Tenant appeals from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Bronx County (Donald A. Miles, J.), dated April 8, 2008, which denied its motion to vacate a default final judgment issued against it in a holdover summary proceeding.

Per Curiam.

Order (Donald A. Miles, J.), dated April 8, 2008, reversed, without costs, motion granted, default final judgment vacated, and matter remanded for further proceedings.

In light of the strong policy of the courts in favor of deciding cases on their merits (see Dokmecian v ABN AMRO N. Am, 304 AD2d 445 [2003]), we exercise our discretion to grant tenant's motion to vacate the default final judgment where it demonstrated a reasonable excuse for its brief default, as found by the motion court and now conceded by landlord, as well as a possible meritorious defense to the commercial holdover petition. In this latter regard, we note the prior unappealed denial of landlord's motion for summary judgment dismissing the related (and, so far as known, still pending) Supreme Court action previously instituted by tenant, with the court finding triable issues with respect to the enforceability of the contract of sale herein relied upon by tenant.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.
Decision Date: May 06, 2009