| Artcorp Inc. v Citirich Realty Corp. |
| 2016 NY Slip Op 04315 [140 AD3d 417] |
| June 2, 2016 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
[*1]
| Artcorp Inc., Appellant, v Citirich Realty Corp.,Respondent. |
Moulinos & Associates LLC, New York (Peter Moulinos of counsel), forappellant.
Todd Rothenberg, New Rochelle, for respondent.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Nancy M. Bannon, J.), entered October 7,2015, which denied plaintiff's motion for a default judgment and granted defendant'scross motion to, among other things, compel plaintiff to accept its late answer,unanimously affirmed, with costs.
In this action seeking to prevent the termination of a commercial lease, the motioncourt providently exercised its discretion in denying plaintiff's motion, made more than ayear after defendant's purported default, and in granting defendant's cross motion (see Guzetti v City of NewYork, 32 AD3d 234, 238 [1st Dept 2006]). Defendant provided a reasonableexcuse for the delay in answering the complaint (see CPLR 2005, 3012 [d]; Marine v Montefiore Health Sys.,Inc., 129 AD3d 428, 429 [1st Dept 2015]), and the record clearly demonstratesthat defendant did not intend to abandon the case, since it appeared in opposition toplaintiff's motion for a Yellowstone injunction and in opposition to plaintiff'sappeal from the order denying that motion (124 AD3d 545 [1st Dept 2015]). Plaintifffailed to show that it suffered any prejudice as a result of defendant's delay, and thestrong public policy in favor of resolving cases on the merits warranted denial ofplaintiff's motion (see Marine, 129 AD3d at 429). Although it was not"essential," defendant also showed a meritorious defense (Jones v 414 Equities LLC, 57AD3d 65, 81 [1st Dept 2008]; Guzetti, 32 AD3d at 238).Concur—Acosta, J.P., Saxe, Gische, Webber and Kahn, JJ.