Insights
Joy Harmon Sperling and Rachel Packer wrote an article, "NJ Court Finds that SOL Bars Residential Foreclosure Action," for the New Jersey Law Journal. The article provides an analysis of a recent unpublished opinion rendered by the Superior Court of New Jersey, Bergen County, which essentially provided the borrowers, who had failed to make even one payment on their loan, with a free house by barring the plaintiff from foreclosing on its mortgage loan. In Anim Investment Co. v. Shaloub, No. F-30508-15, 2015 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 3042 (Ch. Div. June 30, 2016), the court provided a lengthy interpretation and analysis of the statute of limitations applicable to residential mortgage foreclosure actions. Through its strict interpretation of the statute, the court held that the plaintiff in the action was time-barred from commencing an action to foreclose its mortgage. The court also deprived the plaintiff of an alternative equitable remedy. "In light of the decision," Sperling and Packer wrote, "lenders should be mindful of the timing they have for bringing foreclosure actions in New Jersey and make sure they do not delay the filing."
