Preview
FILED: KINGS COUNTY CLERK 05/31/2023 06:03 PM INDEX NO. 515251/2021
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 72 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/31/2023
SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
COUNTY OF KINGS
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PRESTIGE HOME FITNESS, LLC, a/k/a GYMGUYZ, Index No.: 515251/2021
BAY RIDGE
Plaintiff, AFFIRMATION IN
-against- OPPOSITION TO MOTION
GYMGUYZ FRANCHISING, LLC
Defendants.
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The undersigned, an attorney duly admitted to practice before the Courts of the State of New York,
hereby affirms the following under penalties of perjury and upon information and belief:
1. I am associated with Kopelevich & Feldsherova, P.C., the attorney of record for the Plaintiff,
PRESTIGE HOME FITNESS, LLC, a/k/a GYMGUYZ BAY RIDGE (hereinafter
“Plaintiff”) in the above-captioned matter. As such, I am fully familiar with the facts and
circumstances of this action.
2. This affirmation is submitted in opposition to Defendant’s motion seeking to “restore” its
motion to vacate the order of default pursuant to CPLR 3215 against the Defendant
GYMGUYZ FRANCHISING, LLC (hereinafter “Defendant”).
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
3. In this action, Plaintiff seeks judgment for unpaid money pursuant to a written agreement
between the parties, a declaration of the rights of the parties under the agreement, and such
other and further relief as may be just, proper, and equitable. The Summons and Complaint,
NYSCEF Doc. No. 1, was served on the Defendant on July 6, 2021. NYSCEF Doc. No. 2,
NYSCEF Doc. No. 3.
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4. The time for the Defendant to appear in this action expired on August 5, 2021, based on
service of the complaint. The Defendant did not timely appear in this action by service of
any answer, notice of motion, or notice of appearance, or make any request for an extension
of time.
5. Defendant alleges that it received the summons and complaint from the Secretary of State
on August 19, 2021, yet it still failed to take any action at that time.
6. On August 30, 2021, the Plaintiff filed its motion for default judgment with a return date of
September 30, 2021. NYSCEF Doc. No. 9. Upon filing, the motion for default judgment was
assigned a return date of January 18, 2022.
7. On September 8, 2021, after the motion for judgment was filed, Defendant filed its answer,
NYSCEF Doc. No. 13, and the answer was rejected. NYSCEF Doc. No. 14, and NYSCEF
Doc. No. 15.
8. Upon receipt of the rejection, Defendant still had four months and two days before
opposition to the motion for default judgment was due to be served pursuant to CPLR
2214(b).
9. Defendant took no action to interpose an answer or obtain an extension of time to do so
during the four months before the motion was submitted.
10. The motion was marked fully submitted on January 18, 2022, and decided by order dated
July 19, 2022, and entered on July 20, 2022. NYSCEF Doc. No. 16.
11. Defendant served notice of entry of the order denying default judgment on July 20, 2022,
the same day that the decision was uploaded to NYSCEF. NYSCEF Doc. No. 17. At that
time, Defendant did not move for leave to serve an untimely answer, attempt to serve an
answer, or request an extension of time to serve an answer.
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12. Five days later, Plaintiff served a motion to reargue with a noticed return date of August 17,
2022. NYSCEF Doc. No. 18. The motion was automatically adjourned to November 16,
2022.
13. Defendant took no action to interpose an answer or obtain an extension of time to do so
during the four month period between the decision and the return date of the motion to
reargue.
14. Again, although defense counsel knew or should have known of the motion to reargue,
Defendant took no action to oppose the motion or to move or cross-move to interpose an
answer. Defendant did not request any adjournment of the motion and did not appear on the
return date of the motion.
15. Reargument was granted and the underlying motion for default judgment was granted on
November 16, 2022, by order dated November 16, 2022, and entered November 21, 2022.
NYSCEF Doc. No. 27.
16. Notice of entry was served December 5, 2022. NYSCEF Doc. No. 28.
17. On December 14, 2022, Defendant, 526 days after it was served, 496 days after its answer
was due, 482 days after it admits receipt of the summons and complaint, and 462 days after
it appeared in this action and 462 days after its answer was rejected, served a motion to
vacate its intentional default pursuant to CPLR 317 (hereinafter, “Motion Sequence 3”).
