Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Arias

• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division
• Citation: Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Arias, 2014 NY Slip Op 7148, 995 N.Y.S.2d 118, 121 A.D.3d 973 (N.Y. App. Div. 2014)
• Decision Date: 22 October 2014
• Docket Number: 2013-06378, Index No. 2586/11.
• Parties: WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A., etc., respondent, v. Jorge ARIAS, et al., appellants, et al., defendants.

121 A.D.3d 973

995 N.Y.S.2d 118

2014 N.Y. Slip Op. 07148

WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A., etc., respondent

v.Jorge ARIAS, et al., appellants, et al., defendants.

2013-06378, Index No. 2586/11.

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

Oct. 22, 2014.

John M. Schwarz, Jr., Chestnut Ridge, N.Y., for appellants.

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, New York, N.Y. (Jason Oliveri, Khardeen I. Shillingford, and Schuyler B. Kraus of counsel), for respondent.

WILLIAM F. MASTRO, J.P., CHERYL E. CHAMBERS, SANDRA L. SGROI, and HECTOR D. LaSALLE, JJ.

Opinion

In an action to foreclose a mortgage, the defendants Jorge Arias and Cynthia Conklin appeal, as limited by their brief, from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Rockland County (Loehr, J.), entered April 24, 2013, as granted that branch of the plaintiff's motion which was for summary judgment dismissing their affirmative defense of lack of standing.

ORDERED that the order is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs.

“Where, as here, a plaintiff's standing to commence a foreclosure action is placed in issue by the defendant, it is incumbent upon the plaintiff to prove its standing to be entitled to relief” (Citimortgage, Inc. v. Stosel, 89 A.D.3d 887, 888, 934 N.Y.S.2d 182 ). Here, the plaintiff met its prima facie burden of establishing its entitlement to judgment as a matter of law dismissing the appellants' affirmative defense of lack of standing by submitting the affidavit of James Brantley, a vice president for the plaintiff's loan servicer, who stated that he had examined the records of the servicer and that of the plaintiff and determined that the subject note was delivered...