Central City Brokerage Corp. v Acosta
2008 NY Slip Op 02695 [49 AD3d 455]
March 25, 2008
Appellate Division, First Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
As corrected through Wednesday, May 14, 2008


Central City Brokerage Corporation, Respondent,
v
Ruben Acosta, Appellant, et al., Defendant.

[*1] Law Offices of Barbara H. Katsos, P.C., New York City (Barbara H. Katsos of counsel), for appellant.

Greenberg & Shernoff, New York City (Jeffrey L. Shernoff of counsel), for respondent. Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Marcy Friedman, J.), entered September 5, 2006, which denied a motion by defendant Acosta to vacate a default judgment, unanimously affirmed, with costs.

A party seeking to vacate a default must demonstrate both a reasonable excuse for his nonappearance and a meritorious defense to the action (see Eugene Di Lorenzo, Inc. v A.C. Dutton Lbr. Co., 67 NY2d 138, 141 [1986]). Even assuming that Acosta had a viable defense to plaintiff's demand for a broker's commission, he has failed to show a reasonable excuse for his default (see Residential Bd. of Mgrs. of 99 Jane St. Condominium v Rockrose Dev. Corp., 17 AD3d 194 [2005]). In view of ample documentary evidence that Acosta held out the place of service as his address, he may not now reasonably claim he was not properly served (see CPLR 308 [6]; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher v Global Nuclear Servs. & Supply, 280 AD2d 360, 361 [2001]). Concur—Tom, J.P., Andrias, Nardelli and Sweeny, JJ.