Opinion
8139N Index 42063/16E
01-17-2019
Andriene L. Holder, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Sumani V. Lanka of counsel), for appellant. Mark H. Cohen & Associates P.C., Bronx (Paul J. Christ of counsel), for respondents.
Andriene L. Holder, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Sumani V. Lanka of counsel), for appellant.
Mark H. Cohen & Associates P.C., Bronx (Paul J. Christ of counsel), for respondents.
Renwick, J.P., Manzanet–Daniels, Gische, Mazzarelli, Kahn, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Mary Ann Brigantti, J.), entered on or about October 31, 2017, which granted defendants' cross motion to vacate the default judgment entered against Richard Liriano and Jacob Schwartz, compelled plaintiff to accept a late answer, and deemed the proposed verified answer to have been served on plaintiff, and denied as moot plaintiff's motion for partial reargument of her motion for a default judgment, unanimously affirmed, without costs, as to the cross motion, and the appeal otherwise dismissed, without costs, as taken from a nonappealable order.
The motion court did not abuse its discretion, as defendants demonstrated both a reasonable excuse for their default (see Oberon Sec. LLC v. Parmar, 135 A.D.3d 446, 21 N.Y.S.3d 889 [1st Dept. 2016] ), and a meritorious defense to plaintiff's claims (see Mutual Marine Off., Inc. v. Joy Constr. Corp., 39 A.D.3d 417, 419, 835 N.Y.S.2d 88 [1st Dept. 2007). Moreover, plaintiff cannot demonstrate prejudice (see Silverio v. City of New York, 266 A.D.2d 129, 698 N.Y.S.2d 669 [1st Dept. 1999] ), and public policy favors resolving cases on their merits (see Yea Soon Chung v. Mid Queens LP, 139 A.D.3d 490, 29 N.Y.S.3d 805 [1st Dept. 2016] ). The denial of reargument is not appealable ( Oyang v. NYU Hosp. Ctr, 139 A.D.3d 531, 30 N.Y.S.3d 548 [1st Dept. 2016] ).