Joshua N. Howley, who is part of the Sills Cummis & Gross Litigation Department and General Counsel of the Firm, regularly practices in state and federal courts, including bankruptcy courts, primarily in New York and New Jersey. One of his specialties is representing traditional lenders, hedge funds, servicers and receivers in asset recovery litigation. Mr. Howley is also frequently hired when mortgage loans go into default and the borrower asserts defenses. In a unanimous opinion dated July 1, 2020, Mr. Howley succeeded before the Supreme Court of New Jersey, on behalf of a prominent New Jersey bank, in establishing that an assignee of a lost original promissory note can enforce it based on a lost note affidavit even though the assignee was not the creditor that lost the original. This decision created strong, pro-lender precedent in New Jersey.