18. Motion Sequence 3 was set for a first appearance on March 1, 2023.
19. Between the filing and the hearing of Motion Sequence 3, Plaintiff moved for discovery-
related relief by Order to Show Cause (hereinafter, Motion Sequence 4)1. Motion Sequence
4 was assigned a return date of January 12, 2023 in the Central Compliance Motion Part.
1
The proposed order to show cause was uploaded once but signed twice and assigned two motion sequence numbers, 4
and 5.
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20. By order dated January 12, 2023, NYSCEF Doc. No. 57, Exhibit A, Justice Knipel
scheduled Motion Sequence 4 and 5 for “March 31, 2023 to be decided after the
defendant’s motion to vacate its default is resolved” (emphasis added).
21. Plaintiff filed its opposition to Motion Sequence 3 on February 23, 2022. On or about
February 24, defense counsel requested an adjournment for extra time to put in a reply. The
undersigned consented to a brief adjournment, and counsel sent a letter to the part clerk for
the IAS Justice requesting the adjournment. The IAS Justice’s Part Clerk informed defense
counsel that her request was being forwarded to Justice Montelione’s part clerk. Exhibit B.
Counsel for the Defendant acknowledged receipt of this message and therefore, counsel must
be presumed to be aware of its contents.
22. On March 21, 2023, the day before the adjourned date, the undersigned conferred with
defense counsel about the pending motions under a shared mistaken belief that March 22,
2023, was the return date for Motion Sequence 4, which defense counsel did and would not
oppose. Defense counsel informed the undersigned that she would not be appearing. Exhibit
C.
23. On March 22, 2023, the undersigned became aware of the mistake before the calendar call.
After appearing in the Central Compliance Part, the undersigned was informed by the Clerk
that the March 22, 2023, motion was Motion Sequence 3, rather than Motion Sequence 4,
and that the appearance that day was before Justice Montelione. The undersigned
immediately called defense counsel from the Courthouse to inform her that Motion Sequence
3 was the motion on the calendar for that day and we discussed that the discovery-related
motion and the default-related motion were pending in different parts. Defense counsel
requested that the undersigned obtain a short adjournment due to the mistake, and the
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undersigned stated that he would attempt to do so. The undersigned obtained the
adjournment as a courtesy given the acknowledged mutual mistake, and Motion Sequence 3
was adjourned to May 10, 2023, and marked final.
24. On March 24, 2023, the Court Attorney for Justice Freier circulated a link for a Microsoft
Teams Virtual Conference regarding Motion Sequence 4 scheduled for March 31, 2023, to
counsel for the parties. Exhibit D. In response, the undersigned sent an email to the Court
Attorney to inform Justice Freier that Motion Sequence 3 had not been resolved on March
22. Id. The undersigned requested that Motion Sequence 4 “be adjourned to a date later in
May so that everything may proceed in that order.” Id. The Court Attorney responded,
ultimately advising that “The Orders to Show Cause in the above case (mot. Seq. 004 and
005), currently scheduled for Friday, March 31, will be adjourned to Monday, May 22, at
10:00 a.m.” Id.
25. Not one but three lawyers from defense counsel’s law firm were copied on the above-
referenced email chain. Id.
26. The e-Courts appearance tracking system shows that the “Final” appearance for Motion
Sequence 3 was scheduled for May 10, 2023, and provides no reason to believe that Motion
Sequence 3 was adjourned. Exhibit E.
27. The e-Track email Appearance Reminder system provided by the New York State Unified
Court System sent three relevant emails to anyone who subscribed to the free service for the
instant case. All three of the following eTrack emails are included in Exhibit F.
a. On March 22, 2023, the day on which Motion Sequence 3 was adjourned, the
undersigned received an eTrack email updating highlighting in red text that Motion
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Sequence 3, a “Motion-Notice of Motion” was scheduled before Justice Montelione
on May 10, 2023, and that said motion was marked “FINAL.”
b. On March 27, 2023, the undersigned received an eTrack email update highlighting
in red text that there would be a virtual appearance for Motion Sequence 4, which it
noted as a “Motion-Order to Show Cause” returnable in the “Central Compliance
Part-Motions” on May 22, 2023. Directly below that red text was a reminder that
Motion Sequence 3, a “Motion-Notice of Motion” was scheduled before Justice
Montelione on May 10, 2023, and that said motion was marked “FINAL.”
c. On April 10, 2023, the undersigned received an eTrack email “reminder about the
appearance 30 days in advance for the following Court appearance” specifying that
the appearance concerned a “Motion-Notice of Motion” before “Justice: Montelione,
Hon. Richard J,” and that the motion was marked “FINAL” in all capital letters.
