Zellis v. Mukhiainou

POST-INQUEST DECISION, ORDER, AND JUDGMENTPROCEDURAL HISTORY

*1  Plaintiff commenced this negligence action in Kings County State Supreme Court by filing the summons and complaint on or about February 19, 2013. The plaintiff alleges that defendants Fenil Mukhiainou a/k/a Feruz Mukhitdinov (“Mukhiainou”) and Francesco DiMaria negligently operated motor vehicles, resulting in a collision between the defendants’ vehicles, and that the vehicle driven by Mukhiainou and owned by defendant VR Auto Sales, LLC, struck the plaintiff as she was standing on the sidewalk. Defendant DiMaria answered the complaint, and subsequently settled the case for the sum of $100,000. A stipulation discontinuing the action against defendant DiMaria was signed on March 2, 2016. Mukhiainou and VR Auto Sales, LLC (the “Defaulting Defendants”) failed to answer the complaint and have never appeared in this matter. Accordingly, pursuant to an order of the Hon. Mark I. Partnow, J.S.C., dated October 7, 2014, the plaintiff was granted a default judgment against defendants Fenil Mukhiainou and VR Auto Sales, LLC, and it was ordered that an inquest be held at the time of trial. The Default Judgment Order with Notice of Entry was served upon the Defaulting Defendants on October 9, 2014. A Notice of Inquest and Request for Inquest were served upon the Defaulting Defendants on April 24, 2015 (Plaintiff’s Exh. 9). A Notice of Inquest and Certificate of Readiness were served upon the Defaulting Defendants on June 17, 2015. A Notice of Inquest, Certificate of Readiness, and Order restoring the case to active status and scheduling the inquest (Hon. Martin Schneier, J.H.O., July 28, 2016), and the Default Judgment Order were served upon the Defaulting Defendants on August 11, 2016. The action was removed from Supreme Court and transferred to the Civil Court, pursuant to CPLR §325(d), on March 9, 2017.An inquest was held before the undersigned on September 7, 2017, at which the plaintiff was the only party to appear. The sole witness was the plaintiff, Siona Zellis. The testimony of Ms. Zellis was unopposed and uncontradicted at inquest.