THE BANK DID NOT PROVE IT HAD STANDING TO BRING THE FORECLOSURE ACTION (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined plaintiff bank’s motion for summary judgment in this foreclosure action should not have been granted. Plaintiff bank did not submit sufficient proof of standing to bring the action:

Where, as here, a plaintiff’s standing to commence a foreclosure action is placed in issue by a defendant, it is incumbent upon the plaintiff to prove its standing to be entitled to relief … . A plaintiff establishes its standing in a mortgage foreclosure action by demonstrating that, when the action was commenced, it was either the holder or assignee of the underlying note … . Either a written assignment of the underlying note or the physical delivery of the note prior to the commencement of the foreclosure action is sufficient to transfer the obligation, and the mortgage passes with the debt as an inseparable incident … . Here, the plaintiff failed to meet its burden to establish, prima facie, its entitlement to summary judgment because the affidavit submitted in support of the motion was insufficient to establish standing … . Deutsche Bank Natl. Trust Co. v Conrado, 2020 NY Slip Op 00103, Second Dept 1-8-20