Richmond County Sav. Bank v Stasinopoulos

[*1] Richmond County Sav. Bank v Stasinopoulos 2012 NY Slip Op 50146(U) Decided on January 24, 2012 Appellate Term, Second Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.

Decided on January 24, 2012
SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
APPELLATE TERM: 2nd, 11th and 13th JUDICIAL DISTRICTS
PRESENT: : WESTON, J.P., PESCE and RIOS, JJ
2010-1629 RI C. x

Richmond County Savings Bank, Respondent,

against

Paris Stasinopoulos, Appellant. x

Appeal from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Richmond County (Orlando Marrazzo, Jr., J.), entered May 7, 2010. The order denied defendant's motion to vacate a default judgment.

ORDERED that the order is reversed, without costs, and the matter is remitted to the Civil Court for a new determination, following a traverse hearing, of defendant's motion to vacate the default judgment.

In this action to recover for breach of a loan agreement, defendant defaulted and a default judgment was entered on November 1, 1991 in the principal sum of $1,301.45. Defendant moved to vacate the default judgment in March 2010. The Civil Court denied the motion.

The sworn denials of service sufficiently raise issues of fact with respect to service of process so as to require a traverse hearing (see CPLR 5015 [a] [4]; Cadin Constr. v Rich Agency, 158 AD2d 442 [1990]; Congregaton Abath Achim v Radsminsky, 26 Misc 3d 145[A], 2010 NY Slip Op 50448[U] [App Term, 2d, 11th & 13th Jud Dists 2010]). Thus, the Civil Court improvidently exercised its discretion in summarily denying defendant's motion to vacate the default judgment without conducting a traverse hearing to resolve the threshold issue of personal service. Accordingly, the order denying defendant's motion to vacate the default judgment is reversed and the matter is remitted to the Civil Court for a new determination, following a traverse hearing, of defendant's motion to vacate the default judgment. Weston, J.P., Pesce and Rios, JJ., concur.
Decision Date: January 24, 2012