Appeal by plaintiff from an order of the Civil Court, Queens County (A. Gazzara, J.), entered May 20, 2003, which granted defendants' motion to vacate a judgment entered on default.

Order unanimously affirmed without costs.

In the case at bar, the matter was adjourned once by defendants to obtain counsel and a second time in order to allow counsel to review pretrial discovery. The matter appeared for trial on February 4, 2003, was adjourned due to court congestion to the morning of February 5, and again to that afternoon at 2:00 P.M. Defendants' counsel apprised the court of a prior commitment for that afternoon. The court required
defendants to appear and upon their failure to do so, proceeded to inquest. Under the circumstances presented and since defendant Nicole Edwards established a meritorious defense by alleging in her affidavit payment of the back rent allegedly owed, the lower court did not abuse its discretion in vacating the judgment entered on default.
Decision Date: May 04, 2004