US Bank N.A. v UBS Real Estate Sec., Inc., 177 AD3d 493 [1st Dept. 2019]
The dispositive issue in both appeals is whether the trustee of a residential mortgage-backed securities trust is a “plaintiff” within the meaning of CPLR 205 (a) when the prior action was commenced by the trust’s certificateholders. In U.S. Bank N.A. v DLJ Mtge. Capital, Inc. (141 AD3d 431 [1st Dept 2016], affd 33 NY3d 84 [2019] [hereinafter HEAT]), we concluded that “the trustee [was] not entitled to refile the claims under CPLR 205 (a), because it [was] not a ‘plaintiff’ under that statute” (id. at 433). Our decision “could not have been clearer, and that decision is still good law and binding upon us under principles of stare decisis” (First Hudson Capital, LLC v Seaborn, 54 AD3d 251, 252 [1st Dept 2008], appeal dismissed 11 NY3d 894 [2008]). Plaintiff Ace Securities Corp.’s attempt to distinguish HEAT is unavailing. Neither plaintiff has demonstrated the “compelling circumstances” required to depart from stare decisis (see People v Aarons, 305 AD2d 45, 56 [1st Dept 2003], affd 2 NY3d 547 [2004]; see also Dufel v Green, 198 AD2d 640 [3d Dept 1993], affd 84 NY2d 795 [1995]).
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