First Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Jenkins

109 Misc. 2d 715, 441 N.Y.S.2d 373, 1981 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2458
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 17, 1981
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 109 Misc. 2d 715 (First Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Jenkins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
First Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Jenkins, 109 Misc. 2d 715, 441 N.Y.S.2d 373, 1981 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2458 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1981).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Frederick B. Bryant, J.

The plaintiff has moved pursuant to CPLR 3212 for an order striking defendants’ answers and directing the entry of summary judgment for plaintiff in this action to foreclose its mortgage executed by the defendants Albert J. Jenkins and Pamela Jenkins.

The plaintiff, First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Rochester (hereafter sometimes referred to as lender) is a savings and loan corporation organized and existing under the laws of the United States of America. [716]*716The plaintiff brought this action to foreclose its mortgage on property designated by street number as 200 Pennsylvania Avenue, Ithaca, New York, executed by the defendants Albert J. Jenkins and Pamela L. Jenkins (hereafter Jenkins).

On May 12, 1978 the plaintiff loaned the defendants Jenkins $32,900. To secure this loan the Jenkins executed and delivered to plaintiff their note and mortgage bearing the same date in like amount and payable with interest on the unpaid principal at the rate of 8Y2% per annum in monthly installments of $264.93 on the first day of each month commencing on July 1, 1978, with the remaining indebtedness, if not sooner paid, to become due and payable on June 1, 2003. The mortgage recites that, “This is a purchase money mortgage”.

The mortgage contains in paragraph 17 a provision frequently referred to as a “due-on-sale clause”, reading as follows:

“17. Transfer of the Property; Assumption. If all or any part of the Property or an interest therein is sold or transferred by Borrower without Lender’s prior written consent, excluding (a) the creation of a lien or encumbrance subordinate to this Mortgage, (b) the creation of a purchase money security interest for household appliances, (c) a transfer by devise, descent or by operation of law upon the death of a joint tenant or (d) the grant of any leasehold interest of three years or less not containing an option to purchase, Lender may, at Lender’s option, declare all the sums secured by this Mortgage to be immediately due and payable. Lender shall have waived such option to accelerate if, prior to the sale or transfer, Lender and the person to whom the Property is to be sold or transferred reach agreement in writing that the credit of such person is satisfactory to Lender and that the interest payable on the sums secured by this Mortgage shall be at such rate as Lender shall request. If Lender has waived the option to accelerate provided in this paragraph 17, and if Borrower’s successor in interest has executed a written assumption agreement accepted in writing by Lender, Lender shall release Borrower from all obligations under this Mortgage and the Note.
[717]*717“If Lender exercises such option to accelerate, Lender shall mail Borrower notice of acceleration in accordance with paragraph 14 hereof. Such notice shall provide a period of not less than 30 days from the date the notice is mailed within which Borrower may pay the sums declared due. If Borrower fails to pay such sums prior to the expiration of such period, Lender may, without further notice or demand on Borrower, invoke any remedies permitted by paragraph 18 hereof.”

In its complaint plaintiff alleges in substance that the defendants Jenkins sold the mortgaged premises without the plaintiff’s prior written consent; that pursuant to said “due-on-sale” provision in said paragraph 17 the plaintiff elected to declare due the entire principal and interest of said note and mortgage, and there is now due and unpaid thereon the principal sum of $32,217.46 with interest thereon at the rate of 8/2% per annum from February 1, 1980.

The defendants Jenkins and Mooney have appeared by separate counsel and have served answers in which they deny, in substance, any defaults in complying with the terms and conditions of the note and mortgage. The defendants Jenkins also allege as affirmative defenses (1) that the plaintiff’s contract with them is unconscionable and that paragraph 17 of the mortgage which requires the written consent of the lender prior to sale of the mortgage premises or any part thereof “should not be enforced or so limited in its application as to avoid any unconscionable result” and (2) that “the contract set forth in the complaint is in restraint of trade, illegal, contrary to public policy and void”.

The defendants Richard J. Mooney and Maureen Gi Mooney (hereafter the Mooneys) also allege, in substance, as to two separate and complete affirmative defenses, (1) that the plaintiff has waived its right to accelerate the payment of the principal sum by failing to exercise its option in good faith by refusing to determine the credit standing of the defendants Mooney and (2) that the “due-on-sale clause” in paragraph 17 constitutes an illegal restraint upon the Jenkins’ right of alienation; that the financial status and credit rating of the Mooneys was and [718]*718is sound and secure and at all times equal to that of the Jenkins, and that no reasonable basis existed to refuse to allow the Mooneys to assume the mortgage indebtedness of the Jenkins; that the Mooneys offered to pay the plaintiff the maximum rate of interest permitted by law at the time of closing the transfer of the mortgaged property from Jenkins to Mooneys and that plaintiff’s desire to renegotiate for a higher interest rate on the mortgage is an insufficient basis upon which to deny assumption of the loan by the Mooneys and thus illegally restricts the rights of the defendants Jenkins to freely alienate their real property and the right of the Mooneys to freely assume the mortgage indebtedness on the transfer thereof.

The motion papers show that the Jenkins, the original mortgagors, conveyed the mortgaged premises to the Mooneys by deed dated December 21, 1979, subject to plaintiff’s mortgage and that the Mooneys assumed and agreed to pay as part of the purchase price of the premises the principal and interest of plaintiff’s note and mortgage.

Although the exact details are in some dispute, it is clear that prior to the conveyance of the mortgaged premises from the Jenkins to the Mooneys the attorney for the Mooneys telephoned the plaintiff at its Ithaca office and advised that the Mooneys were contemplating purchasing the mortgaged premises and desired to assume the mortgage with plaintiff’s consent and that they were prepared to increase the interest rate on the note and mortgage from 8V2% to the statutory rate permitted at the time. On June 19, 1980, the parties stipulated as follows:

“1. The defendants waive any objection they may have for the possible failure of the plaintiff to give to the defendants thirty (30) days advance notice by mail before accelerating the principal balance due on the mortgage.
“2. That at all times herein, the defendants, mooney, have remained and are prepared to increase the interest rate on the remaining balance of the mortgage from the rate contained in the original bond between the defendants, jenkins, and plaintiff, to the maximum statutory rate of interest in effect at the time of closing of the transaction from jenkins to mooney, at which time moo[719]*719ney assumed and agreed to pay the principal balance due from jenkins to the plaintiff.
“3.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
109 Misc. 2d 715, 441 N.Y.S.2d 373, 1981 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2458, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-federal-savings-loan-assn-v-jenkins-nysupct-1981.