Edward S. Gutman v. Brancoleone

• Court: Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York
• Decided: June 29, 2017
• Docket: 2017 NYSlipOp 50886(U)
• Status: Published

Opinion

Edward S. Gutman, Respondent,

against

Peter Brancoleone, Jr., Appellant.

Peter Brancoleone, Jr., appellant pro se. Jules A. Epstein, P.C., for respondent.

Appeal from an order of the District Court of Nassau County, First District (Robert E. Pipia, J.), entered April 29, 2015. The order denied defendant's motion to vacate a default judgment of the same court entered November 20, 2014 upon defendant's failure to appear or answer the complaint.

ORDERED that the order is affirmed, without costs.

Upon defendant's failure to appear or answer the complaint in this action to recover on a loan, a default judgment was entered in plaintiff's favor on November 20, 2014 in the principal sum of $15,000. Thereafter, by order entered April 29, 2015, the District Court denied defendant's motion to vacate the default judgment.

Upon a review of the record, we find that the District Court did not improvidently exercise its discretion in denying defendant's motion, since defendant failed to demonstrate that he had a meritorious defense (see CPLR 5015 [a] [1]; Eugene Di Lorenzo, Inc. v A.C. Dutton Lbr. Co., 67 NY2d 138, 141 [1986]; see also Garal Wholesalers, Ltd. v Raven Brands, Inc., 82 AD3d 1041 [2011]; Lener v Club Med. Inc., 168 AD2d 433 [1990]; Wilcox v Parkland Dev. Corp., 157 AD2d 998 [1990]; Newsday, Inc. v Exotic & Unique Cars, Inc., 33 Misc 3d 140[A], 2011 NY Slip Op 52135[U] [App Term, 2d Dept, 2d, 11th & 13th Jud Dists 2011]).

Accordingly, the order is affirmed.

Marano, P.J., Garguilo and Brands, JJ., concur.

ENTER:
Paul Kenny
Chief Clerk
Decision Date: June 29, 2017