CHRISTINA VENTURA v. ZUEL AHMED (2026)

Law Offices of Michael S. Lamonsoff, PLLC, New York (Michael Sanders of counsel), for appellant.

Marjorie E. Bornes, Freeport, for respondent.

Appeal from order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Fernando Tapia, J.), entered on or about April 9, 2025, which granted defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint for lack of a serious injury within the meaning of Insurance Law § 5102(d), unanimously dismissed, without costs, as taken from a nonappealable paper.

No appeal lies as of right from an order entered on a party's default (see CPLR 5511).  Although plaintiff purported to file papers opposing defendant's motion, the order granting summary judgment to defendant rejected those papers as untimely and indicated that it granted defendant's motion because of plaintiff's default in responding (see Estrella v. 20 Bruckner, LLC, — AD3d —, —, 2026 N.Y. Slip Op 01453, *1 [1st Dept 2026] ).  Accordingly, plaintiff's proper remedy was to move to vacate her default and appeal the denial of that motion (see e.g. Matter of Diamonds R–Us Ltd. v Rafaello & Co. Inc., 238 AD3d 664, 664–665 [1st Dept 2025];  Manrique v. Delgado, 195 AD3d 554 [1st Dept 2021] ).

In light of the foregoing, we decline to consider plaintiff's remaining arguments concerning the merits of the motion.