Marathon CRE 2018-FL1 Issuer, Ltd. v. 257-263 W 34th Street LLC
- Katherine Failla
- 1:22-cv-01991
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Marathon CRE 2018-FL1 Issuer v. 257-263 W 34th Street, Judge Failla ordered responses to a motion to intervene.
Cornell West 34 Holder LLC, the parties to the foreclosure action, and the property interests described in the motion were affected by the court's scheduling order for responses.
What happened
Marathon CRE 2018-FL1 Issuer, Ltd. v. 257-263 W 34th Street LLC concerns a request by Cornell West 34 Holder LLC to join a foreclosure case. Cornell West said it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and indirectly owned an interest in the property involved.
Cornell West argued that its interest could be harmed by the foreclosure and that the existing parties could not adequately protect it. It asked to intervene so it could seek to move the foreclosure case to bankruptcy court and pursue a restructuring.
Judge Katherine Polk Failla did not grant or deny the motion in this order. She directed the parties to file responses by September 9, 2022.
The detailed version
- Marathon CRE 2018-FL1 Issuer, Ltd. v. 257-263 W 34th Street LLC · No. 1:22-cv-01991
- Katherine Failla
- Aug. 25, 2022
Background
The filing concerns a foreclosure action involving property at 257-263 W 34th Street, New York, New York. The text identifies Marathon CRE 2018-FL1 Issuer, Ltd. as the plaintiff and 257-263 W 34th Street LLC as the lead defendant, referred to as the borrower.
The filing states that Cornell West 34 Holder LLC filed a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition on August 3, 2022, in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York. It states that Cornell West owned 15.03% of 257-263 W 34th Street JV LLC, which owned interests leading to 99.99% of the equity in the borrower. The borrower owned the property involved in the foreclosure action. Cornell West stated that it had invested approximately $7.5 million in the property and had an equitable right to redeem it.
Motion to Intervene
Cornell West moved under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a)(2) to intervene as of right. That rule permits a person or entity to join a case when it has an interest related to the property or transaction, the case could impair that interest, and the existing parties may not adequately represent it, provided the application is timely.
Cornell West argued that its motion was timely because the case was still at an early stage and, apart from removal from state to federal court, no factual or legal issues had been determined or litigated. It argued that the foreclosure directly affected its ownership interest and that it could not otherwise protect that interest or seek removal of the foreclosure action to bankruptcy court.
Cornell West also argued that the existing parties could not adequately represent its interests because the borrower and other defendants were subject to restrictions concerning a Chapter 11 filing, while Cornell West was not subject to those restrictions. It asserted that bankruptcy-law tools could help preserve its interests in the property.
Order
The court stated that it was in receipt of the motion to intervene and directed the parties to file responses by September 9, 2022. The order did not state that the motion was granted or denied and did not decide whether Cornell West satisfied the requirements for intervention.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.