SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-2412-18T3

U.S. BANK, NATIONAL

ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE

FOR THE EMC MORTGAGE

LOAN TRUST 2002-B, MORTGAGE 

PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES 

SERIES 2002-B,

Plaintiff-Respondent,

v.

ALLYN M. PAOLICELLI,

Defendant-Appellant,

and

MR. ALLYN M. PAOLICELLI,

husband of ALLYN M. PAOLICELLI,

Defendant.

________________________________

Submitted December 17, 2019 – Decided

Before Judges Accurso and Rose.

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE

APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION

This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court." Although it is posted on the 

internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.

January 8, 2020
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A-2412-18T3

On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, 

Chancery Division, Ocean County, Docket No. F025587-17.

Allyn M. Paolicelli, appellant pro se.

McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce, LLC, attorneys for 

respondent (Brian P. Scibetta and Charles H.

Jeanfreau, on the brief).

PER CURIAM

In this contested mortgage foreclosure action, defendant Allyn M. 

Paolicelli appeals from the denial of her motion to dismiss the complaint, the 

entry of summary judgment striking her answer, and the subsequent final 

judgment. She contends the trial court erred in finding she was in default of 

her mortgage loan, that plaintiff U.S. Bank, National Association, as Trustee 

for the EMC Mortgage Loan Trust 2002-B, Mortgage Pass-Through 

Certificates, Series 2002-B had standing to foreclose her mortgage, that its 

predecessor had served her with a notice of intent to foreclose and in denying 

her objection to the entry of final judgment fixing the amount due. Our review 

of the record convinces us that none of those arguments is of sufficient merit 

to warrant extended discussion in a written opinion. R. 2:11-3(e)(1)(E).

Defendant admits that in November 1984, she executed and delivered a $63,000, 

thirty-year, variable rate note to the First National Bank of Toms River, secured 
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by a purchase money mortgage on her home in Lakewood. That bank failed in 

1991, and the trial court properly took judicial notice of public information 

maintained by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), that the bank 

was thereafter operated as part of First Fidelity Bank, National Association, 

which later changed its name to First Union. See

https://research2.fdic.gov/bankfind/ (search FDIC# 6499; then follow "First 

National Bank of Toms River" hyperlink; then click history) (last visited Dec. 

23, 2019). In an allonge attached to the note, First Union assigned the note to 

EMC Mortgage Corporation, which subsequently assigned it to LaSalle Bank 

National Association as Trustee for Certificate Holders of EMC Mortgage Loan 

Trust 2002-B, Mortgage Loan Pass-Through Certificates, Series 2002-B. 

Following LaSalle's merger into Bank of America, N.A., plaintiff U.S. Bank 

acquired that bank's trust administration business. See U.S. Bancorp., Annual 

Report (Form 10-K) (Feb. 28, 2011), 

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/36104/000095012311019888/x59846

exv13.htm#C59846002 (See Page 20) (last visited Dec. 23, 2019).

Although plaintiff certified it held the original note at the time it filed its 

foreclosure complaint, and subsequently produced the original note for the 

court's inspection on summary judgment, it acknowledged it did not have a 
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recorded mortgage. A vice president of plaintiff's prior servicer, J.P. Morgan 

Chase Bank, National Association, submitted an "affidavit of missing or 

incomplete assignment," noting a gap in the chain of assignments between the 

recorded mortgage in favor of the First National Bank of Toms River and 

plaintiff, and concluding that the assignment(s) "either were never completed 

or, if completed, were never recorded" and could not now be obtained. 

Supporting that affidavit is a 2002 unrecorded assignment of mortgage from 

EMC to LaSalle as Trustee for Certificate Holders of EMC Mortgage Loan 

Trust 2002-B, Mortgage Loan Pass-Through Certificates, Series 2002-B, 

plaintiff's predecessor. 

Defendant entered into a loan modification agreement with Chase in 

2013, which established a new, loan principal balance of $59,137.97, of which 

$9700 would be deferred, leaving an interest-bearing principal balance of 

$49,437.97. Defendant agreed the interest-bearing principal balance would reamortize to a remaining scheduled balance of $48,844.65 on the maturity date 

of December 1, 2014, when the deferred principal balance would also be due 

in full.

Defendant did not pay off the loan on the maturity date and Chase sent a 

notice of intent to foreclose to defendant at the property address on behalf of 
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plaintiff. When defendant did not cure the default, plaintiff instituted this 

action. 

Following discovery, plaintiff moved for summary judgment presenting 

those facts by way of certification by an officer of Select Portfolio Servicing, 

Inc., plaintiff's current servicing agent, from her personal review of the 

servicer's business records. Defendant cross-moved to dismiss the complaint, 

contending plaintiff had not established her default, service of the notice of 

intent to foreclose, or its possession of the original note at the time it filed the 

complaint. 

The judge found the certification in support of plaintiff's motion fully 

complied with the personal knowledge requirement of R. 1:6-6; see Wells 

Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Ford, 418 N.J. Super. 592, 599-600 (App. Div. 2011), and 

that plaintiff's possession of the original note prior to the filing of the 

complaint established its standing, see Deutsche Bank Tr. Co. Ams. v. 

Angeles, 428 N.J. Super. 315, 318 (App. Div. 2012). He concluded on the 

basis of plaintiff's proofs that it had established a prima facie case in 

foreclosure, see Great Falls Bank v. Pardo, 263 N.J. Super. 388, 394 (Ch. Div. 

1993), and that defendant had offered no proof of her own to put plaintiff's 

timely possession of the original note, her payment default, or the service of 
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the notice of intent to foreclose, in issue. He accordingly granted plaintiff's 

motion for summary judgment, striking defendant's answer and dismissed her 

cross-motion to dismiss the complaint.

Plaintiff subsequently moved to enter judgment without an assignment 

of mortgage, which the court granted over defendant's objection, finding

plaintiff had demonstrated it was the holder of the note and the "intended 

assignee of the mortgage." The judge also rejected defendant's objections to 

plaintiff's proof of amount due, finding her objections general and unspecified. 

He also noted defendant had "not offered any evidence to suggest . . . 

plaintiff's records are unreliable or that the facts set forth in the motion for 

final judgment are inaccurate."

Defendant appeals, reprising the arguments she made to the trial court. 

Having considered defendant's arguments and reviewed the record on the 

motion, we affirm the judgment of foreclosure. As in the trial court, defendant 

offers nothing to challenge plaintiff's assertion that it was in possession of the 

original note, the one it produced in court on the return date on the summary 

judgment motion, at the time it filed its complaint. She does not contend she 

paid off the loan on its maturity date or that she was never served with 

plaintiff's notice of intent to foreclose. 
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A properly supported summary judgment motion "cannot be defeated if 

the non-moving party does not 'offer[] any concrete evidence from which a 

reasonable [fact-finder] could return a verdict in his favor[.]'" Housel for 

Housel v. Theodoridis, 314 N.J. Super. 597, 604 (App. Div. 1998) (quoting 

Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 256 (1986)). As defendant 

offered nothing to allow a reasonable fact-finder to find in her favor, summary 

judgment was appropriately entered striking her answer. We find no error in 

the entry of final judgment on plaintiff's proofs.

Affirmed.