UNDER THE TERMS OF THE RELEVANT CONTRACTS, WHICH MUST BE INTERPRETED TOGETHER TO GIVE EFFECT TO THEIR TERMS, PLAINTIFF DID NOT HAVE STANDING TO SUE IN ONE ASPECT OF THIS ACTION STEMMING FROM THE SALE OF ALLEGEDLY DEFECTIVE RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE-BACKED SECURITIES (FIRST DEPT).
The First Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Moskowitz, modifying Supreme Court, in actions stemming from the sale of allegedly defective residential mortgage-backed securities, determined that, according to the terms of the relevant contracts, plaintiff did not have standing to sue in one aspect of the action because a critical assignment had not been accomplished in accordance with the contract. The opinion is fact-specific and too complex to fairly summarize here. With respect to Supreme Court’s failure to interpret the two relevant agreements such that both are given effect, the court explained:
In interpreting a contract a court should favor an interpretation that gives effect to all the terms of an agreement rather than ignoring terms or interpreting them unreasonably … . Indeed, “where two seemingly conflicting contract provisions reasonably can be reconciled, a court is required to do so and to give both effect” … . We have also found that “agreements executed at substantially the same time and related to the same subject matter are regarded as contemporaneous writings and must be read together as one” … . Thus, in failing to harmonize the … agreement[s], the motion court essentially read … terms out of existence. U.S. Bank N.A. v GreenPoint Mtge. Funding, Inc., 2017 NY Slip Op 08644, First Dept 12-12-17
SECURITIES (RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE-BACKED SECURITIES, CONTRACT LAW, UNDER THE TERMS OF THE RELEVANT CONTRACTS, WHICH MUST BE INTERPRETED TOGETHER TO GIVE EFFECT TO THEIR TERMS, PLAINTIFF DID NOT HAVE STANDING TO SUE IN ONE ASPECT OF THIS ACTION STEMMING FROM THE SALE OF ALLEGEDLY DEFECTIVE RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE-BACKED SECURITIES (FIRST DEPT))/CONTRACT LAW (RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE-BACKED SECURITIES, CONTRACT LAW, UNDER THE TERMS OF THE RELEVANT CONTRACTS, WHICH MUST BE INTERPRETED TOGETHER TO GIVE EFFECT TO THEIR TERMS, PLAINTIFF DID NOT HAVE STANDING TO SUE IN ONE ASPECT OF THIS ACTION STEMMING FROM THE SALE OF ALLEGEDLY DEFECTIVE RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE-BACKED SECURITIES (FIRST DEPT))/RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE-BACKED SECURITIES (CONTRACT LAW, UNDER THE TERMS OF THE RELEVANT CONTRACTS, WHICH MUST BE INTERPRETED TOGETHER TO GIVE EFFECT TO THEIR TERMS, PLAINTIFF DID NOT HAVE STANDING TO SUE IN ONE ASPECT OF THIS ACTION STEMMING FROM THE SALE OF ALLEGEDLY DEFECTIVE RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE-BACKED SECURITIES (FIRST DEPT))