Appeal from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Queens County (Ulysses B. Leverett, J.), entered November 9, 2005. The order granted tenant's motion for restoration to possession conditioned upon the tender of $3,623.55.

Order reversed without costs and tenant's motion seeking to be restored to possession denied.

In this nonpayment summary proceeding, the parties entered into a stipulation of settlement which, inter alia, provided that landlord would have final judgment in the sum of $3,623.55 and that tenant would pay $630.91 on August 31, September 23, October 17, and November 18, 2005. Tenant defaulted in making timely payments due thereunder. It is well-settled that "[s]tipulations of [s]ettlement are favored by the courts and not lightly cast aside" (Hallock v State of New York, 64 NY2d 224, 230 [1984] [citations omitted]). "Only where there is cause sufficient to invalidate a contract, such as fraud, collusion, mistake or accident, will a party be relieved from the consequences of a stipulation made during litigation" (id.). Tenant's [*2]unexplained and repeated failure to make timely payments due under said stipulation did not constitute a de minimis default, and the stipulation at issue here should have been enforced. Consequently, the motion for restoration to possession should have been denied by the court below. Pesce, P.J., Weston Patterson and Golia, JJ., concur.
Decision Date: March 28, 2007