Opinion
2002-09892
Submitted September 24, 2003.
October 27, 2003.
In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, etc., the plaintiffs appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Glover, J.), dated September 9, 2002, which denied their motion to vacate an order of the same court, dated October 1, 2001, which granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment upon the plaintiffs' default in opposing the motion.
Mallilo Grossman, Flushing, N.Y. (Francesco Pomara, Jr., of counsel), for appellants.
Ryan, Perrone Hartlein, P.C., Mineola, N.Y. (Robin Mary Heaney and William T. Ryan of counsel), for respondents.
Before: MYRIAM J. ALTMAN, J.P., SONDRA MILLER, LEO F. McGINITY, THOMAS A. ADAMS, WILLIAM F. MASTRO, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the order is affirmed, with costs.
To vacate a default, a plaintiff must demonstrate both a reasonable excuse for the default and a meritorious cause of action ( see CPLR 5015[a]; Sicari v. Hung Yuen Wong, 286 A.D.2d 489). The plaintiffs' counsel's bare allegations of law office failure on the part of prior counsel cannot serve as the basis to set aside a judgment pursuant to CPLR 5015 ( see Gourdet v. Hershfeld, 277 A.D.2d 422; Eretz Funding v. Shalosh Assocs., 266 A.D.2d 184; Spatz v. Bajramoski, 214 A.D.2d 436; Blackman v. Blackman, 131 A.D.2d 801, 805). Furthermore, the plaintiffs failed to submit any evidence sufficient to satisfy the serious injury threshold set forth in Insurance Law § 5102(d) ( see Sarot v. Yusufov, 301 A.D.2d 512; Waaland v. Weiss, 228 A.D.2d 435). Accordingly, the Supreme Court providently exercised its discretion in denying the motion to vacate.
ALTMAN, J.P., S. MILLER, McGINITY, ADAMS and MASTRO, JJ., concur.