QUESTIONS OF FACT ABOUT WHETHER DECEDENT’S WIFE IS A BORROWER WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE REVERSE MORTGAGE DOCUMENTS PRECLUDES SUMMARY JUDGMENT, IF DECEDENT’S WIFE IS A BORROWER SHE MAY REMAIN IN THE MORTGAGED PREMISES, IF NOT, FORECLOSURE CAN PROCEED.
The Third Department, over a two justice dissent, determined questions of fact about whether decedent’s wife (defendant) is a “borrower” within the meaning of the reverse mortgage documents precluded summary judgment. If decedent’s wife is a borrower, foreclosure on the mortgage cannot proceed while she resides in the home. If she is not a borrower, foreclosure can proceed upon her husband’s death. The dissent argued that the documents drafted by plaintiff mortgage company were internally inconsistent and the company should therefore be precluded from claiming decedent’s is not a borrower:
Undoubtedly, where there is no extrinsic evidence relevant to an ambiguity in an agreement, “the issue is to be determined as a question of law for the court” … . In contrast, however, “[i]f there is ambiguity in the terminology used . . . and determination of the intent of the parties depends on the credibility of extrinsic evidence or on a choice among reasonable inferences to be drawn from extrinsic evidence, then such determination is to be made by the jury”… . This precedent establishes that the rule “that any ambiguity in a document is resolved against its drafter[] is a rule of construction that should be employed only as a last resort”… .
Here, the extrinsic evidence is relevant to the parties’ intentions as to whether defendant is a “[b]orrower” and is also conflicting on that point. Viewing this evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party in regard to the respective motions for summary judgment, the determination of the parties’ intentions depends on the credibility of extrinsic evidence — including the credibility of defendant’s claim that the parties to the note and mortgage intended for her to be able to remain in the home in the event of her husband’s death — and the choices between the reasonable inferences that can be drawn from the extrinsic evidence. Nationstar Mtge. LLC v Goeke, 2017 NY Slip Op 04521, 3rd Dept 6-8-17
FORECLOSURE (REVERSE MORTGAGE, QUESTIONS OF FACT ABOUT WHETHER DECEDENT’S WIFE IS A BORROWER WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE REVERSE MORTGAGE DOCUMENTS PRECLUDES SUMMARY JUDGMENT, IF DEFENDANT IS A BORROWER SHE MAY REMAIN IN THE MORTGAGED PREMISES, IF NOT, FORECLOSURE CAN PROCEED)/CONTRACT LAW (REVERSE MORTGAGE, QUESTIONS OF FACT ABOUT WHETHER DECEDENT’S WIFE IS A BORROWER WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE REVERSE MORTGAGE DOCUMENTS PRECLUDES SUMMARY JUDGMENT, IF DEFENDANT IS A BORROWER SHE MAY REMAIN IN THE MORTGAGED PREMISES, IF NOT, FORECLOSURE CAN PROCEED)/REVERSE MORTGAGE (FORECLOSURE, QUESTIONS OF FACT ABOUT WHETHER DECEDENT’S WIFE IS A BORROWER WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE REVERSE MORTGAGE DOCUMENTS PRECLUDES SUMMARY JUDGMENT, IF DEFENDANT IS A BORROWER SHE MAY REMAIN IN THE MORTGAGED PREMISES, IF NOT, FORECLOSURE CAN PROCEED)