Opinion
12771 Index No. 24485/13E Case No. 2020-00089
01-05-2021
Virginia CRUZ–GUZMAN, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. 2380–2386 GRAND AVE., LLC, Defendant–Respondent, Prana Holding Company, LLC, Defendant.
Goldstein & Handwerker, LLP, New York (Jason Levine of counsel), for appellant.
Goldstein & Handwerker, LLP, New York (Jason Levine of counsel), for appellant.
Webber, J.P., Singh, Kennedy, Shulman, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Ruben Franco, J.), entered December 17, 2019, which denied plaintiff's motion to vacate a prior order, same court and Justice, entered November 8, 2018 order, dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
In order to vacate a default judgment under CPLR 5015(a)(1) a party must demonstrate both a reasonable excuse for the default and a meritorious cause of action (see On Assignment v. Medasorb Tech., LLC, 50 A.D.3d 342, 342, 855 N.Y.S.2d 98 [1st Dept. 2008] ). Here, the court providently exercised its discretion in denying plaintiff's motion to vacate. Plaintiff failed to present a reasonable excuse for the process server's failure to appear at the traverse hearing, including providing any details or documentation to support her claim that the process server had an unexpected medical appointment on the date of the hearing (see e.g. Matter of Giselle H.G. [Vanessa G.], 176 A.D.3d 510, 110 N.Y.S.3d 667 [1st Dept. 2019], lv dismissed 34 N.Y.3d 1174, 123 N.Y.S.3d 560, 146 N.E.3d 525 [2020] ; Buro Happold Consulting Engrs., P.C. v. RMJM, 107 A.D.3d 602, 968 N.Y.S.2d 61 [1st Dept. 2013] ). Plaintiff further failed to demonstrate a meritorious cause of action (see Cruz–Guzman v. 2380–2386 Grand Ave, LLC, 137 A.D.3d 639, 640, 26 N.Y.S.3d 856 [1st Dept. 2016] ).