Opinion
2014-696 K C
12-02-2015
Mehr Properties, LLC, Respondent, v. Nadia Fonrose, Appellant.
PRESENT: :
Appeal from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Kings County (Bruce E. Scheckowitz, J.), dated April 10, 2014. The order denied tenant's motion to, in effect, stay the execution of the warrant of eviction in a nonpayment summary proceeding.
ORDERED that the order is affirmed, without costs.
In this nonpayment proceeding to recover unpaid rent for the months of July, August and September 2013, the parties, on September 26, 2013, entered into a so-ordered stipulation of settlement in which it was agreed that landlord would be awarded a final judgment of possession and that a warrant of eviction would issue forthwith, to be stayed pending tenant's payment of specified funds by specified dates. After defaulting in making the payments due, tenant filed three orders to show cause (one in October 2013 and two in February 2014) by which she sought, in effect, to stay the execution of the warrant of eviction and additional time to pay the monies she owed to landlord. On February 6, 2014, the parties entered into another so-ordered stipulation of settlement in which tenant agreed to pay specified funds by a specified date, and which stated that the warrant was to execute forthwith if tenant defaulted. The stipulation also stated that landlord did not consent to any further extensions. Tenant again failed to make payment as required by the stipulation and, thereafter, filed a fourth order to show cause to, in effect, stay the execution of the warrant of eviction and for additional time to pay the monies she owed to landlord. By order dated April 10, 2014, the Civil Court denied tenant's motion.
Settlement stipulations are favored and will not be undone absent proof that the settlement was obtained by fraud, collusion, mistake, accident or other ground sufficient to invalidate a contract (see Hallock v State of New York, 64 NY2d 224 [1984]; Matter of Frutiger, 29 NY2d 143 [1971]). Tenant has never demonstrated any such ground to invalidate the stipulations, and as her multiple defaults under the stipulations were not de minimis, inadvertent or promptly cured, tenant showed no proper basis to stay the execution of the warrant (see Austin Clayton Holdings, LLC v Taylor, 48 Misc 3d 132[A], 2015 NY Slip Op 51059[U] [App Term, 2d, 11th & 13th Jud Dists 2015]; First Pine Realty Corp. v Morales, 28 Misc 3d 126[A], 2010 NY Slip Op 51138[U] [App Term, 1st Dept 2010]).
Accordingly, the order is affirmed.
Elliot, J.P., Pesce and Solomon, JJ., concur.
Decision Date: December 02, 2015