On June 18, the New Jersey Appellate Division issued an opinion in the matter of Capital One v. Peck, No. A-0582-16T4, which involved the appeal of a final judgment entered in a residential foreclosure matter. The issue on appeal was separation of the note and mortgage, and whether that affected the plaintiff’s right to foreclose.

On appeal, the borrower argued that the note, but not the mortgage, was sold to Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”), and that Capital One (Freddie Mac’s servicer and the plaintiff in the foreclosure action) lacked standing to foreclose on the mortgage because it did not have both possession of the note and a valid assignment of the mortgage at the time the complaint was filed.