| Immigration Servs. for New Ams. v Monchas |
| 2015 NY Slip Op 05158 [129 AD3d 913] |
| June 17, 2015 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
| Immigration Services for New Americans, Doing
Business as Easy Leasing, Respondent, v Ilya Monchas et al., Appellants. |
Powell & Roman, LLC, New York, N.Y. (Robert G. Androsiglio of counsel), for appellants.
Law Offices of David O'Connor, P.C., Brooklyn, N.Y., for respondent.
In an action to recover damages for breach of contract, the defendants appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Bunyan, J.), dated March 12, 2014, which denied their motion pursuant to CPLR 5015 (a) (1) to vacate a judgment of the same court dated June 18, 2013, entered upon their failure to appear or answer, and for leave to serve a late answer.
Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs.
To vacate the judgment entered upon their default in appearing in this action, the
defendants were required to demonstrate a reasonable excuse for their default and a
potentially meritorious defense to the action (see Stephan B. Gleich & Assoc. v Gritsipis, 87 AD3d
216, 221 [2011]; Cuzzo v
Cuzzo, 65 AD3d 1274 [2009]; Verde Elec. Corp. v Federal Ins. Co., 50 AD3d 672,
672-673 [2008]). The bare and unsupported allegations of the defendant Ilya Monchas,
who was also the president of the defendant Brooklyn Style Leasing, Inc., that he relied
on the erroneous legal advice of an unidentified person in deciding not to do anything in
response to the summons with notice, were insufficient to demonstrate a reasonable
excuse for the default in appearing in this action and for the subsequent
2
The defendants' remaining contentions that the plaintiff failed to comply with the requirements of CPLR 3215 (f) and (g) (3) are not properly before this Court (see Wilson v Galicia Contr. & Restoration Corp., 10 NY3d 827, 829-830 [2008]). Dillon, J.P., Leventhal, Roman, Sgroi and Hinds-Radix, JJ., concur.