Mercado v. Allstate Life Ins. Co. of N.Y

Full title: TRACEY MERCADO, Appellant, v. ALLSTATE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEW YORK…

Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department

Date published: May 18, 1993

193 A.D.2d 476 (N.Y. App. Div. 1993)

597 N.Y.S.2d 399

Opinion

May 18, 1993

Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Edward J. Greenfield, J.).

To obtain vacatur of a judgment entered on default, the movant must show both a reasonable excuse for the default and a meritorious cause of action. (Arred Enters. Corp. v Indemnity Ins. Co., 108 A.D.2d 624, 626.) Plaintiff failed to demonstrate the existence of either.

We note that in this action to recover benefits due under an accidental death benefit rider, defendant established that it would not have issued the accidental death benefit rider to plaintiff's deceased husband, the insured, at the standard rate had the decedent revealed his three prior traffic violations on the application (Insurance Law § 3105 [b]; Geer v Union Mut. Life Ins. Co., 273 N.Y. 261).

We have considered plaintiff's other contentions and find them to be without merit.

Concur — Murphy, P.J., Sullivan, Rosenberger, Ross and Asch, JJ.