Opinion
2001-05518
Submitted January 23, 2002.
February 19, 2002.
In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, etc., the plaintiffs appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Westchester County (Coppola, J.), dated March 16, 2001, which, upon the granting of the defendants' motion pursuant to CPLR 3012 N.Y.CPLR(b) to dismiss the action for failure to serve a complaint, dismissed the complaint.
Karen Bosshart, Mt. Kisco, N.Y., for appellants.
Mead, Hecht, Conklin Gallagher, LLP, Mamaroneck, N.Y. (Elizabeth M. Hecht and Sara L. Salvi of counsel), for respondents.
Before: A. GAIL PRUDENTI, P.J., ANITA R. FLORIO, SONDRA MILLER, WILLIAM D. FRIEDMANN, THOMAS A. ADAMS, JJ.
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed, with costs.
To successfully oppose a motion pursuant to CPLR 3012 N.Y.CPLR(b) to dismiss an action for failure to serve a complaint, a plaintiff must demonstrate, among other things, a reasonable excuse for failing to serve a timely complaint ( see, Chmielnik v. Rosenberg, 269 A.D.2d 555; Bravo v. New York City Hous. Auth., 253 A.D.2d 510; Chiaffarano v. Winston, 234 A.D.2d 329). What constitutes a reasonable excuse for a default lies within the sound discretion of the trial court ( see, Roussodimou v. Zafiriadis, 238 A.D.2d 568; Bardales v. Blades, 191 A.D.2d 667). The Supreme Court providently exercised its discretion in determining that the excuses offered by the plaintiffs for the delay in serving the complaint were not reasonable.
PRUDENTI, P.J., FLORIO, S. MILLER, FRIEDMANN and ADAMS, JJ., concur.