Wells Fargo Bank, NA v Villanueva, 2023 NY Slip Op 05420 [220 AD3d 978]

October 25, 2023

Appellate Division, Second Department

[*1]

Wells Fargo Bank, NA, Respondent,

v

Carlos Villanueva, Appellant, et al., Defendants.

Lawrence Spivak, Jamaica, NY, for appellant.

Wood Oviatt Gilman, LLP (Reed Smith LLP, New York, NY [Andrew B. Messite and Michael V. Margarella], of counsel), for respondent.

In an action to foreclose a mortgage, the defendant Carlos Villanueva appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Noach Dear, J.), dated March 4, 2020. The order denied that defendant’s motion pursuant to CPLR 5015 (a) (1) to vacate, inter alia, an order of the same court dated March 13, 2018, granting the plaintiff’s unopposed motion, among other things, for summary judgment on the complaint insofar as asserted against that defendant.

Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs.

A party seeking to vacate an order entered upon its default in opposing a motion must demonstrate, through the submission of supporting facts in evidentiary form, both a reasonable excuse for the default and a potentially meritorious opposition to the motion ( see CPLR 5015 [a] [1]; U.S. Bank, N.A. v Imtiaz , 198 AD3d 1005 , 1007 [2021]). “A motion to vacate a default is addressed to the sound discretion of the court” ( Vujanic v Petrovic , 103 AD3d 791 , 792 [2013]). Here, while the defendant demonstrated a reasonable excuse for his default, he failed to demonstrate a potentially meritorious opposition.

The parties’ remaining contentions are without merit. Dillon, J.P., Iannacci, Miller and Taylor, JJ., concur..