Opinion
2002-03931
Submitted January 22, 2003.
February 24, 2003.
In an action, inter alia, to recover damages for breach of contract, the defendants appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Dowd, J.), dated September 18, 2001, which granted the plaintiff's motion to vacate an order of the same court, dated July 9, 2001, granting, without opposition, the defendants' motion to stay the prosecution of the action pending arbitration and to compel arbitration.
Scheichet Davis, P.C., New York, N.Y. (William J. Davis of counsel), for appellants William Sharrin and Joseph Rechis, and McCabe Associates, New York, N.Y., for appellants Michael Skeahan and Prolight Electric Corporation (one brief filed).
Ursula A. Gangemi, Brooklyn, N.Y., for respondent.
Before: FRED T. SANTUCCI, J.P., GABRIEL M. KRAUSMAN, LEO F. McGINITY, ROBERT W. SCHMIDT, STEPHEN G. CRANE, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the order is affirmed, with costs.
To vacate a default, the movant must establish that its default was excusable (see Matter of Kindra B., 296 A.D.2d 456, 458; Matter of Santiago v. Santiago, 275 A.D.2d 429, 430) and that it has a meritorious claim or defense (cf. Szilaski v. Aphrodite Constr. Co., 247 A.D.2d 532; Roussodimou v. Zafiriadis, 238 A.D.2d 568). We agree with the Supreme Court that the plaintiff demonstrated both an excusable default and a meritorious defense to the defendants' underlying motion to stay the action pending arbitration. Thus, the Supreme Court properly vacated the order granting the defendant's motion to stay the prosecution of this action and to compel arbitration.
SANTUCCI, J.P., KRAUSMAN, McGINITY, SCHMIDT and CRANE, JJ., concur.