MOTION TO RENEW SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED, CRITERIA EXPLAINED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court in this foreclosure action, determined the motion to renew should not have been granted, explaining the criteria:

In general, a motion for leave to renew must be based upon new facts not offered on the prior motion that would change the prior determination, and must set forth a reasonable justification for the failure to present such facts on the prior motion … . It is well settled that a motion for leave to renew is not a second chance freely given to parties who have not exercised due diligence in making their first factual presentation … . Indeed, the Supreme Court lacks discretion to grant renewal where the moving party omits a reasonable justification for failing to present the new facts on the original motion … . Successive motions for summary judgment should not be entertained in the absence of good cause, such as a showing of newly discovered evidence. However, evidence is not newly discovered simply because it was not submitted on the prior motion; rather, the evidence must not have been available to the party at the time it made its initial motion and could not have been established through alternate evidentiary means … . Deutsche Bank Natl. Trust Co. v Elshiekh, 2020 NY Slip Op 00570, Second Dept 1-29-20