NY court blocks five-year-late bid to vacate Chase foreclosure order
In 2020, Chase assigned the mortgage to Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB. By 2022, the referee calculated the total due and determined the Ulster County property – a single-family home under one tax account – could not be sold in parcels.
That should have brought things to a close. But in 2024, after changing lawyers, the borrower moved to vacate the 2019 order, claiming law office failure. She said her original attorney, and others she hired for the foreclosure and a related bankruptcy, never told her the motion or order existed.
The court found her account unsupported. Her only evidence was her own affidavit – no corroboration from anyone she blamed. Nothing to explain how none of them knew about the order across nearly five years. Supreme Court called the account one that “strained credulity.” The appellate panel agreed.
New York law requires both a reasonable excuse and a meritorious defense to vacate a default. The borrower failed the first test, so the court did not reach the second.
Timing worked against her too. The referee had already reported and the case was nearing conclusion. Vacatur would prejudice the lender.
