DECISION & ORDER On December 14, 2022, Alamitos Lending, LLC (“Alamitos”), filed this action under New York law against Maria A. Laurendi and Michael Sutt, seeking “to foreclose on a mortgage encumbering the property commonly known as 7193 Woodhaven Drive, Lockport, New York 14094″ (“7193 Woodhaven Drive”).1 See Docket Item 1 (verified complaint). In January 2023, after both Laurendi and Sutt were served, see Docket Items 7 and 8, Alamitos voluntarily dismissed the action as against Laurendi under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41, see Docket Items 9 and 10. And when Sutt failed to answer or otherwise respond to the verified complaint within the time allowed, see Docket Item 8, Alamitos asked the Clerk of the Court to enter a default against him, Docket Item 11. On January 23, 2023, the Clerk entered that default, Docket Item 12, and about two months later, Alamitos moved for a default judgment, Docket Item 14. After Sutt failed to respond to that motion, see Docket Item 15 (setting briefing schedule), the Court ordered him to show cause as to why it should not decide Alamitos’s motion for a default judgment on the papers currently before it. Docket Item 17. Sutt then filed a one-page letter “object[ing] to the motion [for] a default [judgment]” and stating that “ [t]his matter was paid in full on the initial foreclosure…in April 2021″ in New York State Supreme Court, Niagara County. Docket Item 19. In fact, Sutt said, he had “made every effort to communicate with” the assignor of the mortgage “to no avail.” Id. Sutt also requested an extension of time to respond to Alamitos’s motion so that he could “acquire legal counsel in this matter.” Id. This Court then granted Sutt’s request and ordered him to respond by March 1, 2024, Docket Item 20, but Sutt never responded. In fact, other than the one-page letter referenced above, he has not filed anything in this action. The Court now addresses Alamitos’s motion for a default judgment and, for the reasons that follow, denies that motion. BACKGROUND2 On May 9, 2018, Sutt executed a promissory note for $100,000 plus interest to Lendterra, Inc. (“Lendterra”). Docket Item 1 at
