Court Grants Discharge of Residential Mortgage after Foreclosure Action Is Dismissed

In 2005, a property owner borrowed $452,000 with which to buy a residential property. After the borrower’s default, that lender assigned the loan to HSBC. HSBC commenced a foreclosure action which was dismissed in 2007 for failure to serve the borrower. HSBC waited until 2009 to file a second foreclosure action. That action was conditionally dismissed in 2012 because HSBC had not shown proof that a Notice of Default had been served upon the borrower, as required by the loan documents. The conditional dismissal allowed HSBC 60 days within which to provide the required proof, or the case would be dismissed automatically. In 2013, noting that no such proof had been filed with the court, the second foreclosure lawsuit was formally dismissed. In 2014, the borrower sold the property to plaintiff, Ellery Beaver, LLC. Fourteen months after the case was dismissed, HSBC sought its restoration against the borrower. The court denied HSBC’s request.

Thereafter, Ellery Beaver, LLC sought a court order discharging HSBC’s mortgage claiming that the statute of limitations for a foreclosure action to be commenced had expired and the property should not be encumbered by an unenforceable lien. HSBC argued in opposition that because the first lawsuit was dismissed for failure to serve the borrower the time period to sue could not have commenced when that first lawsuit was filed. The Court disagreed, finding that the date of service was not relevant to the statute of limitations consideration. What mattered was the date when HSBC accelerated the loan, which could not have been later than when HSBC commenced the first foreclosure action, in 2005. Thus, the six year limitation period expired in 2012, six years from 2005, and HSBC’s loan would be discharged and the mortgage canceled.

Ellery Beaver, LLC v. HSBC Bank USA, N.A.

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