or unanswered on a clerk's calendar call, and not restored within one year thereafter, shall be deemed abandoned and shall be dismissed without costs for neglect to prosecute."

Significantly, marking a case off the calendar is not the same as dismissing the case outright; the automatic dismissal of CPLR 3404 does not occur until one year after the case has been marked off the calendar (see Basetti v. Nour, 287 A.D.2d 126, 134, 731 N.Y.S.2d 35 ). If a court marks the case off the calendar, the plaintiff has one year within which to restore the action to the calendar without any obstacles (see id. at 134, 731 N.Y.S.2d 35 ). If the motion to restore is made within one year after the date the case was marked off the calendar, restoration is automatic (see Chambers v. City of New York, 111 A.D.3d 593, 974 N.Y.S.2d 119 ), and the plaintiff need not demonstrate a reasonable excuse, a potentially meritorious action, lack of intent to abandon the action, or a lack of prejudice to the defendants (see Plotkin v. J.J. Nazzaro Assocs., Ltd., 108 A.D.3d 757, 758, 970 N.Y.S.2d 253 ).

Here, since the plaintiff moved, in effect, to restore the action to the calendar only three months after the case had been marked off the calendar, the Supreme Court should have granted that branch of the plaintiff's motion. Upon restoration, the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment on the complaint and for an order of reference should have been granted.

The plaintiff established its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by submitting the mortgage, the unpaid note, and evidence of default through the affidavit of an officer of the...