28. On May 10, 2023, the Defendant defaulted again at the call of the motion calendar in Part
99 and the motion was “denied, no appearance movant.” Exhibit G.
29. Defendant now moves for an order “Restoring Defendant’s motion to vacate the default
judgment against it [Motion Sequence No. 3] to the calendar for the Court’s adjudication.”
Defendant’s Motion is Defective under the CPLR, the
Uniform Rules, and the Part Rules
30. Defendant’s motion does not comply with the CPLR and the rules of this Court and should
be denied based on its procedural defects.
31. The Defendant’s notice of the instant motion does not set forth the grounds upon which it
is based. “CPLR 2214(a) provides that a notice of motion shall specify the time and place
of the hearing on the motion, the supporting papers upon which the motion is based, the
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relief demanded and the grounds therefor.” Abizadeh v Abizadeh, 159 AD3d 856 (2d Dept
2018) (internal quotations omitted). “[A] court is not required to comb through a litigant's
papers to find information that is required to be set forth in the notice of motion.” Id. The
notice motion merely states the relief sought without any reference to grounds. Even if the
Court does comb through the papers, Defendant has offered no legal basis to grant the
motion. Although the Appellate Division has held that a “formal[] and specific[] request
for relief pursuant to” a specific statute is not required where the factual basis is clear from
the notice of motion, Blauman-Spindler v Blauman, 68 AD3d 1105 (2d Dept 2009), the
instant motion is distinguishable and must be denied. In Blauman-Spindler, the movant’s
notice of motion “clearly [sought] the relief of preclusion based upon the father’s alleged
willful failure to respond to her discovery demands.” Id. In this case, the motion merely
states that it seeks to “restore.” Unlike preclusion, restoration of a motion is not governed
by an easily identifiable provision of the CPLR. Plaintiff is prejudiced because without a
statement of the grounds for Defendant’s motion, or any citation to any law within the
motion, Plaintiff is left to speculate as to the relevant law and standards. The Court should
deny the instant motion.
32. Defendant’s moving papers do not contain a certification of the word counts of the moving
papers as required by 22 NYCRR 202.8-b. Defendant likewise failed to provide a word count
in Motion Sequence 3. Plaintiff brought this deficiency to Defendant’s attention in
opposition to Motion Sequence 3. There can be no argument that Defendant was unaware of
the Uniform Rules. In view of Defendant’s noncompliance with the rules of Court, the
moving papers should be disregarded.
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33. The rules for Motion Practice in Part 99 require that “Where pleadings, prior applications,
or prior decisions and orders are required to be annexed to the motion, reference to the
electronically filed papers alone is insufficient and should be part of the motion and
electronically uploaded as an exhibit.” This is the fourth motion in this action before
Justice Montelione, and the third of those four motions that concern a prior order.
Defendant’s failure to comply with the part rules is inexcusable.
Restoration Pursuant to CPLR 3404 Is Inapplicable
34. The Defendant’s motion does not offer any meaningful information beyond the undisputed
fact that Defendant defaulted on the final return date. Defendant’s motion appears to be
made under the misapprehension that the action was stricken from the calendar pursuant to
CPLR 3404, although the motion was denied by an order. The Appellate Division has
consistently held that the “far more liberal” standard for restoration under “CPLR 3404
does not apply to [a] pre-note of issue action.” Santiago v City of New York, 206 AD3d 948
(2d Dept 2022), citing Lopez v Imperial Delivery Service, Inc, 282 AD2d 190 (2d Dept
2001).
35. Defendant did not default at the call of a trial calendar as contemplated by CPLR 3404. See
Lopez, 282 AD2d at 194 (finding that the legislative purpose of CPLR 3404 is “to address
problems in trial calendar delay” [emphasis in original]).
