| Rubinfeld v County of Suffolk |
| 2008 NY Slip Op 07227 [54 AD3d 1016] |
| September 30, 2008 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| Joshua Rubinfeld, Appellant, v County of Suffolk,Respondent. |
—[*1] Christine Malafi, County Attorney, Hauppauge, N.Y. (Christopher A. Jeffreys of counsel),for respondent.
In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the plaintiff appeals, as limited by hisbrief, from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Emerson, J.), datedSeptember 17, 2007, as denied that branch of his motion which was to vacate a prior order of thesame court dated January 23, 2007, granting the defendant's unopposed motion for summaryjudgment dismissing the complaint.
Ordered that the order is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs.
In an order dated January 23, 2007, the Supreme Court granted the defendant's motion forsummary judgment dismissing the complaint, without opposition from the plaintiff. In the orderappealed from, the Supreme Court, inter alia, denied that branch of the plaintiff's motion whichwas to vacate that order. We affirm the order insofar as appealed from.
While the plaintiff arguably established a reasonable excuse for failing to oppose thesummary judgment motion, he failed to demonstrate that he had a meritorious opposition to themotion (see generally Simpson vTommy Hilfiger U.S.A., Inc., 48 AD3d 389 [2008]). In that regard, we note that theplaintiff did not even attempt, in his motion to vacate his default, to establish that he had a [*2]meritorious cause of action.
In light of our determination, we need not reach the plaintiff's remaining contentions. Fisher,J.P., Lifson, Covello, Balkin and Belen, JJ., concur.