| Manufacturers & Traders Trust Co. v Consolidated Constr.Group, LLC |
| 2014 NY Slip Op 01153 [114 AD3d 834] |
| February 19, 2014 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company,Respondent, v Consolidated Construction Group, LLC, et al.,Appellants. |
—[*1] Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman, LLP, East Meadow, N.Y. (Thomas J. McNamaraand Erin J. O'Brien of counsel), for respondent.
In an action to recover damages for breach of contract, the defendants appeal from anorder of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Pines, J.), dated March 14, 2013, whichdenied their motion to vacate a judgment of the same court dated November 8, 2012,which was in favor of the plaintiff and against them in the total sum of $147,728.06.
Ordered that the order 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., 67NY2d 138, 141 [1986]; YaoPing Tang 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 [2000]).
Here, the appellants did not offer a reasonable excuse for their failure to appear at theinquest on damages (see Whitev Daimler Chrysler Corp., 44 AD3d 651, 651-652 [2007]; cf. Matter of Esposito, 57AD3d 894, 895 [2008]). Accordingly, it is unnecessary to consider whether theappellants sufficiently demonstrated the existence of a potentially meritorious defense(see Maida v Lessing's Rest.Servs., Inc., 80 AD3d 732, 733 [2011]; Abdul v Hirschfield, 71 AD3d 707, 709 [2010]). Rivera,J.P., Dickerson, Cohen and Hinds-Radix, JJ., concur.