Opinion

PHH Mortgage Corporation v. Massimo Razionale; New York City Environmental Control Board; New York City Parking Violations Bureau; New York City Transit Adjudication Bureau

Court
District Court, S.D. New York
Filed
Jan 8, 2026
Cited by
0 cases
Authority
More cited than 41.5%

The opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT D OCUMENT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK ELECTRONICALLY FILED

PHH Mortgage Corporation, DOC #: ____ _____________

DATE FILED: 1/8/2026___

Plaintiff,

-against-

25 Civ. 3029 (AT) (GS)

Massimo Razionale; New York City Environmental

Control Board; New York City Parking Violations ORDER

Bureau; New York City Transit Adjudication Bureau,

Defendants.

ANALISA TORRES, District Judge:

The Court has reviewed Plaintiff’s motion for default judgment and supporting papers.

See ECF Nos. 35–41. Pursuant to New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law

(“RPAPL”) § 1320, “[i]n an action to foreclose a mortgage on a residential property

containing not more than three units, in addition to the usual requirements applicable to a

summons in the court, the summons shall contain a notice in boldface” with specific language

prescribed in § 1320 . The property involved in this action appears to be a two-unit residential

property. See Assignments, ECF No. 1-4 at 3, 5, 9, 13, 15. The summonses in this case do not

contain the required language, see ECF Nos. 8–11 (summonses), and although the affidavit of

service reports that the notice required by RPAPL § 1320 was sent to Defendant Razionale,

see ECF Nos. 19, 19-1, 40-10, such notices do not appear to have been produced to the Court

and or included with the copies of the papers filed alongside the affidavits of service.

Accordingly, by January 22, 2026, Plaintiff shall either indicate to the Court whether

it has complied with RPAPL § 1320, and, if so, submit or identify evidence of such

compliance, or indicate how Plaintiff may otherwise be entitled to default judgment despite

insufficient evidence of compliance with § 1320. See, e.g., Nationstare Mortgage LLC v.

Atanas, 285 F. Supp. 3d 618, 622–623 (W.D.N.Y. 2018) (evaluating compliance with RPAPL

notice requirements in a mortgage foreclosure default judgment action); Brown v. Amarante,

No. 23 Civ. 3514, 2024 WL 4716364, at *14 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 8, 2024), report and

recommendation adopted, No. 23 Civ. 3514, 2025 WL 934318 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 27, 2025) (on

summary judgment motion, finding notice sufficient where notice was printed on separate

paper but enclosed with the summons); cf. Windward Bora, LLC v. Sotomayor, No. 21 Civ.

7161, 2023 WL 2575582, at *5 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 20, 2023) (on default judgment motion, noting

“courts routinely find that a plaintiff complies with § 1320 by serving the notice along with the

summons and complaint”); ECF No. 69-6 in No. 21 Civ. 7161 (summons in Windward, with

§ 1320 notice printed on a separate page).

The Court construes Plaintiff’s declaration in support of default judgment as also

moving to voluntarily dismiss without prejudice certain other defendants from the case. See

Decl., ECF No. 40 at 20-21. That motion is GRANTED; the Clerk of Court is respectfully

directed to eliminate “John Doe #1” through “John Doe #12” from the case caption.

SO ORDERED. Oj-

Dated: January 8, 2026

New York, New York ANALISA TORRES

United States District Judge

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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