Opinion
Calendar 21-133Æ
01-07-2022
Rosita Ortiz, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Ivan Lanzo, Elizabeth Lanzo, Dominga Nieves Lanzo, Defendants-Respondents,
Unpublished Opinion
Plaintiff appeals from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, New York County (Phaedra F. Perry, J.), entered on February 19, 2021, which denied her motion, in effect, to vacate a July 27, 2015 order granting on default defendant Ivan Lanzo's motion to dismiss the complaint.
PRESENT: Edmead, P.J., McShan, Silvera, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Order (Phaedra F. Perry, J.), entered on February 19, 2021, affirmed, without costs.
Civil Court providently exercised its discretion in declining to vacate plaintiff's default in responding to defendant's motion to dismiss. Plaintiff failed to demonstrate a reasonable excuse for her default (see GEM Invs. Am., LLC v Marquez, 180 A.D.3d 513 [2020]). Plaintiff's proffered excuse, i.e., that illness prevented her from opposing the motion, was unsupported and unsubstantiated (see Guerre v Trustees of Columbia Univ. in City of NY, 300 A.D.2d 29 [2002]).Nor did plaintiff set forth any excuse for the more than four year delay in moving to vacate the default (see Maruf v E.B. Mgt. Props., LLC, 181 A.D.3d 670, 672 [2020]), particularly after having been expressly advised of such remedy by this Court (see Ortiz v Lanzo, 50 Misc.3d 130 [A], 2016 NY Slip Op 50004[U] [App Term, 1st Dept 2016]).
Since plaintiff failed to demonstrate a reasonable excuse for her default, which is a necessary precondition to relief under CPLR 5015(a)(1), her motion to vacate must be denied, regardless of whether she demonstrated a potentially meritorious opposition to the motion (see M.R. v 2526 Valentine LLC, 58 A.D.3d 530 [2009]).
In any event, we note that plaintiff failed to demonstrate a potentially meritorious defense to the dismissal motion (see Karimian v Karlin, 173 A.D.3d 614 [2019] , lv dismissed 35 N.Y.3d 932 [2020]), which was premised upon the record evidence showing that a prior action involving the same subject matter was previously litigated and dismissed.
All concur.