THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON FKA THE BANK OF NEW YORK AS TRUSTEE FOR THE CERTIFICATEHOLDERS OF THE CWALT INC ALTERNATIVE LOAN TRUST 2006 OA21 MORTGAGE PASS THROUGH CERTIFICATES SERIES 2006 OA21 v. HANNAH KIM HEART HANNAH KIM HEART TRUSTEE UNDER AN UNRECORDED REVOCABLE LIVING TRUST INSTRUMENT OF HANNAH HEART DATED JUNE 2006 YEON HO KIM JOHN DOES 50 JANE DOES 50 DOE PARTNERSHIPS 50 DOE CORPORATIONS 50 DOE ENTITIES 50 DOE GOVERNMENTAL UNITS 50 (2025)

SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER

Hannah Kim Heart, representing herself, appeals from the June 5, 2025 Amended Judgment for The Bank of New York Mellon (BONYM) entered by the Circuit Court of the First Circuit.¹ We affirm.

BONYM filed a foreclosure complaint against Heart on December 16, 2013. On October 19, 2021, the Circuit Court entered an order granting BONYM's motion for summary judgment and interlocutory decree of foreclosure and a judgment (Foreclosure Judgment).² Heart did not appeal from the Foreclosure Judgment.

The commissioner's report on the foreclosure sale was filed on March 28, 2023. BONYM moved to confirm the sale. The motion was heard on June 7, 2023. The Circuit Court orally granted the motion and directed entry of a judgment.

Heart filed her notice of appeal on June 13, 2023. The Order Approving Commissioner's Report and Granting Plaintiff's Motion for Confirmation of Foreclosure Sale, Allowance of Costs, Commissions and Fees, Distribution of Proceeds, Directing Conveyance and for Writ of Possession/ Ejectments was entered on August 1, 2023. A judgment was entered on August 2, 2023. The Amended Judgment was entered on June 5, 2025, after a temporary remand.

Heart's opening brief does not comply with Rule 28(b) of the Hawai‘i Rules of Appellate Procedure. We liberally interpret pleadings prepared by self-represented litigants and do not automatically foreclose them from appellate review because they violate court rules. Erum v. Llego, 147 Hawai‘i 368, 380-81, 465 P.3d 815, 827-28 (2020). Consistent with the supreme court's policy to reach the merits of an appeal, Hous. Fin. & Dev. Corp. v. Ferguson, 91 Hawai‘i 81, 85–86, 979 P.2d 1107, 1111–12 (1999), we address what we discern to be Heart's arguments.

Foreclosure cases are bifurcated into separately appealable parts: (1) the decree of foreclosure and the order of sale, and (2) all other orders. Mortg. Elec. Registration Sys., Inc. v. Wise, 130 Hawai‘i 11, 16, 304 P.3d 1192, 1197 (2013). Heart's opening brief challenges the Foreclosure Judgment; it does not challenge the order granting BONYM's motion to confirm the foreclosure sale. Heart cannot challenge the merits of the Foreclosure Judgment in her appeal from the order confirming sale. Bank of New York Mellon v. R. Onaga, Inc., 140 Hawai‘i 358, 368, 400 P.3d 559, 569 (2017).

The Circuit Court's June 5, 2025 Amended Judgment for BONYM is affirmed.

DATED: Honolulu, Hawai‘i, June 27, 2025.

Keith K. Hiraoka Presiding Judge

Karen T. Nakasone Associate Judge

Kimberly T. Guidry Associate Judge

FOOTNOTES

1.   The Honorable Steven R. Nichols signed the Amended Judgment.

2.   The Honorable Gary W.B. Chang presided.