Appeal from a judgment of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Kings County (Robin S. Garson, J.), entered January 12, 2012. The judgment, after a nonjury trial, dismissed the action insofar as asserted against defendant Kingstone Insurance Company. The appeal from the judgment brings up for review so much of an order of the same court entered January 12, 2012 as granted the branch of defendants' motion seeking to vacate a prior default judgment insofar as it was against defendant Kingstone Insurance Company.

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed, without costs.

Plaintiff commenced this small claims action to recover the sum of $4,959.34, alleging that a delay by defendant Kingstone Insurance Company (Kingstone) in paying a hospital bill had caused damage to his credit. Defendant Nancy Reiersen's motion to dismiss the action insofar as asserted against her was denied without prejudice to renewal if it were established at trial that [*2]Reiersen was not a necessary party. The matter was adjourned, defendants failed to appear on the adjourned date and, after an inquest, plaintiff was awarded a default judgment in the sum of $4,959.34. Defendants subsequently moved to, among other things, vacate the default judgment. In support of the motion, defendants' attorney submitted an affirmation in which he averred that he had been unable to appear because he had been injured in a motor vehicle accident on his way to court. Defendants also argued that Kingstone had timely denied the claim for medical services provided to plaintiff, as the hospital bill in question had not been submitted to Kingstone within 45 days of plaintiff's treatment. The Civil Court granted defendants' motion, vacated the default judgment and dismissed so much of the complaint as was against defendant Nancy Reiersen. The action, insofar as it was against defendant Kingstone, proceeded to trial, following which a judgment was entered in favor of Kingstone. This appeal by plaintiff ensued.

The Civil Court did not improvidently exercise its discretion in granting the branch of defendants' motion seeking to vacate the default judgment insofar as it was against defendant Kingstone, as Kingstone proffered a reasonable excuse for the default and a meritorious defense to the claim (see CPLR 5015 [a] [1]; Eugene Di Lorenzo, Inc. v A.C. Dutton Lbr. Co., 67 NY2d 138, 141 [1986]). At the nonjury trial which followed, plaintiff failed to articulate any cognizable cause of action against Kingstone which would entitle him to relief. Consequently, we find that the Civil Court rendered substantial justice in dismissing so much of the complaint as was against defendant Kingstone (see CCA 1804, 1807). Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed.

The decision and order of this court entered herein on July 1, 2013 (40 Misc 3d 129[A], 2013 NY Slip Op 51111[U]) are hereby recalled and vacated (see motion decided simultaneously herewith).

Pesce, P.J., Weston and Rios, JJ., concur.