IF A DEBT IS ACCELERATED, THE SIX-YEAR STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR RECOVERY OF THE DEBT IS TRIGGERED; IF THE DEBT IS NOT ACCELERATED, THE INSTALLMENTS DUE WITHIN THE SIX YEARS PRIOR TO COMMENCING SUIT ARE RECOVERABLE (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department determined that, because the debt was never accelerated, recovery of the installments due during the six years prior to commencement of the action is not time-barred:

The claim alleges that the [defendants] stopped making monthly payments as required by the 1988 agreement in December 2003, 15 years before the commencement of this action. “Without acceleration of the entire debt by” [plaintiff], however, “a cause of action for portions of the indebtedness” owed would only accrue when each of the individual installments became due … . The … defendants did not demonstrate that [plaintiff] accelerated the debt and, as a result, failed to sustain their burden of showing that the claim was time-barred to the extent that it sought to recover installments that became due after December 2012. DiCenzo v Mone, 2021 NY Slip Op 06734, Third Dept 12-2-21