FAPA sinks Nationstar’s bid to foreclose on decade-old Queens mortgage
Chase never followed through. In May 2013, the court dismissed the case as abandoned.
Nationstar picked up the thread in March 2020, filing a new foreclosure action on the same mortgage. The homeowner argued the claim was time-barred. More than six years had passed since the 2007 acceleration. The arithmetic was not complicated.
Nationstar’s counter: under the old savings provision, CPLR 205(a), a lender whose foreclosure was dismissed could refile within six months, even after the statute of limitations expired. Servicers had leaned on that workaround for years to revive dead claims.
FAPA closed that door. Taking effect in late December 2022, it replaced the old provision with CPLR 205-a, which specifically bars the six-month extension when a prior action was dismissed for neglect. Abandonment under CPLR 3215 qualifies.
Armed with the new law, the homeowner cross-moved to renew his earlier motion to dismiss, which had been denied in April 2022 – before FAPA existed. The Supreme Court in Queens granted the renewal, vacated its prior order, and threw out Nationstar’s case.
