Party seeking to vacate its default must act in good faith.
Vacatur of a default judgment
Where a moving party seeking vacatur of a default judgment has exercised a lack of good faith, or has been dilatory in asserting its rights, the court’s discretionary power to relieve a party from its judgment should be subordinated to the policy favoring the finality of judgments. Greenwich Sav. Bank v. JAJ Carpet Mart, Inc., 126 AD2d 451, 453 [1st Dept 1987].
Defendant must provide a reasonable excuse for its lengthy delay in moving to vacate the default judgment. Bekker v. Fleischman, 35 A.D.3d 334 [2d Dept. 2002].
Case law has continually held that a delay of more than a year despite the defendant’s awareness of all the relevant facts surrounding the issue is unreasonable. Bank of New York v. Stradford, 55 A.D.3d 765 [2d Dept. 2008].
