IN THIS FORECLOSURE ACTION DEFENDANT DEBTOR ENTERED A MORTGAGE MODIFICATION AGREEMENT WHICH CALLED FOR THREE PAYMENTS; DEFENDANT DEBTOR MADE FOUR ADDITIONAL PAYMENTS IN AMOUNTS HIGHER THAN CALLED FOR IN THE MORTGAGE; THE PAYMENTS AMOUNTED TO AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE MORTGAGE DEBT WHICH STARTED THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR FORECLOSURE ON THE DATE OF THE LAST PAYMENT (CT APP).
The Court of Appeals, reversing the appellate division, determined the defendant debtor acknowledged the mortgage debt by paying more than was required by the Home Affordable Modification Trial Payment Plan. Therefore the statute of limitations for foreclosure started running when defendant debtor made the last payment:
In this mortgage foreclosure action, plaintiff contends that Supreme Court erred in concluding that the complaint was timely inasmuch as Maxi Jeanty (debtor) made four payments between August 2009 and March 2010 on account of the mortgage debt which were effective pursuant to General Obligations Law § 17-107 (1) to make the statute of limitations begin running anew on the date of the last such payment. We agree. Plaintiff met its prima facie burden on its motion … by submitting evidence that, after entering a Home Affordable Modification Trial Payment Plan (the Plan), the debtor made a total of seven payments from April 2009 through March 2010, each in an amount exceeding that of the regular installment payments required under the loan documents prior to the acceleration of the debt in August 2008. The first three payments were required pursuant to the Plan, but the remaining four were not. Those four payments established circumstances amounting to ‘an absolute and unqualified acknowledgment by the debtor of more being due, from which a promise may be inferred to pay the remainder’ (… see General Obligations Law § 17-107 [1]). Federal Natl. Mtge. Assn. v Jeanty, 2022 NY Slip Op 06539, CtApp 11-17-22
Practice Point: In this foreclosure action, payments by the debtor which exceeded what was called for in the modification payment plan amounted to an acknowledgment of the mortgage debt. Therefore the statute of limitations on foreclosure began to run on the date of the last of those payments.