| Franco v Quinones |
| 2018 NY Slip Op 50515(U) [59 Misc 3d 136(A)] |
| Decided on April 6, 2018 |
| Appellate Term, Second Department |
| Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
| This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports. |
Kema Quinones, appellant pro se. Camille Franco, respondent pro se.
Appeal from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Kings County (Robin Kelly Sheares, J.), entered January 23, 2017. The order denied defendant's motion to vacate a judgment of that court entered December 6, 2016 upon defendant's failure to appear at trial.
ORDERED that the order is reversed, without costs, and defendant's motion to vacate the judgment entered December 6, 2016 upon his failure to appear at trial is granted.
In this small claims action to recover unpaid rent in the amount of $4,400, defendant appeals from an order of the Civil Court entered January 23, 2017 denying his motion to vacate a judgment of that court entered December 6, 2016 upon defendant's failure to appear at trial.
In a small claims action, our review is limited to a determination of whether "substantial justice has . . . been done between the parties according to the rules and principles of substantive law" (CCA 1807; see CCA 1804; Ross v Friedman, 269 AD2d 584 [2000]; Williams v Roper, 269 AD2d 125 [2000]). Here substantial justice was not done as defendant established a reasonable excuse for his default and a potentially meritorious defense (see Eugene Di Lorenzo, Inc. v A.C. Dutton Lbr. Co., 67 NY2d 138, 141 [1986]).
Accordingly, the order is reversed and defendant's motion to vacate the judgment entered December 6, 2016 upon his failure to appear at trial is granted.
ELLIOT, J.P., PESCE and SIEGAL, JJ., concur.