Opinion
570812/03.
Decided October 5, 2004.
Plaintiff appeals from an order of the Civil Court, New York County, dated June 2, 2003 (Jose A. Padilla, Jr., J.) which granted defendant's motion to vacate a default judgment.
Order dated June 2, 2003 (Jose A. Padilla, Jr., J.) modified so as to provide that the grant of defendant's motion shall be on condition that, within 30 days of service of a copy of this order with notice of entry, defendant pay plaintiff $1,250 costs; as modified, order affirmed, without costs.
PRESENT: HON. LUCINDO SUAREZ, P.J., HON. PHYLLIS GANGEL-JACOB, HON. MARTIN SCHOENFELD, Justices.
The motion court appropriately granted vacatur relief to defendant, in view of the strong policy preference for resolving disputes on the merits ( see Smith v. Kessner, 307 AD2d 854, 855) and the existence of a potentially meritorious defense as evidenced by the denial of plaintiff's prior motion for summary judgment. While defendant's excuse for their defaults was not compelling, the record reflects a substitution of defense counsel and resulting confusion as to the status of the case ( see Rooney v. Webb Ave. Assocs., Ltd., 1 AD3d 246). We have imposed costs upon defendant to compensate plaintiff for the inconvenience caused by defendant's defaults.
This constitutes the decision and order of the court.