Legal Servicing, LLC v Ehrenhaus

[*1] Legal Servicing, LLC v Ehrenhaus 2012 NY Slip Op 50761(U) Decided on April 25, 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 This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.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 April 25, 2012
SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE TERM, SECOND DEPARTMENT, 9th and 10th JUDICIAL DISTRICTS
PRESENT: : IANNACCI, J.P., NICOLAI and MOLIA, JJ
.

Legal Servicing, LLC, Respondent,

against

Francine Ehrenhaus also Known as FAY WINTER, Appellant.

Appeal from an order of the District Court of Nassau County, First District (Bonnie P. Chaikin, J.), entered December 3, 2010. The order denied defendant's motion to, in effect, vacate a stipulation of settlement and the judgment entered pursuant thereto.

ORDERED that the order is affirmed, without costs.

In this action to recover for breach of a credit card agreement and upon an account stated, the parties entered into an open-court stipulation of settlement pursuant to which defendant was required to make monthly installment payments of $100, for a total of $4,000. In the event of a failure by defendant to make a payment, plaintiff was entitled to enter judgment in the full amount sued for. After defendant defaulted in making a payment due under the stipulation of settlement, plaintiff entered judgment against defendant. Thereafter, defendant moved to, in effect, vacate the stipulation of settlement and the judgment entered pursuant thereto. The District Court denied the motion.

It is well settled that stipulations of settlement are judicially favored and will not easily be set aside (see Hallock v State of New York, 64 NY2d 224 [1984]; Matter of Frutiger, 29 NY2d 143 [1971]). While stipulations of settlement may be vacated on grounds sufficient to set aside a contract, such as in instances of fraud, mistake, collusion or accident (see Nash v Yablon-Nash, 61 AD3d 832 [2009]), here no such grounds were alleged.

Accordingly, the order is affirmed.

Iannacci, J.P., Nicolai and Molia, JJ., concur.
Decision Date: April 25, 2012