PLAINTIFF BANK DID NOT DEMONSTRATE COMPLIANCE WITH THE NOTICE PROVISIONS OF RPAPL 1304 AND DID NOT SUBMIT ADMISSIBLE PROOF OF STANDING PURSUANT TO A MERGER, PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined that plaintiff bank in this foreclosure action did not demonstrate compliance with the notice requirements of Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (RPAPL) 1304 and did not demonstrate it had standing, based upon a merger, to foreclose:
… [T]he plaintiff failed to demonstrate, prima facie, its strict compliance with RPAPL 1304 … . The plaintiff did not submit an affidavit of service or proof of mailing by the United States Postal Service evidencing that the plaintiff properly served the defendants pursuant to RPAPL 1304. Instead, the plaintiff relied upon the affidavit of its employee Lesa Duddey, a vice president of document control. In her affidavit, Duddey averred that her “review of records” maintained by the plaintiff “reveal[ed]” that the plaintiff sent 90-day notices by registered or certified mail and first class mail to each of the defendants, and she described a correspondence log that purportedly evidenced such mailings. “While mailing may be proved by documents meeting the requirements of the business records exception to the rule against hearsay” … , here, the plaintiff failed to submit a copy of the correspondence log in support of its motion. Consequently, the statements in Duddey’s affidavit regarding the correspondence log are inadmissible hearsay and lack probative value … . The plaintiff did not establish proof of a standard office practice and procedure designed to ensure that items are properly addressed and mailed … . The presence of 20-digit numbers on the copies of the 90-day notices submitted by the plaintiff, standing alone, did not suffice to establish, prima facie, proper mailing under RPAPL 1304 … .
… [W]e note that the plaintiff also failed to submit sufficient evidence in admissible form of ABN’s merger with the plaintiff to establish, prima facie, that the plaintiff was the holder of the note at the time of the commencement of the action … . CitiMortgage, Inc. v Osorio, 2019 NY Slip Op 05383, Second Dept 7-3-19