M & T Bank v. MorrisM & T Bank v. Morris
M & T BANK, Respondent, v SANDRA MORRIS, Appellant. [28 NYS3d 623]
In an action to foreclose a mortgage, the defendant appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Sampson, J.), entered April 28, 2014, which denied her motion to vacate a prior order of the same court entered October 11, 2013, which granted the plaintiff‘s unopposed motion, inter alia, for summary judgment.
Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs.
In seeking vacatur of the prior order granting the plaintiff‘s unopposed motion, inter alia, for summary judgment, the defendant was required to demonstrate “a reasonable excuse for not opposing the [prior] motion and a potentially meritorious opposition to the motion” (Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v Rooney, 132 AD3d 980, 983 [2015], quoting Thapt v Lutheran Med. Ctr., 89 AD3d 837, 837 [2011]). The defendant failed to meet her burden of demonstrating a reasonable excuse for her default. To the extent that the defendant attributes her default to the conduct of her former attorney, we note that “undetailed [ ] and uncorroborated allegation [s] of law office failure [do] not constitute a reasonable excuse” (Aurora Loan Servs., LLC v Lucero, 131 AD3d 496, 497 [2015]).