A DEFENDANT IN A FORECLOSURE ACTION WHICH HAS “FAILED TO APPEAR” IS NOT ENTITLED TO NOTICE OF A MOTION TO CONFIRM A REFEREE’S REPORT, NOTWITHSTANDING DICTA IN PRIOR 2ND DEPARTMENT RULINGS; A DETAILED AND COMPREHENSIVE DISCUSSION OF THE NOTICE REQUIREMENTS WHERE A DEFENDANT IN A FORECLOSURE ACTION HAS DEFAULTED (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department, in a comprehensive discussion of the requirements for seeking a default judgment, including the meaning of “failure to appear,” determined the party which failed to appear in this foreclosure action was not entitled to notice of a motion to confirm a referee’s report. The extensive and detailed explanation of the applicable law was deemed necessary to clear up dicta in Second Department decisions which indicated such notice was required:
CPLR 3215(g)(1) applies “whenever application is made to the court or to the clerk.” By its plain language, it merely requires the plaintiff to provide “notice of the time and place of the application” for a default judgment … , which application must be held in a location authorized by CPLR 3215(e), and supported by, among other things, “proof of . . . the amount due” … . … [T]he purpose of the notice is to provide a defaulted defendant with the “opportunity to challenge the amount of damages sought by the plaintiffs” … . Contrary to [defendant’s] contention, CPLR 3215(g)(1) does not, once triggered, require a plaintiff to provide five days’ notice of every subsequent motion or application in the action … .
The 2017 motion was not an “application” for a default judgment within the meaning of CPLR 3215(b). Rather, the 2017 motion sought confirmation of the referee’s report and entry of a judgment of foreclosure and sale, relief predicated on CPLR 4403 … . Since the 2017 motion was not an “application” within the meaning of CPLR 3215(b), the notice specified in CPLR 3215(g)(1) was inapplicable to the 2017 motion, and notice of that motion was instead governed by the general notice provisions applicable to all motions (see CPLR 2103[e]). As already observed, that section merely requires that notice be served on “every other party who has appeared” … . Since, at the time of the 2017 motion, [defendant’s predecessor] still had not made any appearance in the action, it was not, without more, entitled to notice of that motion … . 21st Mtge. Corp. v Raghu, 2021 NY Slip Op 05016, Second Dept 9-22-21