Opinion
02-22-2017
Lillian FISCHER, appellant, v. CITY OF NEW YORK, et al., respondents, et al., defendant.
Luis A. Pagan, Riverhead, N.Y., and Law Office of Benjamin J. Fischer, PLLC, Bayside, N.Y., for appellant (one brief filed). Zachary W. Carter, Corporation Counsel, New York, N.Y. (Fay Ng and Drake A. Colley of counsel), for respondents.
Luis A. Pagan, Riverhead, N.Y., and Law Office of Benjamin J. Fischer, PLLC, Bayside, N.Y., for appellant (one brief filed).
Zachary W. Carter, Corporation Counsel, New York, N.Y. (Fay Ng and Drake A. Colley of counsel), for respondents.
In an action, inter alia, to recover damages for employment discrimination and wrongful termination, the plaintiff appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Brathwaite Nelson, J.), entered October 30, 2014, which granted the motion of all the defendants except Lybi Gittens pursuant to CPLR 3012(d) to extend the time to serve an answer, and denied her cross motion for leave to enter a default judgment against those defendants.
ORDERED that the order is affirmed, with costs.
Contrary to the plaintiff's contention, the Supreme Court providently exercised its discretion in granting the moving defendants' motion pursuant to CPLR 3012(d) to extend their time to serve an answer. The moving defendants set forth a reasonable excuse for their delay in answering, and demonstrated that there was no evidence of willful misconduct or a desire to abandon the action, and that there was no prejudice to the plaintiff (see CPLR 3012 [d] ; Methal v. City of New York, 50 A.D.3d 654, 655, 855 N.Y.S.2d 588 ; Stuart v. Kushner, 39 A.D.3d 535, 536, 833 N.Y.S.2d 187 ; Trimble v. SAS Taxi Co. Inc., 8 A.D.3d 557, 558, 778 N.Y.S.2d 707 ; Goodman v. New York City Health & Hosps. Corp., 2 A.D.3d 581, 582, 768 N.Y.S.2d 365 ). Moreover, the moving defendants demonstrated a meritorious defense (see Methal v. City of New York, 50 A.D.3d at 656, 855 N.Y.S.2d 588 ; Shaller v. City of New York, 41 A.D.3d 697, 839 N.Y.S.2d 766 ; Tanzer v. City of New York, 41 A.D.3d 582, 837 N.Y.S.2d 336 ; McFarlane v. City of New York, 243 A.D.2d 691, 663 N.Y.S.2d 292 ; Gall v. City of New York, 223 A.D.2d 622, 623, 636 N.Y.S.2d 837 ). In light of the above, the Supreme Court also properly denied the plaintiff's cross motion for leave to enter a default judgment against the moving defendants (see CPLR 3215[f] ; Fried v. Jacob Holding, Inc., 110 A.D.3d 56, 59, 970 N.Y.S.2d 260 ).
The plaintiff's remaining contentions are without merit.
MASTRO, J.P., CHAMBERS, MALTESE and DUFFY, JJ., concur.