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Rosehaft v. Express Leasing, Inc.

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Jan 11, 1990
157 A.D.2d 496 (N.Y. App. Div. 1990)

Opinion

January 11, 1990

Appeal from the Supreme Court, Bronx County (Anita Florio, J.).


In this action plaintiff sought to recover monetary damages for personal injuries sustained on September 6, 1985 in Bronx County, as a result of being struck by a motor vehicle alleged to have been owned by the defendant. Jurisdiction over the defendant, a nonresident Florida-based car rental agency, and a subsequent default judgment were obtained pursuant to Vehicle and Traffic Law § 253.

The record below reveals that the IAS court properly vacated the default and dismissed the complaint for lack of jurisdiction and for failure to state a cause of action.

The evidence established a lack of personal jurisdiction over the defendant, a justifiable excuse for the default, and a meritorious defense in that plaintiff established no connection between the defendant and the offending vehicle other than the fact that a Florida license plate, which had been reported to the police as stolen from the automobile registered to the defendant several days prior to the alleged accident, had been affixed to the vehicle which struck the plaintiff.

As Vehicle and Traffic Law § 253 could not be used to obtain personal jurisdiction over the defendant, based upon the stated facts, the default judgment rendered without jurisdiction was properly vacated. (CPLR 317, 5015 [a] [4]; Vehicle and Traffic Law § 253; Royal Zenith Corp. v. Continental Ins. Co., 63 N.Y.2d 975, 977; Taieb v. Hilton Hotels Corp., 60 N.Y.2d 725, 728; Merling Marx Seidman v. Repo Auto Warehouse, 105 A.D.2d 675 [1st Dept 1984].)

Concur — Ross, J.P., Asch, Milonas, Kassal and Smith, JJ.


Summaries of

Rosehaft v. Express Leasing, Inc.

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Jan 11, 1990
157 A.D.2d 496 (N.Y. App. Div. 1990)
Case details for

Rosehaft v. Express Leasing, Inc.

Case Details

Full title:SELMA ROSEHAFT, Appellant, v. EXPRESS LEASING, INC., Respondent

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

Date published: Jan 11, 1990

Citations

157 A.D.2d 496 (N.Y. App. Div. 1990)
549 N.Y.S.2d 685