Windward Bora LLC v. Zinnar

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedDecember 28, 2023
Docket2:19-cv-04533
StatusUnknown

This text of Windward Bora LLC v. Zinnar (Windward Bora LLC v. Zinnar) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Windward Bora LLC v. Zinnar, (E.D.N.Y. 2023).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK ------------------------------------------------------------------x WINDWARD BORA LLC,

Plaintiff, MEMORANDUM AND ORDER - against - 19-CV-4533 (RRM) (RML)

OSNAT ZINNAR; OSNAT ZINNAR, Trustee of the Osnat Zinnar Trust; ASAF ZINNAR; JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.; and OIL SERVICES INC.,

Defendants. ------------------------------------------------------------------x ROSLYNN R. MAUSKOPF, United States District Judge. Plaintiff Windward Bora LLC (“Plaintiff”) brings this diversity action to foreclose on real property owned by defendants Osnat and Asaf Zinnar pursuant to New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (“RPAPL”) § 1301 et seq. Plaintiff now moves for summary judgment against Osnat Zinnar – the only defendant who answered the complaint – and for default judgments against the other four defendants. For the reasons set forth below, Plaintiff’s motions are granted. BACKGROUND The following facts are drawn from Plaintiff’s Local Civil Rule 56.1 Statement of Undisputed Material Facts, (“Plaintiff’s 56.1 Statement”), the declaration of Plaintiff’s attorney, Shauna M. DeLuca, Esq.; the affidavit of Plaintiff’s authorized representative, John Ramer; the affidavit of Sherman Arnowitz, the President of Keyhole Capital Fund V; and exhibits attached to the declaration and affidavits. Since defendants have not controverted the statements contained in Plaintiff’s 56.1 Statement or the facts asserted in the declaration and affidavits listed above, the statements in these documents are deemed admitted for purposes of the instant motion. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(e)(2); Local Civil Rule 56.1(d). On July 16, 2004, Osnat Zinnar (“Osnat”) executed an “Equity Reserve Agreement,” opening an Equity Reserve Line of Credit with National City Bank (“NCB”). (Ramer Aff. (Doc. No. 31-14), Ex. 1.) That agreement (the “Note”) permitted her to obtain cash advances of up to

$161,950.00 over the next ten years. (Id., Ex. 1 at 1.) According to the terms of the Note, Osnat had the option of paying a fixed rate of interest or a variable rate equal to the Prime Rate as recorded in The Wall Street Journal, but had to make a monthly minimum payment equal to the interest accrued on the advances during the previous month. (Id., Ex. 1 at 2–3.) The Note provided that the line of credit would be secured by a mortgage on Osnat’s dwelling. (Id., Ex. 1 at 2.) Accordingly, on the same day she signed the Note, Osnat and defendant Asaf Zinnar (“Asaf”) (collectively, “the Zinnars”) executed a “Credit Line Mortgage” (the “Mortgage”) in favor of NCB, securing the loan with real property located at 965 Cedarhurst Street in North Woodmere, New York (the “Property”). (Id., Ex. 2.) The Mortgage provided

that the Zinnars would be in default if they failed to make a monthly payment when due. (Id., Ex. 2, at ¶ 8.) In the event of a default, NCB would be entitled to accelerate the secured debt and to foreclose the Mortgage. (Id., Ex. 2, at ¶ 9.) On May 11, 2013, several years after NCB merged into PNC Bank, N.A. (“PNC”), PNC assigned the Mortgage to Keyhole Capital Fund V (“Keyhole”). (Arnowitz Aff., Ex. 3.) PNC also transferred the Note to Keyhole, as evidenced by an allonge executed by PNC and affixed to the Note. (Ramer Aff., Ex. 1.) According to PNC’s records and business records maintained by Keyhole, the unpaid principal balance on the Note was $155,572.56 at the time it was transferred to Keyhole and PNC had not received any payments since September 2011. (Arnowitz Aff. at ¶ 11 & Ex. 4.) In January 2019, Keyhole sold the loan to Plaintiff. (Arnowitz Aff. at ¶ 13; Ramer Aff. at ¶ 12.) That sale is evidenced by an Assignment of Mortgage executed by Arnowitz, the President of Keyhole, (Ramer Aff., Ex. 3), and by an allonge to the Note, (id., Ex. 1). According

