Appeal from an order of the District Court of Suffolk County, Third District (C. Stephen Hackeling, J.), dated November 21, 2008. The order granted defendant's motion to vacate a default judgment, entered upon defendant's failure to appear for arbitration, and the underlying arbitration award.

ORDERED that the order is affirmed without costs.

In this small claims action to recover for defendant's allegedly negligent repair of plaintiff's automobile, defendant failed to appear at an arbitration hearing scheduled for June 30, 2008, and plaintiff was awarded the principal sum of $833.16. On September 10, 2008, a judgment was entered against defendant pursuant to the arbitrator's award. In October 2008, defendant moved to vacate the default judgment and arbitrator's
award, which motion the District Court granted by order dated November 21, 2008. The instant appeal by plaintiff ensued.

The standard for vacating a judgment and an arbitrator's award, entered upon a party's failure to appear at an arbitration hearing mandated by the Rules of the Chief Judge (22 NYCRR part 28), is set forth in section 28.7 (a) as follows:
"§ 28.7 Defaults (a) . . . The judgment, if any, the default and the award may be vacated and the action may be restored to the arbitration calendar only upon order of the court where the action was commenced or, if the action was transferred, the court to which it was transferred, upon good cause shown."

Defendant showed good cause for vacatur by its assertions that it did not appear at the arbitration hearing because, pursuant to the conversation defendant's president had with plaintiff, he was under the impression that plaintiff was submitting a claim to the warranty company and was going to discontinue the lawsuit; that the work defendant did on plaintiff's vehicle in December 2006 was not the cause for the repair work done on plaintiff's car at another shop in February 2007; and that plaintiff, in fact, received payment for the February work from the warranty company. In view of the foregoing, we are of the opinion that the order granting defendant's motion to vacate the default judgment and the arbitrator's award rendered substantial justice between the parties according to the rules and principles of substantive law (see UDCA [*2]1807; Williams v Roper, 269 AD2d 125 [2000]). Accordingly, the order is affirmed.
Nicolai, P.J., Tanenbaum and Molia, JJ., concur.
Decision Date: April 08, 2010