Case Law Summaries

Eopechino v. First Federal Savings & Loan Association of Rochester

FORECLOSURE; MORTGAGEES—Absent special circumstances, a first mortgagee does not have an affirmative duty to notify a second mortgagee of the progress of foreclosure proceedings.

• Opinion Date: May 8, 2000
• Real Property Law

Palmer v. Secretary of Department of Veterans Affairs

FORECLOSURE; LIENS; LIS PENDENS—A judgment for other than a sum certain provides no notice to a foreclosing mortgagee and a foreclosing mortgagee has priority over the judgment even if it is converted to a sum certain after the filing of a lis pendens.

• Opinion Date: February 14, 2000
• Real Property Law

Kretschmar v. Pepe

FORECLOSURE; APPRAISALS—A lender does not have to accept an appraisal prepared for its borrower’s seller and may use its own appraiser, even if that appraiser is unlicenced.

• Opinion Date: January 3, 2000
• Real Property Law

Veltre v. Alfieri

FORECLOSURE—A second mortgagee and its attorney are not liable to a successful bidder at a foreclosure sale whose purchase is subsequently frustrated even if the sale would have been completed had the second mortgagee shown up to bid at the sale.

• Opinion Date: October 12, 2000
• Real Property Law

Lyons, Doughty & Veldhuis, P.C. v. William M.E. Powers, Jr., Chartered

FORECLOSURE—An inferior lien holder has the obligation to follow the foreclosure proceedings and can not ordinarily blame its failure to do so on the foreclosing party’s failure to tell it of the date of a Sheriff’s sale.

• Opinion Date: May 23, 2000
• Real Property Law

Gibau v. Klein

EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION—If a creditor’s lien is not perfected until after a divorce judgment is entered, as by an execution to satisfy a judgment, the equitable distribution scheme is entitled to priority.

• Opinion Date: March 20, 2000
• Real Property Law

In re South Jersey Fuel, Inc.

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW; ISRA—The Department of Environmental Protection is entitled to judicial deference in determining whether an establishment is an industrial operation under ISRA.

• Opinion Date: September 19, 2000
• Real Property Law

Bahrs v. Gateway Realty, Inc.

EASEMENTS; OVERBURDENING—Not every instance of overburdening an easement warrants extinguishment of the easement or limitation of the easement to ease the overburdening caused by the use.

• Opinion Date: May 8, 2000
• Real Property Law

E & M Equities, Co. v. Walden Farms, Inc.

EASEMENTS; ESTOPPEL—Although the doctrine of easement by estoppel exists, a party seeking the benefit of it can not claim that to have been misled by an adjacent landowner as to the existence of an easement if that party knew, or should have known, that the use was actually permissive.

• Opinion Date: March 8, 2000
• Real Property Law

Jimenez v. Maisch

DRIVEWAYS; PERSONAL INJURY—A homeowner has no duty to a postal carrier to clear its driveway of snow after a blizzard.

• Opinion Date: April 3, 2000
• Real Property Law