Opinion
No. 2013–2356 Q C.
07-27-2015
Jose A. RODRIGUEZ, Respondent, v. NEW YORK MOTOR GROUP, LLC, Appellant.
Opinion
Appeal from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Queens County (Barry A. Schwartz, J.), entered October 8, 2013. The order denied defendant's motion to vacate a default judgment.
ORDERED that the order is affirmed, without costs.
Plaintiff commenced this small claims action to recover the principal sum of $4,700, representing the deposit plaintiff had made in connection with his purchase of a used car. After defendant failed to answer or appear, the Civil Court (William A. Viscovich, J .), by order dated March 7, 2013, awarded plaintiff a default judgment in the principal sum of $4,700. Defendant subsequently moved to vacate the default judgment. By order dated May 6, 2013, the Civil Court (Jodi Orlow, J.) granted defendant's motion and adjourned the case to August 6, 2013 for trial. On August 6th, defendant failed to appear, and an inquest was held, after which the Civil Court (Jodi Orlow, J.) awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $4,700. Thereafter, defendant moved to vacate the August 2013 default judgment, and the Civil Court (Barry A. Schwartz, J.), by order dated October 3, 2013, denied the motion. Upon a review of the record, we find that the Civil Court did not improvidently exercise its discretion in denying defendant's motion to vacate the August 2013 default judgment since defendant failed to demonstrate that it had a reasonable excuse for its default in appearing on August 6, 2013 (see CPLR 5015[a]1; Eugene Di Lorenzo, Inc. v.. A.C. Dutton Lbr. Co., 67 N.Y.2d 138, 141 1986 ).
Accordingly, the order is affirmed.
PESCE, P.J., ALIOTTA and ELLIOT, JJ., concur.