Opinion
15054-15055 Index No. 380839/08 Case Nos. 2021-00323, 2021-00325, 2021-00326
01-13-2022
DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY, etc., Plaintiff–Respondent, v. Carmen CRUZ, Defendant–Appellant, Norberto Oliveras also known as Norbert Olivera et al., Defendants.
Gail M. Blasie, PC, Garden City (Gail M. Blasie of counsel), for appellant. McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce, LLC, New York (David Gantz of counsel), for respondent.
Gail M. Blasie, PC, Garden City (Gail M. Blasie of counsel), for appellant.
McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce, LLC, New York (David Gantz of counsel), for respondent.
Acosta, P.J., Manzanet–Daniels, Gonza´lez, Mendez, Rodriguez, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Doris M. Gonzalez, J.), entered on or about March 7, 2019, which, to the extent appealed from, granted defendant Carmen Cruz's motion to dismiss the complaint as against her for lack of personal jurisdiction to the extent of granting plaintiff leave to "re-commence a new action," unanimously affirmed, without costs. Order, same court and Justice, entered on or about November 21, 2018, and order, same court (Howard Sherman, J.), entered on or about April 5, 2016, which, to the extent appealed from as limited by the briefs, denied Cruz's motions to dismiss the complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
The motion court correctly declined to address Cruz's jurisdictional argument, because defendant Norberto Oliveras's death approximately three years after this mortgage foreclosure action was commenced had automatically divested it of jurisdiction, and no substitution had been made (see Noriega v. Presbyterian Hosp. in City of N.Y., 305 A.D.2d 220, 221, 761 N.Y.S.2d 18 [1st Dept. 2003] ).
Contrary to Cruz's contention, the court properly dismissed the complaint with leave to commence a new action; the applicability of CPLR 205(a) to the new action is to be determined in that action. The language "leave ... to re-commence a new action" has no bearing on whether this action was dismissed for neglect to prosecute (cf. Weisman, Celler, Spett & Modlin v. Fischbach LLC, 111 A.D.3d 566, 567, 975 N.Y.S.2d 404 [1st Dept. 2013] ["whether the prior action was dismissed with prejudice has no bearing on whether it was dismissed for neglect to prosecute"]).