Wilmington Trust, N.A. v. Pape

Summary

The Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed an order and judgment of foreclosure and sale involving 134 Eel Pot Alley, LLC. The court held that the defendant provided a reasonable excuse for its four-day delay in answering and demonstrated a potentially meritorious statute-of-limitations defense, warranting leave to interpose a late answer under CPLR 3012(d).

Holdings

1. A defendant seeking leave to file a late answer must provide a reasonable excuse for the delay and demonstrate a potentially meritorious defense. A credible explanation of law-office failure for a brief four-day delay, together with a potentially meritorious statute-of-limitations defense, lack of willfulness, lack of prejudice, and the public policy favoring resolution on the merits, warranted leave to file the late answer.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the defendant established a reasonable excuse and a potentially meritorious defense warranting leave to interpose a late answer under CPLR 3012(d).
2. Whether the order and judgment of foreclosure and sale should stand after the trial court denied leave to file the late answer.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded