| Bank of Am., N.A. v Thomas |
| 2016 NY Slip Op 02910 [138 AD3d 523] |
| April 14, 2016 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
[*1]
| Bank of America, N.A., Successor by Merger to BacHome Loan Servicing LP, Respondent, v Binu Thomas et al., Appellants, et al.,Defendants. |
Charles Wallshein, Melville, for appellants.
Bryan Cave LLP, New York (Elizabeth J. Goldberg of counsel), for respondent.
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Mary Ann Brigantti, J.), entered November24, 2014, which, to the extent appealed from as limited by the briefs, granted plaintiffbank's motion for summary judgment of foreclosure, unanimously reversed, on the law,without costs, and the motion denied.
As a preliminary matter, we can consider defendants' legal arguments attackingplaintiff's prima facie showing raised for the first time on appeal (see Chateau D' IfCorp. v City of New York, 219 AD2d 205, 209-210 [1st Dept 1996], lvdenied 88 NY2d 811 [1996]). Defendants are correct that, generally, an assignmentof a mortgage by Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems does not convey the note (see Bank of N.Y. v Silverberg,86 AD3d 274, 283 [2d Dept 2011]). While physical delivery of the note can serve asa separate basis to establish standing in a foreclosure action (see Aurora Loan Servs., LLC vTaylor, 25 NY3d 355 [2015]), plaintiff has not satisfied its burden of provingthat the note is in its possession or that it was delivered prior to the commencement ofthis action.
Even if plaintiff's employee's affidavit sufficiently laid the foundation for theadmission of the note as business record (see CPLR 4518 [a]), the note itself wasnot made part of the record (despite being referred to as an exhibit). In addition, althoughplaintiff's employee swears that based upon this review of business records, he knowsthat the note was delivered prior to the commencement of this action, the records reliedupon for this conclusion are neither provided nor otherwise identified. Moreover, theabsence of the note and nonconclusory information about its delivery makes it impossibleto determine whether it was delivered from a holder, or plaintiff's standing (see US Bank N.A. v Madero,125 AD3d 757, 757-758 [2d Dept 2015]; JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. v Hill, 133 AD3d 1057,1058-1059 [3d Dept 2015]; cf. Aurora Loan Servs. at 360 [note andallonge attached to affidavit]). Concur—Mazzarelli, J.P., Acosta, Moskowitz,Gische and Webber, JJ.