Opinion
June 24, 1991
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Richmond County (Amann, J.).
Ordered that the order is reversed, on the law, with costs, the defendants' motion is granted, the plaintiffs' cross motion is denied, and the action is dismissed.
It is well settled that for a plaintiff to avoid dismissal of the action for failure to timely serve a complaint, a reasonable excuse for the delay and the meritorious nature of the claim must be demonstrated (Marion v Notre Dame Academy High School, 133 A.D.2d 614; Benson v Rana Mgt., 131 A.D.2d 798). The plaintiffs herein did not proffer a reasonable excuse for their failure to timely serve the complaint despite the written stipulation extending the time within which the complaint was to be served. Further, since the complaint was not verified by the plaintiffs, it did not constitute an affidavit of merit (see, Oversby v Linde Div., 121 A.D.2d 373; cf., CPLR 105 [t]) and the plaintiffs otherwise failed to establish the meritorious nature of their action. Accordingly, the defendants' motion should have been granted, the plaintiffs' cross motion should have been denied, and the action should have been dismissed (see, Kel Mgt. Corp. v Rogers Wells, 64 N.Y.2d 904). Bracken, J.P., Kooper, Lawrence, Balletta and O'Brien, JJ., concur.