Opinion
2009-871 Q C.
Decided February 19, 2010.
Appeal from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Queens County (Gerald Dunbar, J.), entered August 14, 2008. The order, insofar as appealed from as limited by the brief, granted defendant's motion to vacate a default judgment.
ORDERED that the order, insofar as appealed from, is reversed without costs, defendant's motion to vacate the default judgment is denied, and the default judgment is reinstated.
PRESENT: PESCE, P.J., WESTON and RIOS, JJ.
In this subrogation action, a default judgment was entered in favor of plaintiff. Defendant moved to vacate the default judgment, and the Civil Court granted the motion. This appeal by plaintiff ensued.
A defendant seeking to vacate a default judgment must demonstrate a reasonable excuse for the default and a meritorious defense to the action ( see CPLR 5015 [a] [1]; Eugene Di Lorenzo, Inc. v A.C. Dutton Lbr. Co., 67 NY2d 138, 141). Defendant did neither. His mere assertion that he "was moving and was out of state at the time of court date," without more, was not a reasonable excuse for his default. Nor did he establish a meritorious defense to the action since he failed to make any showing that he was not responsible for the underlying motor vehicle accident ( see State Farm Ins. Co. v Champion Furniture, Inc. , 22 Misc 3d 134 [A], 2009 NY Slip Op 50238[U] [App Term, 2d, 11th 13th Jud Dists 2009]). Consequently, it was an improvident exercise of discretion for the Civil Court to grant defendant's motion to vacate the default judgment.
Accordingly, the order, insofar as appealed from, is reversed, defendant's motion to vacate the default judgment is denied, and the default judgment is reinstated.
Pesce, P.J., Weston and Rios, JJ., concur.