Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2012

Galaxy General Contracting Corp. v. 2201 7th Ave. Realty LLC

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York · Decided May 31, 2012

95 A.D.3d 789; 945 N.Y.S.2d 298

Cases that cite this one

30 later published cases cite this decision. The 25 that cite it most often are listed here.

Sugin v. City of New York (New York Supreme Court, New York County 2025)
Aguilar v. TMP Wireless, Inc. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2026)
Ochoa v. Gilbane Bldg. Co. (New York Supreme Court, New York County 2024)
Bank of N.Y. Mellon v. Davis (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2023)
Liakos v. Spencer (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2023)
Acevedo v. Mojica (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2021)
Acevedo v. Mojica (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2021)
Cusumano v. Riley Land Surveyors, LLP (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2020)
Kowal v. JackFromBrooklyn Inc. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2020)
Deutsche Bank Natl. Trust Co. v. Gould (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2020)
Deutsche Bank Natl. Trust Co. v. Gould (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2020)
Hereford Ins. Co. v. Forest Hills Med., P.C. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2019)
Wade v. Giacobbe (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2019)
Matter of Le Monda v. City of New York (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2018)
Fernandez v. Santos (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2018)
Matter of Tri-State Consumer Ins. Co. v. Hereford Ins. Co. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2018)
Carmody v. 208-210 East 31st Realty, LLC (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2016)
Lynn & Cahill LLP v. Witkin (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2015)
Pryce v. Montefiore Medical Center (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2014)
Pryce v. Montefiore Medical Center (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2014)
Sunrise Capital Partners Management LLC v. Glattstein (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2014)
Sunrise Capital Partners Management LLC v. Glattstein (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2014)
Williams v. Robinson (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2014)
Williams v. Robinson (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2014)
Wood v. Tuttle (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2013)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Carol Edmead, J.), entered March 28, 2011, which, to the extent appealed from as limited by the briefs, denied plaintiffs motion for default judgment against defendant 2201 7th Avenue Realty LLC, unanimously reversed, on the law and the facts, without costs, and plaintiffs motion for the entry of default judgment granted in its entirety. The Clerk is directed to enter judgment accordingly.

It is uncontraverted that service of process was effected on defendant 2201 7th Avenue Realty LLC by delivery of the summons and complaint to the Secretary of State’s office (Business Corporation Law § 306), and that a courtesy copy was forwarded *790to defendant’s prior counsel. In order to avoid the entry of default judgment upon its failure to submit a timely answer, defendant was required to come forward with a reasonable excuse for its default and to demonstrate a meritorious defense to the action (Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v Cervini, 84 AD3d 789 [2011]; see Mutual Mar. Off., Inc. v Joy Constr. Corp., 39 AD3d 417, 419 [2007]). Under certain circumstances, law office failure may constitute a reasonable excuse, as required to avoid or vacate default judgment (39 AD3d at 419). However, claims of law office failure which are “conclusory and unsubstantiated” cannot excuse default (Wells Fargo Bank, 84 AD3d at 789; Pichardo-Garcia v Josephine’s Spa Corp., 91 AD3d 413 [2012]). If it is shown that a party has failed to proffer an acceptable excuse for its default, then it becomes unnecessary to determine whether a meritorious defense exists (Wells Fargo Bank, 84 AD3d at 790; see M.R. v 2526 Valentine LLC, 58 AD3d 530, 531-532 [2009]).

In seeking to avoid the entry of default judgment, defendant claimed law office failure, but its newly-retained counsel attested that he could not answer for prior counsel’s failure to submit a timely answer, as prior counsel had not responded to inquiries about plaintiff’s complaint. Accordingly, current counsel could only speculate as to why no timely answer was submitted. Defendant’s president could provide no additional insight, averring only that while he did not recall receiving personal service of the complaint, it was his practice to forward all legal papers to prior counsel. Defendant’s claim of law office failure being perfunctory and unsubstantiated, it was insufficient to avoid the entry of default judgment. Concur — Tom, J.E, Andrias, Saxe, Moskowitz and Acosta, JJ.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.