HSBC Mortg. Corp. U.S.A. v. Lee

213 N.Y.S.3d 410

228 A.D.3d 742

HSBC MORTGAGE CORPORATION USA, respondent,

v.Jung Ae LEE, appellant, et al., defendants.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York.

Submitted—March 1, 2024

June 12, 2024

Binakis Law, P.C., Astoria, NY (Patrick Binakis of counsel), for appellant.

Knuckles, Komosinski & Manfro, LLP, Elmsford, NY (Louis A. Levithan of counsel), for respondent.

VALERIE BRATHWAITE NELSON, J.P., JOSEPH J. MALTESE, LINDA CHRISTOPHER, CARL J. LANDICINO, JJ.

DECISION & ORDER

In an action to foreclose a mortgage, the defendant Jung Ae Lee appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Lourdes M. Ventura, J.), dated August 24, 2022. The order, insofar as appealed from, granted those branches of the plaintiff’s motion which were to confirm a referee’s report and for a judgment of foreclosure and sale.

ORDERED that the order is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs.

In August 2007, the defendant Jung Ae Lee (hereinafter the defendant) executed a note in favor of the plaintiff, HSBC Mortgage Corporation USA (hereinafter HSBC), evidencing her obligation to repay a loan in the amount of $448,000. As security for the loan, the defendant simultaneously executed a mortgage agreement encumbering real property located in Douglaston. In July 2009, the plaintiff commenced this action to foreclose the mortgage against the defendant, among others. The Supreme Court granted the plaintiff’s motion, inter alia, for summary judgment on the complaint insofar as asserted against the defendant and appointed a referee to compute the amount due to the plaintiff. The plaintiff subsequently moved, among other things, to confirm the referee’s report and for a judgment of foreclosure and sale. In an order dated August 24, 2022, the court, inter alia, granted those branches of the plaintiff’s motion. The defendant appeals.

[1, 2] "The report of a referee should be confirmed whenever the findings are substantially supported by the record, and the referee has clearly defined the issues and resolved matters of credibility" (U.S. Bank N.A. v. Moschetta, 216 A.D.3d 848, 849, 187 N.Y.S.3d 340 [internal quotation marks omitted]; U.S. Bank N.A. v. Sheth, 177 A.D.3d 1018, 1020, 113 N.Y.S.3d 166 [internal quotation marks omitted]). Here, the referee’s findings with regard to the amount due are substantially supported by the record, and therefore the Supreme Court properly granted that branch of the plaintiff’s motion which was to confirm the referee’s report (see U.S. Bank N.A. v. Moschetta, 216 A.D.3d at 849, 187 N.Y.S.3d 340; Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Emanuel, 208 A.D.3d 825, 826, 172 N.Y.S.3d 624)....