Tenant Showed No Good Cause for Breach of Agreement

Landlord sued to evict tenant for nonpayment of rent. Landlord and tenant signed a settlement agreement in court, giving judgment of possession to landlord but allowing tenant time to pay the back rent owed to avoid eviction. Landlord later sought eviction based on tenant's default in making payment. Tenant asked the court to vacate the eviction warrant. The court ruled for tenant. Landlord appealed and won. While the court has discretion to relieve a tenant from a default in some cases, here tenant didn't adequately explain his failure to comply with the payment terms of the settlement agreement. Tenant's apparent difficulty in obtaining funds to pay the back rent wasn't "good cause" to vacate the warrant. There was no indication that tenant made timely efforts to comply with the agreement. Tenant took no steps to obtain funds from charitable organizations or otherwise until after the payment due date.

Harvey 1390 LLC v. Bodenheim: NYLJ, 9/23/10, p. 28, col. 6 (App. T. 1 Dept.; McKeon, PJ, Shulman, Hunter, JJ)