Court Opinion

ID: 9395338
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-05-17 20:07:47.902067+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:19:07.469158
License: Public Domain

U.S. Bank Trust, N.A. v Stracci (2023 NY Slip Op 02705)

U.S. Bank Trust, N.A. v Stracci

2023 NY Slip Op 02705

Decided on May 17, 2023

Appellate Division, Second Department

Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.

This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.

Decided on May 17, 2023
SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department

MARK C. DILLON, J.P.
COLLEEN D. DUFFY
LINDA CHRISTOPHER
JOSEPH A. ZAYAS, JJ.

2021-03603
 (Index No. 34223/17)

[*1]U.S. Bank Trust, N.A., etc., appellant, 
vAnthony Stracci, Jr., respondent, et al. defendants.

Robertson, Anschutz, Schneid, Crane & Partners, PLLC, Westbury, NY (Day Pitney LLP [Alfred W. J. Marks and Michael L. Fialkoff], of counsel), for appellant.
Smith Buss & Jacobs LLP, Yonkers, NY (Jeffrey D. Buss of counsel), for respondent.

DECISION & ORDER
In an action to foreclose a mortgage, the plaintiff appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Rockland County (Robert M. Berliner, J.), dated March 30, 2021. The order, insofar as appealed from, granted the motion of the defendant Anthony Stracci, Jr., pursuant to Real Property Law § 282 for an award of an attorney's fee, and awarded that defendant an attorney's fee in the principal amount of $6,793.60.
ORDERED that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with costs, and the motion of the defendant Anthony Stracci, Jr., pursuant to Real Property Law § 282 for an award of an attorney's fee is denied.
As set forth in a related appeal (see Nationstar Mortgage, LLC v Stracci _____ AD3d _____ [decided herewith]), the Supreme Court, inter alia, granted those branches of the motion of the defendant Anthony Stracci, Jr. (hereinafter the defendant), which were to vacate a judgment of foreclosure and sale of the same court entered November 19, 2019, upon his failure to appear or answer the complaint, and to dismiss the complaint insofar as asserted against him. The defendant then moved pursuant to Real Property Law § 282 for an award of an attorney's fee. In an order dated March 30, 2021, the Supreme Court, among other things, granted the defendant's motion and awarded him an attorney's fee in the principal amount of $6,793.60. The plaintiff appeals from the order dated March 30, 2021.
In Nationstar Mortgage, LLC v Stracci ( _____ AD3d ______), this Court determined that the Supreme Court should have denied those branches of the defendant's motion which were to vacate the judgment of foreclosure and sale and to dismiss the complaint insofar as asserted against him. Since the defendant no longer is a prevailing party for the purpose of Real Property Law § 282, he is not entitled to an award of an attorney's fee for a "successful defense" of this foreclosure action (Real Property Law § 282[1]; see Bank of Am., N.A. v Destino, 138 AD3d 654, 655).
Accordingly, we reverse the order dated March 30, 2021, insofar as appealed from, and deny the defendant's motion pursuant to Real Property Law § 282 for an award of an attorney's fee.
DILLON, J.P., DUFFY, CHRISTOPHER and ZAYAS, JJ., concur.
ENTER:
Maria T. Fasulo
Clerk of the Court