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AURORA LOAN SERVICES, LLC v. EINHORN
AURORA LOAN SERVICES, LLC, Plaintiff-Respondent,
v.
EDWARD EINHORN, SARAH G. LAKS, EACH OF THEIR HEIRS, DEVISEES AND PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVES, AND HIS/HER/THEIR OR ANY OF THEIR SUCCESSORS IN RIGHT, TITLE AND INTEREST, Defendants-Appellants, and
NCC HOLDINGS, LLC and CHASE BANK, USA, N.A., Defendants.
No. A-5586-09T1.
Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division.
Submitted April 11, 2011.
Decided June 9, 2011.
Zucker, Goldberg & Ackerman, attorneys for respondent (Steven D. Krol, of counsel and on the brief).
Before Judges Sabatino and Ostrer.
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISIONPER CURIAM. This is an appeal from a final judgment of foreclosure. On appeal, defendants, who are husband and wife and appear pro se, do not contest that the mortgage is valid and they have defaulted. They argue that plaintiff failed to provide them a notice required by the Fair Foreclosure Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:50-53 to -68, and the trial court erred when it declined to vacate final judgment. We disagree and affirm substantially for the reasons provided by the trial court. I.On September 8, 2004, Edward Einhorn and Sarah G. Laks, husband and wife (defendants), executed a mortgage on 1465 Cedar Row in Lakewood in favor of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS), as nominee for Lehman Brothers Bank, FSB (Lehman FSB), in connection with a $420,000 loan they received from Lehman FSB.1 The loan was not a purchase money mortgage. Defendants had been title owners since February 13, 2001. On May 19, 2005, defendants allegedly executed a second mortgage in favor of co-defendant NCC Holdings, LLC, to secure an additional $250,000. A little over a year later, they allegedly executed a third mortgage, in favor of co-defendant Chase Bank, USA, NA, to secure an additional $140,000.2 MERS assigned the mortgage to plaintiff Aurora Loan Services (Aurora) on July 30, 2008. On August 8, 2008, Aurora filed a foreclosure complaint, alleging that the mortgagors had failed to pay installments due on the loan since April 2008. Defendants were duly served August 13, 2008. Service on the co-defendants was completed September 11, 2008. Aurora had served a notice of intention to foreclose on defendants by certified letter in late May 2008. After all defendants failed to answer, default was entered November 5, 2008.
1. Defendant Laks argued unsuccessfully before the trial court that plaintiff could not foreclose against her interest because her husband allegedly signed her name to the mortgage. However, her signature was apparently witnessed by a notary. Moreover, in their answer, defendants admitted that they executed the mortgage. In any event, defendants do not pursue that argument on appeal.
2. We will refer to NCC Holdings, LLC and Chase Bank, USA, NA as "co-defendants" and to Einhorn and Laks as "defendants."
3. We have not been provided with a transcript of the case management conference and the trial court's reasoning. However, the court's action effectively permitted consideration of defendants' answer and affirmative defenses.
4. Rule 2:6-2(a)(5) requires an appellant to divide his or her argument under "appropriate point headings." The purpose is to convey "precisely what legal arguments are being made." Almog v. Israel Travel Advisory Serv., Inc., 298 N.J.Super. 145, 155 (App. Div. 1997), appeal dismissed, 152 N.J. 361, cert. denied, 525 U.S. 817, 119 S.Ct. 55, 142 L. Ed. 2d 42 (1998). Defendants' point headings do not adequately summarize or convey the nature of their argument. We nonetheless choose to address the substance of the issues raised in their brief.
5. One can imagine a scenario in which a mortgagor temporarily rents his or her property — for example, while taking on an extended work assignment away from home — but intends to return. Under such circumstances, the mortgage remains a "residential mortgage" because the property "is to be occupied" by the debtor. Defendants in this case presented no evidence of an intention to return to the mortgaged premises. Indeed, they apparently resided nearby on the same street in the same municipality.
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