The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined a question of fact was raised whether plaintiff bank was aware defendants observed Saturday as a holy day, thereby invalidating nail and mail service on Saturday in this foreclosure action:
General Business Law § 13 provides: “Whoever maliciously procures any process in a civil action to be served on Saturday, upon any person who keeps Saturday as holy time, and does not labor on that day, or serves upon him any process returnable on that day, or maliciously procures any civil action to which such person is a party to be adjourned to that day for trial, is guilty of a misdemeanor.”
The defendants contend that the plaintiff’s counsel was aware that they are observant, Orthodox Jewish persons who adhere to the Sabbath, and thus, the Saturday affixation of process to the door of their residence was invalid. This appears to be an issue of first impression for this Court. We agree with the other courts that have addressed the issue, which have consistently held, for more than a century, that service in violation of General Business Law § 13, or its predecessor statute, is void, and personal jurisdiction is not obtained over the party served … . Moreover, we hold that the statute applies not only to personal service upon a defendant, but also to the affixation portion of “nail and mail” service pursuant to CPLR 308(4) on the door of a defendant’s residence, as occurred here … . JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. v Lilker, 2017 NY Slip Op 06434, Second Dept 9-13-17
CIVIL PROCEDURE (NAIL AND MAIL, QUESTION OF FACT IN THIS FORECLOSURE ACTION WHETHER NAIL AND MAIL SERVICE ON A SATURDAY VIOLATED THE GENERAL BUSINESS LAW BECAUSE PLAINTIFF BANK WAS AWARE DEFENDANTS RECOGNIZED SATURDAY AS A HOLY DAY (SECOND DEPT))/NAIL AND MAIL (GENERAL BUSINESS LAW, NAIL AND MAIL, QUESTION OF FACT IN THIS FORECLOSURE ACTION WHETHER NAIL AND MAIL SERVICE ON A SATURDAY VIOLATED THE GENERAL BUSINESS LAW BECAUSE PLAINTIFF BANK WAS AWARE DEFENDANTS RECOGNIZED SATURDAY AS A HOLY DAY (SECOND DEPT))/FORECLOSURE (CIVIL PROCEDURE, NAIL AND MAIL, QUESTION OF FACT IN THIS FORECLOSURE ACTION WHETHER NAIL AND MAIL SERVICE ON A SATURDAY VIOLATED THE GENERAL BUSINESS LAW BECAUSE PLAINTIFF BANK WAS AWARE DEFENDANTS RECOGNIZED SATURDAY AS A HOLY DAY (SECOND DEPT))/GENERAL BUSINESS LAW (CIVIL PROCEDURE, NAIL AND MAIL, QUESTION OF FACT IN THIS FORECLOSURE ACTION WHETHER NAIL AND MAIL SERVICE ON A SATURDAY VIOLATED THE GENERAL BUSINESS LAW BECAUSE PLAINTIFF BANK WAS AWARE DEFENDANTS RECOGNIZED SATURDAY AS A HOLY DAY (SECOND DEPT))