Bank of New York v. Deane, Kings County Supreme Court Index No. 16583/09.
This case illustrates the disaster that can occur if counsel does not submit mountains of paperwork to the court. This case resulted in the denial of an unopposed motion for summary judgment in foreclosure. The defendant mortgagor had answered the complaint and pled a defense of the plaintiff’s lack of standing. Thereafter, the plaintiff moved for summary judgment and submitted an affidavit of a bank officer that attempted to establish standing. Among the deficiencies in the affidavit was that it included only excerpts of the relevant documents transferring the note and ownership of the mortgage to the plaintiff. Because of these incomplete documents, among other reasons, the Court felt compelled to deny an unopposed motion for summary judgment.
The lesson of Bank of New York v. Deane is that foreclosing plaintiffs must take pains to submit full copies of all documentation demonstrating the chain of title necessary to establish the plaintiff’s right to foreclose on the note and mortgage. Paper is cheap; it pays to spend the money to include the entire relevant document in your motion papers. At the same time, counsel should be mindful of rule number one of litigation: always make things easy for the judge. Give the court a pinpoint citation to the relevant portion of that mountainous paperwork.