Wells Fargo just lost a foreclosure case after missing New York's deadline – find out what this means for lenders and mortgage professionals managing portfolios
Wells Fargo lost a foreclosure case after missing New York’s statute of limitations, sending a clear warning to mortgage professionals about the cost of delay.
On October 1, 2025, the Appellate Division, Second Department, issued its decision in Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v La Franca, a case that highlights just how crucial it is for lenders to act within legal deadlines. The court ruled that Wells Fargo’s foreclosure action was time-barred because it was filed more than six years after the bank first accelerated the loan. For anyone in the mortgage business, the message is simple: miss a deadline, and you could lose your right to collect.
The facts are straightforward. In July 2006, Salvatore La Franca took out a $620,000 mortgage on a Suffolk County home, originally with Decision One Mortgage Company. The mortgage was later assigned to Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. In 2011, Wells Fargo started a foreclosure action against La Franca and others, choosing to accelerate the mortgage debt and demand full repayment immediately. That acceleration set New York’s six-year statute of limitations in motion.
Fast forward to October 2018. Wells Fargo asked the court to cancel a trial and dismiss the original foreclosure case, explaining it couldn’t produce the necessary business records. La Franca agreed to the dismissal, and the agreement allowed Wells Fargo to file a new action, but only if it followed the law.
Wells Fargo filed a new foreclosure action on April 30, 2019. La Franca was served in May 2019 and responded by arguing that the action was too late. Wells Fargo sought summary judgment, but La Franca cross-moved to dismiss the complaint as time-barred.
The Supreme Court initially sided with Wells Fargo, but the appellate court reversed. The judges found that the statute of limitations began in 2011, when the loan was first accelerated, and since the new action wasn’t filed until 2019, Wells Fargo was out of time.
Wells Fargo tried to argue that a legal “savings” provision should give them more time, but the court rejected this, pointing out that the bank didn’t serve La Franca within six months of the previous case’s dismissal.
For mortgage professionals, this case is a wake-up call. Deadlines are not just technicalities—they’re critical to protecting your rights. The Wells Fargo v La Franca decision stands as a practical lesson: in the mortgage business, timing is everything. Miss the window, and you could miss out entirely.
