Accredited Home Lenders, Inc. v. Hughes

22 Misc. 3d 323
New York Supreme Court·Decided November 5, 2008·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

James P. Dawson, J.

The court is asked to resolve the plaintiffs motion for summary judgment and other relief in this mortgage foreclosure action. The defendant Anita Hughes borrowed $112,000 from the plaintiffs predecessor, which was secured by a mortgage granted by her and the defendant James Hughes on real property in the Town of Keene, Essex County. The Hugheses defaulted under the note and mortgage and this foreclosure action resulted. The Hugheses submitted an answer with general denials and two affirmative defenses, the first based upon failure to state a claim and the second based upon an alleged failure to comply with the federal Truth in Lending Act (TILA) (15 USC § 1601 et seq.) and accompanying regulations.

The plaintiff now moves for summary judgment. The Hugheses oppose the motion, arguing that the mortgage in question is a nontraditional home loan requiring a settlement conference and that further discovery is needed regarding the alleged TILA violations. The plaintiff responds in various respects.

The plaintiffs motion is granted in part. Initially, the plaintiff seeks to replace the Doe defendants with two parties who reside at the real property in question. Given the lack of opposition, such is granted.

The next issue is whether summary judgment is appropriate.

“The case law makes clear that where a mortgagee produces the mortgage and unpaid note, together with evidence of the mortgagor’s default, the mortgagee demonstrates its entitlement to a judgment of foreclosure as a matter of law, thereby shifting the burden to the mortgagor to assert and demonstrate, by competent and admissible evidence, any defense that could properly raise a question of fact as to his or her default” (United Cos. Lending Corp. v Hingos, 283 AD2d 764, 765 [2001]).

The plaintiff produced all of the required information, shifting the burden to the Hugheses to raise a question of fact as to their default.

[325]*325The first affirmative defense is simply boilerplate, lacks merit and is dismissed (see LaSalle Bank N.A. v Kosarovich, 31 AD3d 904, 906 [2006]). The second affirmative defense alleges various violations of TILA. The first alleged violation is that the plaintiff failed to provide two copies of the notice of the right to rescind, but the plaintiff provided the Hugheses’ own acknowledgments that they received two copies of such and the Hugheses fail to raise a question of fact in that regard. To the extent the second affirmative defense deals with such, it is dismissed. The second alleged violation is that the plaintiff failed to make all material disclosures as required by TILA and accompanying regulations. Notably absent from the plaintiffs motion papers are copies of the required disclosures and the Hugheses state that, although they may have copies, such are currently inaccessible due to family and medical issues. The Hugheses are entitled to copies of those documents to discover whether a question of fact exists regarding the second affirmative defense (see CPLR 3212 [f]). The documents have actually been provided by the plaintiff as part of its reply papers on this motion.

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Accredited Home Lenders, Inc. v. Hughes, 22 Misc. 3d 323 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2008).

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