Lender Liable for Fire Death at Mortgaged Premises

Since when does a mortgage foreclosure beget a negligence action? For mortgage lenders it is assuredly a Kafkaesque scenario, perilous and startlingly scary: people die in a fire at mortgaged premises and a court rules that the lender can be liable for damages to the estate of the deceased. It certainly doesn't sound like a creature of real estate law or practice—not in the traditional sense that most practitioners would perceive, but it is. A new ruling says so in Lezama v. Cedano, 119 A.D.3d 479, 991 N.Y.S.2d 32 (1st Dept. 2014).

CLICK HERE FOR THE DECISION

CLICK HERE FOR THE NEW YORK LAW JOURNAL ARTICLE

Matter of Pinpoint Tech., LLC --- Kudos to Judge Straniere for sticking up for the little people.

Matter of Pinpoint Tech., LLC 
RICHMOND COUNTY - Civil Practice

Pinpoint Technologies applied to file with the clerk of the Civil Court over 80 "Notice of Assignment of Judgment" forms, indicating that, as of Aug. 11, 2014, these judgments have been sold to Libra Equities. The court rejected all of the Notice of Assignment forms, finding that Pinpoint only produced the notice of assignment of the judgment and no other documentation. The court noted that what Pinpoint submitted is not actually the "assignment" document and that there is no "bill of sale" or any other document identifying the original debt with sufficient information for the debtor to recognize the account, the assignment history to Pinpoint, and the transfer of the account to Libra. The court added that there is no evidence that the notice was actually sent to the debtor and there is no documentation establishing how Pinpoint became the holder of the debt. The court further determined that there is no proof that Libra, the alleged debt buyer, is licensed as a "debt collector" as it is, by its own statement, succeeding in Pinpoint's "right, title and interest" in the judgment. The court held that Pinpoint must resubmit the Notices disclosing the basis of Libra's authority to utilize the New York court system to enforce the judgment. 

Kudos to Judge Straniere for sticking  up for the little people.  As his official biography puts it: “Unable to fulfill his childhood dreams of playing center field for the New York Yankees (couldn’t hit the curve ball) or starring in a Broadway musical (couldn’t tap as fast as Ann Miller), he is attempting to achieve his parents’ expectations of him to make the world a better place when you leave it than when you found it, by serving the public as a judge.”

Judge Straniere's Decision can be found here.