Opinion
11705 Dkt. B-44347/15
06-25-2020
IN RE JAYDEN J., a Dependent Child Under the Age of Eighteen Years, etc., Florence J., Respondent–Appellant, v. The New York Foundling Hospital, Petitioner–Respondent.
George E. Reed, White Plains, for appellant. Daniel Gartenstein, The New York Foundling Hospital, New York, for respondent. Kenneth M. Tuccillo, Hastings on Hudson, attorney for the child.
George E. Reed, White Plains, for appellant.
Daniel Gartenstein, The New York Foundling Hospital, New York, for respondent.
Kenneth M. Tuccillo, Hastings on Hudson, attorney for the child.
Friedman, J.P., Richter, Gesmer, Oing, Singh, JJ.
Order, Family Court, New York County (Adetokunbo Fasanya, J.), entered on or about February 22, 2018, which denied respondent mother's motion to vacate an order of disposition, same court and Judge, entered on or about September 19, 2017, terminating her parental rights and freeing the subject child for adoption, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
The court's denial of respondent's request for an adjournment of the fact-finding and dispositional hearings was not an abuse of discretion (see Matter of Steven B. , 24 A.D.3d 384, 385, 807 N.Y.S.2d 29 [1st Dept. 2005], affd 6 N.Y.3d 888, 817 N.Y.S.2d 599, 850 N.E.2d 646 [2006] ).
The court properly denied vacatur of the dispositional order, since respondent failed to show a reasonable excuse for her default (see CPLR 5015 ; Matter of Messiah G. [Giselle F.], 168 A.D.3d 420, 91 N.Y.S.3d 43 [1st Dept. 2019], lv dismissed in part, denied in part 32 N.Y.3d 1212, 98 N.Y.S.3d 755, 122 N.E.3d 553 [2019] ). Respondent admits that, on each of the two successive days of the fact-finding and dispositional hearings, she arrived at Family Court, checked in, but then left before her case was called. Respondent argued that she had a reasonable excuse for not appearing in court because she was ill. She does not dispute that, on the first day, she left without telling her counsel that she was leaving. Respondent's explanation for not appearing on the first day of the scheduled fact-finding hearing was unsupported by any evidence, and she admits that she did not seek medical treatment for any illness that day (see Matter of Amirah Nicole A. [Tamika R.], 73 A.D.3d 428, 901 N.Y.S.2d 178 [1st Dept. 2010], lv dismissed 15 N.Y.3d 766, 906 N.Y.S.2d 810, 933 N.E.2d 209 [2010] ). On the second day, her medical records show that respondent did not go to the hospital until approximately four hours after she was required to appear in court, and even then, was diagnosed with only mild symptoms (see Matter of Monica Irene C., 262 A.D.2d 69, 70, 691 N.Y.S.2d 466 [1st Dept. 1999] ).
Because respondent failed to establish a reasonable excuse for her default, we need not reach the issue of whether she established a meritorious defense (see U.S. Bank Nat. Ass'n v. Brown, 147 A.D.3d 428, 429–430, 46 N.Y.S.3d 107 [1st Dept. 2017] ).