Lender/Title Insurance – NY Supreme and Appellate Division Victory
Obtained reversal of a New York Supreme Court ruling finding that the deed transferring title to a property was void ab initio. Our client, a lender with a first priority mortgage lien on the property, had not been named as a party in the underlying action, but was sued in a subsequent action filed by plaintiffs seeking to use the ruling to extinguish our client's $2.5 million lien on the property. We successfully intervened in the underlying lawsuit on behalf of the lender and argued that the Judge's original ruling -- finding that the deed was void ab initio -- was incorrect as a matter of law. The Judge agreed, vacated her own prior order and reinstated clean title in the mortgagor. The ruling was subsequently affirmed on appeal by the Appellate Division, First Department.