36. Accordingly, Defendant is not entitled to any “restoration” relief under the lax standards
governing marking an action off the trial calendar.
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Defendant Apparently Seeks to Vacate the Prior Order
37. Although Defendant fails to acknowledge that an order was entered denying the motion,
Exhibit G, the Defendant’s prior motion was not simply stricken from the calendared but
denied upon its default. Defendant implicitly seeks to vacate the aforesaid order. Motions
to vacate an order granted on default are governed by CPLR 5015(a)(1).
38. The case law dictates that the denial of a motion based on the movant’s default requires
Defendant to meet the standard burden for vacatur of a default. “A party seeking to vacate
a default in appearing on the return date of a motion must demonstrate both a reasonable
excuse for the default and a potentially meritorious motion. . . . [T]he Court has discretion
to accept law office failure as a reasonable excuse where that claim is supported by a
detailed and credible explanation of the default at issue.” Santiago, 206 AD3d at 949.
39. In this case, Defendant fails to address, much less meet, both elements of its burden.
Defendant Lacks a Reasonable Excuse for the Default
40. “A conclusory and unsubstantiated claim of law office failure does not constitute a
reasonable excuse...” U.S. Bank Nat’l Ass’n v Adolphe, 170 AD3d 1236 (2d Dept 2019).
“[T]he excuse must be supported by detailed allegations of the law office failure.” HSBC
Bank, UNA Nat. Ass’n v Wider, 101 AD3d 683 (2d Dept 2012).
41. Law office failure is not a catch-all acceptable excuse for a default. The Second
Department has held that an attorney’s excuse “that he thought the conference date had
been adjourned by the Supreme Court, did not constitute a reasonable excuse…” Marrero
v Nails, 77 AD3d 798 (2d Dept 2010). A failure to appear “because [the attorney] was
unaware of the date, amounted to law office failure, which, under the circumstances of this
case, did not constitute a reasonable excuse.” Stancati v Weber, 17 AD3d 447 (2d Dept
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2005). In Hudson City Savings Bank v Augustin, 191 AD3d 774 (2d Dept 2021), the
defaulting attorney stated that “his office received notice eight days prior to the scheduled
conference and the appearance was calendared, [but] the information was not conveyed to
the calendaring team in a manner timely enough to ensure that the appearance was placed
on the firm’s calendar” (internal quotations omitted). The Appellate Division held that the
excuse was insufficient to constitute a reasonable excuse for the default.
42. In this case, counsel proffers a thin excuse that she “believed” that Motion Sequence 3 was
“being carried with” Motion Sequence 4 and claims that she “was unaware of the May 10,
2023 hearing.” The record gives lie to this excuse.
43. The January 12, 2023, order of Judge Knipel explicitly states that the orders to show cause
would be calendared and resolved after – not with – the motion to vacate. Exhibit A.
44. It would be unreasonable for a party’s attorney of record to be unaware of the Court’s
scheduling order and the Court’s directive that one motion be decided before the other is
considered.
45. As set forth supra, the undersigned informed counsel on March 24, 2023, that Motion
Sequence 3 was on the Court’s calendar for that day, separately from Motion Sequence 4,
and the undersigned obtained an adjournment of the motion as a courtesy due to the mutual
mistake and defense counsel’s non-appearance.
46. Upon being informed of the foregoing, a reasonable attorney would have checked such
attorney’s calendar and verified that future return dates were properly calendared for
appearances as necessary. Apparently, defense counsel did not do so.
47. Two days later, a number of emails were sent to three attorneys in defense counsel’s firm
on the subject of rescheduling Motion Sequence 4 with the explicit purpose of scheduling
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the next appearance on Motion Sequence 4 to occur after Motion Sequence 3. The email
sent by the undersigned to the Court Attorney for Justice Freier and copied to three
attorneys from defense counsel’s firm on March 24, 2023, at 10:47 AM states as follows:
Motion sequence 3 was adjourned earlier this
week to May 10 and marked final.
48. The Court Attorney’s reply clearly specified that “mot. Seq. 004 and 005” would be
adjourned to May 22, 2023.
49. It is unreasonable that three attorneys received the same email and for none of them to
calendar their client’s own motion for an appearance.
