Appeal from an order of the District Court of Suffolk County, First District (Vincent J. Martorana, J.), dated April 30, 2012. The order denied defendant's motion to vacate a default judgment.

ORDERED that the order is affirmed, without costs.

In this small claims action, plaintiff alleges that defendant defectively installed an asphalt driveway. Following mandatory arbitration, which resulted in an award in favor of plaintiff, defendant demanded a trial de novo (see Rules of Chief Judge [22 NYCRR] § 28.12). On the date scheduled for the trial de novo, defendant requested an adjournment, which request was granted. On the adjourned date of the trial de novo, defendant failed to appear, and, following an inquest, plaintiff was awarded the principal sum of $3,425. A judgment was thereafter entered. Defendant's subsequent motion to vacate the default judgment was denied by the District Court.

We find that the District Court did not improvidently exercise its discretion in denying defendant's motion to vacate the default judgment. In light of defendant's failure to ascertain the adjourned date of the trial de novo, defendant did not demonstrate that it had a reasonable excuse for its failure to appear on the adjourned date (see CPLR 5015 [a] [1]). In view of the foregoing, it is unnecessary to consider whether defendant sufficiently demonstrated the existence of a potentially meritorious defense to the action (see HSBC Bank USA, N.A. v Roldan, 80 AD3d 566 [2011]).

Accordingly, the order is affirmed.

LaSalle, J.P., Nicolai and Iannacci, JJ., concur.
Decision Date: January 27, 2014