Appeal from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Queens County (Ingrid Joseph, J.), entered February 24, 2009. The order, insofar as appealed from as limited by the brief, granted defendant's motion to vacate a default judgment.

ORDERED that the order, insofar as appealed from, is reversed without costs, defendant's motion to vacate the default judgment is denied, and the default judgment is reinstated.

In this subrogation action, a default judgment was entered in favor of plaintiff. Defendant moved to vacate the default judgment, and the Civil Court granted the motion. This appeal by plaintiff ensued.

A defendant seeking to vacate a default judgment must demonstrate a reasonable excuse for the default and a meritorious defense to the action (see CPLR 5015 [a] [1]; Eugene Di Lorenzo, Inc. v A.C. Dutton Lbr. Co., 67 NY2d 138, 141 [1986]). Although defendant proffered a reasonable excuse for his default (see Hodges v Sidial, 48 AD3d 633 [2008]; Birky v Katsilogiannis, 37 AD3d 631 [2007]; Vollaro v Bevilacqua, 33 AD3d 910 [2006]; State Farm Ins. Co. v Champion Furniture, Inc., 22 Misc 3d 134[A], 2009 NY Slip Op 50238[U] [App Term, 2d, 11th & 13th Jud Dists 2009]), he did not establish a meritorious defense to the action (see Thakurdyal v 341 Scholes St., LLC, 50 AD3d 889 [2008]; Capital One Bank v Erhabor, 20 Misc 3d 132[A], 2008 NY Slip Op 51455[U] [App Term, 2d & 11th Jud Dists 2008]) in that he failed to make any showing that he was not responsible for the underlying motor vehicle accident (see State Farm Ins. Co., 22 Misc 3d 134[A], 2009 NY Slip Op 50238[U]). Consequently, it was an improvident exercise of discretion for the Civil Court to grant defendant's motion to vacate the default judgment. [*2]

Accordingly, the order, insofar as appealed from, is reversed, defendant's motion to vacate the default judgment is denied, and the default judgment is reinstated.

Pesce, P.J., Weston and Rios, JJ., concur.
Decision Date: January 29, 2010