AAMES FUNDING CORPORATION v. HOUSTON (2008)

In an action to foreclose a mortgage, the defendants Leonard W. Houston and Lucille Houston separately appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Orange County (Owen, J.), dated January 3, 2008, which granted the plaintiff's motion to extend a notice of pendency for an additional three years and denied the cross motion of the defendant Leonard W. Houston, in which the defendant Lucille Houston joined, to cancel the notice of pendency.

ORDERED that the order is affirmed with costs.

 A notice of pendency is valid for three years from the date of filing.   A party seeking to extend a notice of pendency for an additional three-year period must first make a showing of good cause (see CPLR 6513;  Matter of Sakow, 97 N.Y.2d 436, 442, 741 N.Y.S.2d 175, 767 N.E.2d 666;  RKO Props., Ltd. v. Boymelgreen, 31 A.D.3d 625, 818 N.Y.S.2d 918).   Here, the plaintiff established good cause for extending the notice of pendency by showing that the instant foreclosure action was automatically stayed as a result of one of the appellants having filed for bankruptcy (see Stassou v. Casini & Huang Constr., 203 A.D.2d 357, 610 N.Y.S.2d 86).

 The appellants' challenge to the plaintiff's standing is not properly before this Court, as we are bound by the law of the case established by the decision and order on the prior appeal of this matter (see Aames Funding Corp. v. Houston, 44 A.D.3d 692, 693, 843 N.Y.S.2d 660;  see generally Abbas v. Cole, 44 A.D.3d 31, 37, 840 N.Y.S.2d 388).   In any event, even if the law of the case doctrine was inapplicable, the defendants waived the defense of standing by not raising it as an affirmative defense or by way of motion to dismiss (see CPLR 3211[e];  Matter of Fossella v. Dinkins, 66 N.Y.2d 162, 167-168, 495 N.Y.S.2d 352, 485 N.E.2d 1017;  Wells Fargo Bank Minn., N.A. v. Mastropaolo, 42 A.D.3d 239, 242-243, 837 N.Y.S.2d 247).