Court won’t halt U.S. Bank foreclosure over missed 90-day deadline
The auction kept stalling. A first date, March 9, 2023, was scrapped over what the bank called “a tax lien issue.” The bank noticed a replacement for January 11, 2024, and set another for January 9, 2025.
By then the LLC saw an opening. It asked the court to stop the sale under RPAPL 1351(1), the New York rule requiring a foreclosure judgment to order the property sold within 90 days. The sale sat well outside that window. The LLC also asked the court to freeze the interest still building on the note.
The trial court denied both requests on January 27, 2025. The LLC appealed, and lost on both.
On the deadline, the appeals court didn’t dispute that the 90 days had passed. It pointed to CPLR 2004, which lets a judge extend almost any statutory deadline “upon good cause shown,” before or after the deadline runs. A judge weighs how long the delay lasted, what caused it, and whether it hurt the other side. The trial judge was within his discretion to excuse the bank’s delay, the court held.
On the interest, the court went to basics. Foreclosure is an equitable action, so the judge has wide latitude over whether interest keeps accruing. Courts can switch interest off when a lender stalls or acts wrongly – but the party asking for that break has to prove it. The LLC never showed the bank caused any unexplained delay or wrongful conduct, so the interest stayed on the clock.
