Oliveras v Vornado Realty Trust
2008 NY Slip Op 07639 [55 AD3d 574]
October 7, 2008
Appellate Division, Second Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
As corrected through Wednesday, December 10, 2008


Maria Oliveras, Respondent,
v
Vornado Realty Trust et al., Defendants, and Business Maintenance Services, LLC, Appellant.

[*1] Sullivan Law Group, LLP, New York, N.Y. (Robert M. Sullivan and Sara B. Feldman of counsel), for appellant.

Joseph M. Albanese, Scarsdale, N.Y., for respondent.

In an action, inter alia, to recover damages for personal injuries, the defendant Business Maintenance Services, LLC, appeals from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Bayne, J.), dated September 21, 2007, as denied its cross motion to dismiss the complaint pursuant to CPLR 3215 (c) on the ground that the plaintiff failed to move for leave to enter a default judgment against it within one year.

Ordered that the order is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs.

The Supreme Court did not improvidently exercise its discretion in denying the defendant's cross motion to dismiss the complaint pursuant to CPLR 3215 (c) on the ground that the plaintiff had failed to move for leave to enter a default judgment against it within one year. The plaintiff's counsel adequately explained the reason for the failure, and the plaintiff's affidavit demonstrated the existence of a meritorious claim (see State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v Rodriguez, 12 AD3d 662 [2004]; cf. Costello v Reilly, 36 AD3d 581 [2007]). Rivera, J.P., Florio, Angiolillo, McCarthy and Chambers, JJ., concur.