Tenant Didn't Abandon Case

Tenant sued landlord for negligence after she slipped and fell in the apartment building hallway. After answering tenant's complaint, landlord submitted pretrial questions and document demands to tenant. Landlord later asked the court to dismiss the case based on tenant's default. Landlord claimed tenant, who was represented by an attorney, didn't respond to landlord's pretrial questioning. The court ruled for landlord. Tenant appealed and won. Tenant's attorney said he never got notice of landlord's motion for a default judgment. And before the court ruled on landlord's motion, tenant had responded to landlord's request for documents. Tenant's attorney had granted landlord's request for an extension of time to answer the complaint, and had requested extra time from landlord to produce documents. Landlord hadn't responded to this request. There was no harm to landlord by vacating tenant's default. It was clear that tenant had not abandoned the case.

Serrano v. City of New York: NYLJ, 12/26/06, p. 23, col. 5 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Buckley, PJ, Mazzarelli, Nardelli, Catterson, Malone, JJ)