| Kim v S&M Caterers, Inc. |
| 2013 NY Slip Op 08050 [112 AD3d 581] |
| December 4, 2013 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| Jihun Kim et al., Respondents, v S&M Caterers,Inc., Doing Business as Leonard's, Defendant, and Sansoogapsan II, Inc.,Appellant. |
—[*1] Steven Louros, New York, N.Y., for respondents.
In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, etc., the defendantSansoogapsan II, Inc., appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County(Butler, J.), dated November 16, 2012, which denied its motion pursuant to CPLR 5015(a) (1) to vacate an order of the same court dated August 1, 2012, granting that branch ofthe plaintiffs' unopposed motion which was for leave to enter a default judgment againstit upon its failure to appear or answer the complaint.
Ordered that the order dated November 16, 2012, is affirmed, with costs.
A defendant seeking to vacate a default must provide a reasonable excuse for thedefault and demonstrate a potentially meritorious defense to the action (seeCPLR 5015 [a] [1]; Eugene Di Lorenzo, Inc. v A.C. Dutton Lbr. Co., 67 NY2d138, 141 [1986]; Yao PingTang v Grand Estate, LLC, 77 AD3d 822, 822-823 [2010]). "A decision tovacate a prior order or judgment rests in the sound discretion of the court and will beupheld in the absence of an improvident exercise of that discretion" (Epps v LaSalleBus, 271 AD2d 400, 400 [2000]; see Kohn v Kohn, 86 AD3d 630 [2011]).
Here, the appellant did not offer a reasonable excuse for its failure to appear oranswer the complaint (seeMaida v Lessing's Rest. Servs., Inc., 80 AD3d 732, 733 [2011]; Gartner v Unified Windows, Doors& Siding, Inc., 71 AD3d 631, 632 [2010]; Fekete v Camp Skwere, 16 AD3d 544, 545 [2005]).Accordingly, it is unnecessary to consider whether the appellant sufficientlydemonstrated the existence of a potentially meritorious defense to the action (seeMaida v Lessing's Rest. Servs., Inc., 80 AD3d at 733; Abdul v Hirschfield, 71 AD3d707, 709 [2010]). Dillon, J.P., Leventhal, Chambers and Miller, JJ., concur.