Although surprising to many, unlike money judgments, a judgment of foreclosure and sale (which is not a money judgment [FN1]) always had an eternal life. (For a more complete explanation, see “The Consequences of Sitting on a Foreclosure Judgment,” NYLJ, May 13, 2015, at 5, col. 2.) While there are reasons why a foreclosing plaintiff would usually wish to proceed to sale with some dispatch after obtaining the judgment of foreclosure and sale, there are any number of circumstances (pursuit of settlement being one of them) under which the plaintiff would refrain. And for the very reason that the efficacy of the judgment had no termination date, there was historically no obligation to set the sale at any precise moment (other than applicable publication requirements).

That one might be incredulous at the apparently endless life of a foreclosure judgment is confirmed by a decision where a foreclosure judgment, vintage 2002, was being assaulted in 2015 with the argument that it was inefficacious for want of renewal. On this point, the court ruled that its research revealed no applicable law limiting the period within which a foreclosing plaintiff may sell the mortgaged property after entry of the judgment of foreclosure and sale. (Bank of New York as Trustee Under the Pooling and Servicing Agreement Series 1999-F v. Odzer, 2996/02, NYLJ 1202715494627, at 1 (Sup., Na., Decided Jan. 5, 2015.))

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