Opinion
2012-06-12
Miracle ARMAND, etc., et al., Plaintiffs, Jennifer Cromwell, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. Mota RAMAN, et al., Defendants–Respondents.
Law Offices of Feder & Rodney, PLLC, Brooklyn (Giselle L. Eras of counsel), for appellant. Gladstein Keane & Partners, LLC, New York (Richard M. Sands of counsel), for respondents.
Law Offices of Feder & Rodney, PLLC, Brooklyn (Giselle L. Eras of counsel), for appellant. Gladstein Keane & Partners, LLC, New York (Richard M. Sands of counsel), for respondents.
SAXE, J.P., CATTERSON, ACOSTA, DeGRASSE, RICHTER, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Kibbie F. Payne, J.), entered June 24, 2011, which, in an action alleging serious injuries within the meaning of Insurance Law § 5102(d), denied plaintiff-appellant's motion to vacate an order granting, upon plaintiffs' default, defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Defendants correctly served their notice of motion for summary judgment upon plaintiff's former counsel, which continued as her attorney of record, given that plaintiff failed to change counsel in the manner prescribed by CPLR 321(b)(1) ( see Vitale v. City Constr. Mgt. Co., 172 A.D.2d 326, 568 N.Y.S.2d 399 [1991];see also Splinters, Inc. v. Greenfield, 63 A.D.3d 717, 719, 880 N.Y.S.2d 328 [2009] ). In any event, even if plaintiff provided a reasonable excuse for her default, she failed to demonstrate that her action has merit ( see Carroll v. Nostra Realty Corp., 54 A.D.3d 623, 864 N.Y.S.2d 10 [2008],lv. denied12 N.Y.3d 792, 879 N.Y.S.2d 38, 906 N.E.2d 1072 [2009];see also Vargas v. Ahmed, 41 A.D.3d 328, 329, 837 N.Y.S.2d 654 [2007] ). Indeed, her affidavit asserting the existence of bulging or herniated discs is not, in and of itself, “evidence of serious injury without competent objective evidence of the limitations and duration of the disc injury” ( Rubencamp v. Arrow Exterminating Co., Inc., 79 A.D.3d 509, 510, 913 N.Y.S.2d 68 [2010] ).