Matter of Williams v New York City Hous. Auth., 2024 NY Slip Op 00156 [223 AD3d 488]

January 11, 2024

Appellate Division, First Department

[*1]

In the Matter of Robert Michael Williams, Jr., Appellant,

v

New York City Housing Authority, Respondent.

Robert M. Williams Jr., appellant pro se.

David Rohde, New York City Housing Authority, New York (Seth E. Kramer of counsel), for respondent.

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Arlene Bluth, J.), entered June 16, 2022, which granted the motion of respondent New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) to vacate the stay of a prior holdover proceeding, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Supreme Court properly lifted the stay of the holdover proceeding. The NYCHA Hearing Officer had a rational basis for its October 13, 2021 determination denying petitioner’s application to vacate a default judgment, which had been entered against him in the proceeding. Petitioner failed to demonstrate a reasonable excuse for failing to appear at a hearing in that proceeding, nor did he offer a meritorious defense to the underlying charges of chronic rent delinquency and failure to verify income. Therefore, there was no basis to continue the stay ( see Matter of Peña v New York City Hous. Auth. , 91 AD3d 581 , 581-582 [1st Dept 2012]; Matter of Daniels v Popolizio , 171 AD2d 596, 597 [1st Dept 1991]).

We have considered petitioner’s remaining arguments and find them unavailing. Concur—Manzanet-Daniels, J.P., Webber, Friedman, Shulman, Rosado, JJ..