50. The Unified Court System provides a number of free tools for parties to track appearances
in their cases. The documents in Exhibits E and F demonstrate that using any of those
tools would have provided sufficient notice to defense counsel that Motion Sequence 3 was
not scheduled to be heard in the Central Compliance Motion Part but rather before Justice
Montelione in Part 99, where the previous default-related motions had been scheduled.
51. Defense counsel apparently failed to take advantage of any of these free tools provided by
the Uniform Court System.
52. The history of this case is riddled with Defendant’s and defense counsel’s failures to take
timely action. Defendant failed to timely answer the complaint. Defendant elected not to be
heard on the original motion for default judgment or the motion to reargue the original
motion. Months after demands were served, there has been no response from Defendant to
any of Plaintiff’s discovery demands.
53. It is clear that the Defendant’s strategy in this case is one of delay.
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54. The conduct of defense counsel in failing to appear for the “final” date of Motion
Sequence 3 fits in perfectly with the pattern of conduct established over the first two years
of this case’s pendency.
55. The excuse that counsel was unaware of the final motion date on her client’s own motion
to vacate the default judgment defies belief.
56. If, somehow, defense counsel was unaware of the return date, such unawareness cannot be
held to be reasonable. The default must be presumed to have been intentional or the result
of neglect.
57. Defendant’s motion to vacate its default does not provide a reasonable excuse for the
default, and it must be denied for this reason.
Defendant’s Underlying Motion Was Not Meritorious
58. Because the Defendant has failed to proffer a reasonable excuse, the Court need not, and
should not, reach the issue of whether the Defendant had a meritorious motion. See
Hudson City Savings Bank, 191 AD3d at 774.
59. However, should the Court determine that Defendant has a reasonable excuse for its
default, Plaintiff argues that Defendant’s underlying motion was not meritorious.
60. The arguments made in opposition to Plaintiff’s motion to vacate, Motion Sequence 3, are
annexed hereto as Exhibit H and hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
61. Defendant’s underlying motion lacked merit, and the new motion to vacate its default on
the original motion must be denied for that reason.
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CONCLUSION
62. Defendant appeared in this action, intentionally defaulted, and possesses no meritorious defense
to the action. Defendant further defaulted in appearing to argue its motion to vacate the default.
Accordingly, the motion to vacate Defendant’s most recent default must be denied.
WHEREFORE, it is respectfully requested that this Court issue an order denying Defendant’s
motion to vacate the default judgment with costs to the Plaintiff, and granting Plaintiff such and
other further relief as may be just, proper, and equitable.
Dated: Brooklyn, New York
May 31, 2023
KOPELEVICH & FELDSHEROVA, PC
Attorneys for Plaintiff
241 37th Street, Suite B439
Brooklyn, NY 11232
(718) 332-0577
______________________________________________
DAVID LANDFAIR
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CERTIFICATION OF WORD COUNT PURSUANT TO UNIFORM RULE 202.8-B
The undersigned, an attorney duly admitted to the practice of law in the Courts of the State of
New York, hereby certifies that the annexed Affirmation contains 3,450 words exclusive of
caption and signature block according to Microsoft Word, and that the Affirmation complies
with the relevant word count limits.
Dated: Brooklyn, New York
May 31, 2023
_______________________________________
DAVID LANDFAIR
KOPELEVICH & FELDSHEROVA, P.C.
241 37th Street, Suite B439
Brooklyn, NY 11232
718-332-0577
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SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
COUNTY OF KINGS Index No.: 515251/2021
PRESTIGE HOME FITNESS, LLC, a/k/a GYMGUYZ
BAY RIDGE.,
Plaintiff(s),
-against-
GYMGUYZ FRANCHISING, LLC
Defendant(s).
AFFIRMATION IN OPPOSITION
KOPELEVICH & FELDSHEROVA, PC
Attorneys for Plaintiff
241 37th Street, Suite B439
Brooklyn, NY 11232
(718) 332-0577
Pursuant to 22 NYCRR 130-1.1, the undersigned, an attorney duly admitted to practice in the
courts of New York State, certifies that, upon information and belief and reasonable inquiry, the
contentions contained in the annexed documents are not frivolous.
Dated: May 31, 2023 Signature: ............................................................
Print Signer’s Name: David Landfair
To:
LASSER LAW GROUP
VIA NYSCEF
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