Ulster Savings Bank v. Freytes

49 Misc. 3d 685, 16 N.Y.S.3d 110
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 27, 2015
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 49 Misc. 3d 685 (Ulster Savings Bank v. Freytes) 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
Ulster Savings Bank v. Freytes, 49 Misc. 3d 685, 16 N.Y.S.3d 110 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Thomas F. Whelan, J.

Ordered that the motion (No. 002) by defendant Freytes for an order compelling defendant “JPMorgan Chase Bank to execute a subordinating agreement so that co-defendant Freytes modification can proceed” is considered under CPLR 3408 and is denied.

The plaintiff commenced this action to foreclose the lien of consolidated mortgage given by defendant Freytes to the plaintiff on December 21, 2001. On that date, the plaintiff loaned defendant Freytes the sum of $46,000 as evidenced by a mortgage note that was secured by a mortgage of the same date. Also executed on that date by Freytes and the plaintiff was a consolidation, extension and modification agreement (CEMA) whereby the lien of that $46,000 mortgage was consolidated with the lien of a prior March 19, 2001 mortgage given by defendant Freytes to the plaintiff to secure a note of the same date in the principal amount of $214,000, the terms of which were modified and extended. Pursuant thereto, a single lien in the amount of $260,000 was formed as between the parties to the CEMA, namely, the plaintiff and defendant Freytes. Also executed on December 21, 2001 was a consolidated note in favor of the plaintiff in the amount of $260,000 together with a consolidated mortgage in the same amount which reflects the total of the monies loaned by the plaintiff to defendant under the first and second notes and mortgages.

While the first mortgage of March 19, 2001 in the amount of $214,000 was recorded in the office of the Suffolk County Clerk on April 11, 2001, the second mortgage of December 21, 2001 in the amount of $260,000 and the CEMA of the same date were not recorded until March 4, 2002. Attached to the CEMA as exhibits C and D, respectively, were the December 21, 2001 [687]*687consolidated note and mortgage in the principal amount of $260,000 executed by defendant Freytes in favor of the plaintiff which reflected the total amounts loaned under the first loan of March 19, 2001 and second loan of December 21, 2001 in the amount of $46,000.

Shortly after the December 21, 2001 loan documents were executed, defendant Freytes borrowed $82,000 from defendant JPMorgan Chase Bank. The monies advanced were evidenced by a note dated January 14, 2002 that was secured by a mortgage of the same date. This mortgage was recorded in the office of the Suffolk County Clerk on February 13, 2002, which preceded the recording of the December 21, 2001 second mortgage in favor of the plaintiff in the amount of $46,000 and the CEMA of the same date, with the attached consolidated note and mortgage of December 21, 2001, by some 18 days.

On February 28, 2004, defendant Freytes obtained a home equity loan from Fleet National Bank in the total amount of $100,000. In exchange therefor, defendant Freytes executed an “Open-End Mortgage” in favor of Fleet to secure the credit line. That February 28, 2004 mortgage was recorded in the office of the Suffolk County Clerk on May 15, 2004.

In February of 2014, the plaintiff commenced this action to foreclose the lien of the $260,000 consolidated mortgage of December 21, 2001. The plaintiff alleges in its complaint that payment of the monthly amounts were last made on December 1, 2012 and that the principal outstanding balance became fixed at $73,136. Defendants JPMorgan Chase Bank and Fleet National Bank were described in the complaint as “subordinate lienors,” as was defendant Board of Managers of Lexington Village Condominium. All of these defendants were joined as party defendants in such capacity as their liens are facially subordinate to the plaintiffs lien and thus subject to extinguishment upon the sale of the premises. These corporate defendants failed to appear herein by answer in response to the plaintiffs service of the summons and complaint upon them, as did all others served with process, including defendant Freytes.

A settlement conference of the type mandated by CPLR 3408 was scheduled and held before quasi-judicial personnel assigned to the Specialized Mortgage Foreclosure Conference Part of this court on October 1, 2014. At the conclusion of such conference, the matter was marked “not settled” and released from that part and assigned to the Civil Case Inventory of this [688]*688court. In January of 2015, the plaintiff moved, ex parte, for an order of reference on default, which application was granted by an order of reference dated March 16, 2015.

By order to show cause dated May 22, 2015, defendant Freytes interposed the instant motion for an order compelling defendant JPMorgan Chase Bank to execute a subordination agreement by which the lien of its January 14, 2002 mortgage would be subordinated entirely to the consolidated mortgage lien of December 2001 for which foreclosure is demanded in this action by the plaintiff. Such an agreement is a condition precedent to the final implementation of a loan modification agreement that was conditionally agreed to by the plaintiff and defendant Freytes. In the moving papers, defendant Freytes and his counsel contend that JPMorgan Chase Bank’s refusal to subordinate its prior recorded mortgage loan, in its entirety, to that of the plaintiff’s consolidated mortgage loan is unreasonable since there are only two years of payments left on the plaintiff’s mortgage. In addition the defendant and his counsel allege that there is enough equity in the house to leave a residuary of $200,000 after payment of all outstanding loans. Defendant Freytes and his counsel further contend that defendant JPMorgan Chase Bank, whose loan is not in default, would not be prejudiced by the granting of the relief requested.

The motion is opposed by defendant JPMorgan Chase, which claims its mortgage has priority over the plaintiff’s December 21, 2001 mortgage in the amount of $46,000 and the CEMA of the same date, with its attached consolidated note and mortgage of the same date in the amount of $260,000, since the $82,000 mortgage of January 14, 2002 in favor of JPMorgan Chase Bank was recorded on February 13, 2002, some 18 days prior to the recording of the plaintiff’s December 21, 2001 new money mortgage in the principal amount of $46,000 and the CEMA of the same date. For the reasons stated below, the motion is denied.

Recent legislative enactments impose duties upon the plaintiff and the borrower in mortgage foreclosure actions to negotiate in good faith to resolve the claim by a settlement that is aimed at keeping the borrower in his or her home, if possible (see CPLR 3408; US Bank N.A. v Sarmiento, 121 AD3d 187 [2d Dept 2014]; Bank of N.Y. v Castillo, 120 AD3d 598 [2d Dept 2014]; Flagstar Bank, FSB v Titus, 120 AD3d 469 [2d Dept 2014]). Such a mandate does not, however, authorize the court to force a settlement upon either side. For it is now [689]*689settled law that neither this court nor any others may direct a party to a contract to rewrite its contract or to enter upon new or modified terms or other agreements as such a direction would clearly violate the Contract Clause of the United States Constitution (see Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v Meyers, 108 AD3d 9 [2d Dept 2013]; see also PHH Mtge. Corp. v Hepburn, 128 AD3d 659 [2d Dept 2015]; Citibank, N.A. v Barclay, 124 AD3d 174 [1st Dept 2014]; US Bank N.A. v Williams, 121 AD3d 1098 [2d Dept 2014]; Flagstar Bank, FSB v Walker, 112 AD3d 885 [2d Dept 2013]; Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v Van Dyke, 101 AD3d 638 [1st Dept 2012]).

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Bluebook (online)
49 Misc. 3d 685, 16 N.Y.S.3d 110, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ulster-savings-bank-v-freytes-nysupct-2015.