Sua Sponte Dismissal of Complaint Not Justified/Lack of Standing Not a Jurisdictional Defect

In a foreclosure action, the Second Department noted that Supreme Court did not have the authority to, sua sponte, dismiss the complaint, even if the plaintiff did not have standing, which is not a jurisdictional defect.  (The Second Department determined the plaintiff did in fact have standing.):

The Supreme Court also erred in, sua sponte, directing dismissal of the complaint. “A court’s power to dismiss a complaint, sua sponte, is to be used sparingly and only when extraordinary circumstances exist to warrant dismissal” … . Here, the Supreme Court was not presented with extraordinary circumstances warranting sua sponte dismissal of the complaint. Even if the plaintiff had lacked standing it would not have constituted a jurisdictional defect and would not warrant a sua sponte dismissal of the complaint … . Citimortgage, Inc. v Chow Ming Tung, 2015 NY Slip Op 02087, 2nd Dept 3-18-15