Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC v. Gallant

Citations

• 209 Conn. App. 185

Syllabus

The substitute plaintiff, U Co., sought to foreclose a mortgage on certain real property of the defendant G. B Co., which commenced the foreclo- sure action, had assigned the note and mortgage to U Co., which there- after was substituted as the plaintiff. During the foreclosure proceeding, U Co. presented the trial court with a lost note affidavit from B Co., in which B Co. stated that the original mortgage note was lost and could not be found. The trial court rendered judgment of foreclosure by sale, at which U Co. was the successful bidder. G filed a motion to dismiss the foreclosure action, alleging, inter alia, that there was no evidence that anyone had physical possession of the original note at the time the foreclosure action was commenced or at any time during the action. The trial court denied G's motion to dismiss, concluding that B Co. had standing to prosecute the foreclosure action at the time of its commencement. The court was presented with evidence pertaining to the original note, including the lost note affidavit, and credited the testimony of an employee of B Co. who was responsible for reviewing its business records. The court determined that B Co. was the holder of the note and the mortgage, and had possessed the original note with endorsements at the time the note was lost. The court thereafter rendered judgment for U Co., and G appealed to this court. Held that the trial court properly denied G's motion to dismiss the foreclosure action, B Co. having had standing to bring the foreclosure action at the time it was commenced: B Co. possessed and was the holder of the original note at the time it commenced the foreclosure action, the note, which was endorsed in blank and thus payable to bearer, was not lost prior to the commencement of the foreclosure action, G offered no credible evidence to rebut the presumption that B Co. owned the debt, and, the trial court having made those findings on the basis of its determi- nation that B Co.'s employee was