Banana Kelly Union HDFC v. Chambers

Banana Kelly Union HDFC, Petitioner-Landlord-Respondent, against Christina Chambers, Respondent-Tenant-Appellant. Tenant appeals from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Bronx County (Laurie Marin, J.), dated August 28, 2015, which granted landlord's motion to vacate a stipulation discontinuing a nonpayment summary proceeding. Per Curiam. Order (Laurie Marin, J.), dated August 28, 2015, reversed, without costs, motion denied and stipulation reinstated. Stipulations are favored by the courts and will be set aside only upon a showing of good cause sufficient to invalidate a contract, such as fraud, collusion, mistake, or accident (see Hallock v State of New York, 64 NY2d 224, 230 [1984]). Here, landlord failed to make a sufficient evidentiary showing that the stipulation discontinuing the underlying nonpayment proceeding was based on mistake (see Matthews v Castro, 35 AD3d 403 [2006]; El v Schertz, 33 AD3d 585 [2006]). Nor did landlord adequately explain the eleven-month delay in seeking vacatur relief (see Charlop v A.O. Smith Water Prods., 64 AD3d 486 [2009]; Matter of Bouloy v Peters, 262 AD2d 209 [1999]). THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT. I concur I concur I concur Decision Date: May 25, 2016