Opinion
No. 2013–1109 KC.
2014-06-13
HSBC BANK Formerly Known as Marine Midland Bank, Respondent, v. Ivan NEDD, Appellant.
Present: PESCE, P.J., SOLOMON and ELLIOT, JJ.
Appeal from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Kings County (Noach Dear, J.), entered March 12, 2013. The order denied defendant's motion to vacate a stipulation of settlement and the judgment entered pursuant thereto.
ORDERED that the order is affirmed, without costs.
In this action to recover the principal sum of $2,027.14, the parties entered into a stipulation of settlement which provided that defendant would pay plaintiff $1,000 in monthly installments of $50. After defendant defaulted in making the required payments, a judgment was entered against defendant pursuant to the stipulation of settlement. Defendant moved to vacate the stipulation of settlement and the judgment entered pursuant thereto. In support of the motion, defendant asserted that he had lost his job. Plaintiff opposed the motion on the ground that defendant failed to demonstrate a valid basis for vacatur. The Civil Court denied defendant's motion.
Settlement stipulations are favored and will not be undone absent proof that the settlement was obtained by fraud, mistake, collusion, accident or other grounds sufficient to invalidate a contract ( see Hallock v. State of New York, 64 N.Y.2d 224 [1984]; Matter of Frutiger, 29 N.Y.2d 143 [1971] ). Here, no such grounds were alleged ( see Nash v. Yablon–Nash, 61 A.D.3d 832 [2009] ).
Accordingly, the order is affirmed.