| Pickett v Federated Dept. Stores, Inc. |
| 2010 NY Slip Op 09902 [79 AD3d 1116] |
| December 28, 2010 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| Joyce Pickett et al., Respondents, v Federated DepartmentStores, Inc., Appellant. |
—[*1] Berkman Law Office, LLC, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Daniel Shimko of counsel), for respondents.
In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, etc., the defendant appeals from anorder of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Schmidt, J.), dated January 6, 2010, which grantedthe plaintiffs' motion to vacate the dismissal of the complaint and to restore the action to activestatus.
Ordered that the order is reversed, on the facts and in the exercise of discretion, with costs,and the plaintiffs' motion to vacate the dismissal of the complaint and to restore the action toactive status is denied.
The complaint in this action was dismissed on or about July 6, 2001, after the plaintiffs failedto comply with an order directing them to file a note of issue by June 25, 2001. The plaintiffs'motion to vacate the dismissal of the complaint and to restore the action to active status wasmade almost eight years after the complaint was dismissed, and almost 11 years after the subjectaccident. In light of the inexcusable delay of nearly eight years in moving to vacate the dismissalof the complaint and the prejudice to the defendant caused by the delay, the plaintiffs' motionshould have been denied pursuant to the doctrine of laches (see Rosenstrauss v Women's Imaging Ctr. of Orange County, 56 AD3d454, 454-455 [2008]; Lewis v NewYork City Tr. Auth., 38 AD3d 201 [2007]).
In light of our determination, we need not address the defendant's remaining contention.Rivera, J.P., Covello, Eng, Leventhal and Austin, JJ., concur.