to Arnowitz, Keyhole never received any payments from the Zinnars, who still owed $155,572.56 in unpaid principal at the time Keyhole sold the loan. (Arnowitz Aff. at ¶ 14.) In early May 2019, a law firm representing Plaintiff’s loan servicer sent two identical demand letters to the Property, one addressed to each of the Zinnars. (DeLuca Decl., ¶ 6 & Ex. E.) These letters contained a Notice of Default, which listed “Total Arrears” at $124,859.28 as of May 7, 2019; demanded payment by June 6, 2019; warned that failure to pay could result in acceleration of the debt; and advised the Zinnars that a lawsuit to foreclose the mortgage might be commenced if the debt was accelerated. (DeLuca Decl., Ex. E, at 2.) The letters also attached a “Notice Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act” that contained the information

required by 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a). (Id., Ex. E, at 3.) That notice stated that the debt totaled $203,494.73: $155,572.56 in unpaid principal; $45,557.17 in accrued interest; and $2,365.00 in unpaid late charges. (Id., Ex. E, at 3.) On the same day it sent the demand letters, the loan servicer’s law firm sent each of the Zinnars the 90-day notice required by RPAPL § 1304. (Id., ¶ 7 & Ex. F.)1 Like the demand letters, the notices were sent to the Property via both regular mail and certified mail. The notices stated, among other things, that as of May 7, 2019, the Zinnars’ loan was “2056 days and $124,859.28 in default.” (Id., Ex. F, at 1.)

1 Although the DeLuca Declaration characterizes these notices as “90-Day statutory CPLR 1304 letters,” the notices contain the language required by RPAPL § 1304. On August 6, 2019 – 90 days after the notices were sent – Plaintiff commenced this action by filing a Verified Complaint. (Complaint (Doc. No. 1).) The complaint named five defendants: Osnat; Osnat, as Trustee of the Osnat Zinnar Trust; Asaf; JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (“JPMorgan”); and Oil Services Inc. (Id.) The complaint explained that in 2018, Osnat had become the owner of record of the Property in her capacity as Trustee of the Osnat Zinnar

Trust, (id. at ¶ 4), and that JPMorgan and Oil Services were judgment creditors who had obtained state-court judgments against Asaf and had liens against the Property that were subordinate to the Mortgage lien, (id. at ¶¶ 6–7 & Ex. F). The complaint alleged that the “unpaid principal amount due under the Note, and all accrued and unpaid interest and late charges” totaled $203,494.73 as of May 7, 2019. (Id. at ¶ 4.) On or about August 22, 2019, Osnat filed an answer to the complaint in her individual capacity. That pleading consisted of a handwritten, pro se document that stated only: “I am responding to the summons and complaint by serving a copy of this answer on the attorney for the Mortgage Company who filed this complaint. Defendants denied (deny) the allegations of

the complaint.” (Answer (Doc. No. 13).) Despite the reference to “Defendants,” the document was signed only by Osnat, and made no reference to the Osnat Zinnar Trust. No other defendant aside from Osnat responded to the complaint. The First Motion of Summary Judgment In October 2020, Plaintiff filed a motion for summary judgment. The only evidence presented in support of that motion was an affidavit of Yonel Devico, the sole member of Plaintiff, and various exhibits attached thereto. Devico asserted, among other things, that an unspecified “Defendant” had “executed and delivered a Note to National City Bank in the amount of $161,950.00,” (Devico Aff. (Doc. No. 18-4) at ¶ 4), and that unspecified “Defendants breached the obligations under the Note (and thereby caused a default under the Mortgage) by failing to pay the regular monthly payments which came due on September 20, 2013, … and all subsequent payments,” (id.

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Windward Bora LLC v. Zinnar, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/windward-bora-llc-v-zinnar-nyed-2023.