Blakely v Pitts, 2011 NY Slip Op 00038 [80 AD3d 451]

January 6, 2011

Appellate Division, First Department

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Queen Mother Dr. Delois Blakely, appellant pro se. Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP, New York (Debra Bodian Bernstein of counsel), for respondent.

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Doris Ling-Cohan, J.), entered January 13, 2009, which, in an action seeking, inter alia, to set aside an alleged fraudulent mortgage loan, denied plaintiff’s motion to vacate a prior order, same court (Richard F. Braun, J.), entered August 22, 2008, dismissing the complaint for failure to appear at a compliance conference, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

The motion court’s denial of plaintiff’s motion was a provident exercise of discretion ( see generally Goldman v Cotter , 10 AD3d 289 , 291 [2004]). Although the illness that allegedly prevented plaintiff from attending the compliance conference could be considered a reasonable excuse ( see e.g. Frenchy’s Bar & Grill v United Intl. Ins. Co. , 251 AD2d 177 [1998]), plaintiff has failed to allege facts setting forth a meritorious cause of action ( see M-Dean Realty Corp. v General Sec. Ins. Co. , 6 AD3d 169 , 171 [2004]). Concur—Saxe, J.P., Friedman, McGuire, Abdus-Salaam and RomÁn, JJ.