Opinion
2014-07-23
PII SAM, LLC, respondent, v. Mary KOUTSAGELOS, appellant, et al., defendants.
Shaw & Binder, P.C., New York, N.Y. (Stuart F. Shaw and Daniel S. LoPresti of counsel), for appellant. Deutsch & Schneider, LLP, Glendale, N.Y. (William J. Fielding of counsel), for respondent.
Shaw & Binder, P.C., New York, N.Y. (Stuart F. Shaw and Daniel S. LoPresti of counsel), for appellant. Deutsch & Schneider, LLP, Glendale, N.Y. (William J. Fielding of counsel), for respondent.
In an action to foreclose a mortgage, the defendant Mary Koutsagelos appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Rosengarten, J.), entered August 10, 2012, which denied her motion to set aside the foreclosure sale of the subject property.
ORDERED that the order is affirmed, with costs.
A court may exercise its inherent equitable power to ensure that a foreclosure sale conducted pursuant to a judgment of foreclosure “is not made the instrument of injustice” ( Guardian Loan Co. v. Early, 47 N.Y.2d 515, 520, 419 N.Y.S.2d 56, 392 N.E.2d 1240;see Golden Age Mtge. Corp. v. Argonne Enters., LLC, 68 A.D.3d 925, 926, 892 N.Y.S.2d 436;Alkaifi v. Celestial Church of Christ Calvary Parish, 24 A.D.3d 476, 477, 808 N.Y.S.2d 230) and, therefore, may set aside a foreclosure sale “ ‘where fraud, collusion, mistake, or misconduct casts suspicion on the fairness of the sale’ ” ( Alkaifi v. Celestial Church of Christ Calvary Parish, 24 A.D.3d at 477, 808 N.Y.S.2d 230, quoting Fleet Fin. v. Gillerson, 277 A.D.2d 279, 280, 716 N.Y.S.2d 66). Here, the appellant's submissions, including her unsworn statement submitted in reply to the plaintiff's opposition to her motion to set aside the foreclosure sale, failed to cast suspicion on the fairness of the sale. Accordingly, the Supreme Court correctly denied the appellant's motion to set aside the foreclosure sale. CHAMBERS, J.P., AUSTIN, HINDS–RADIX and DUFFY, JJ., concur.