Appeal by defendant Nathan Samuel from an order of the Civil Court, Kings County (L. Baily-Schiffman, J.), entered November 5, 2003, denying his motion to vacate a judgment entered against him upon his default, and to stay a sheriff's levy.

Order unanimously affirmed without costs.

The court below properly found that defendant Samuel demonstrated neither reasonable excuse for his default nor a meritorious defense, as required by CPLR 5015 upon a motion to vacate a default judgment (Putney v Pearlman, 203 AD2d 333 [1994]). The determination of what constitutes a reasonable excuse lies within the sound discretion of the court (Bardales v Blades, 191 AD2d 667, 668 [1993]), and the court providently exercised its discretion in this case. Defendant Samuel has never proffered any excuse for his failure to oppose the reargument of plaintiff's summary judgment motion. Nor has he shown a meritorious defense. He has admitted signing the lease papers at issue (having previously denied this) and merely claims, for the first time on appeal, that he was under the influence of "alcohol and controlled substance" [*2]and under duress when he did so.

We note that while defendant attempts to raise on the present appeal orders of the court below entered November 26 and December 23, 2002, defendant had previously taken an appeal from these orders which appeal was dismissed.
Decision Date: February 02, 2005