In Mortgage Assets Management LLC v. BF Pulaski LLC et al, Kings County Supreme Court index number 519435/2024, the Plaintiff through Friedman Vartolo LLP successfully opposed a statute of limitations-based challenge by successfully making a novel argument regarding tolling of the limitations period.

Specifically, the Kings County Court agreed with the Plaintiff’s argument that the statute of limitations did not expire because the limitations period was tolled for a sufficient period by virtue of the Federal Housing Administration (“FHA”) COVID-19-related foreclosure moratorium. In doing so, the Court relied on Trento 67, LLC v. OneWest Bank, N.A., in which the Appellate Division, Second Department reached the same conclusion based on a similar FHA uniform instrument mortgage form bearing a specific FHA case number, and held that the 500-day moratorium imposed by the Federal agency was a statutory prohibition that tolled the time to commence the action within the meaning of CPLR §204(a).

This decision is particularly notable because there is no other reported decision applying Trento 67 to conclude that a foreclosure was timely commenced.