SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

APPELLATE DIVISION DOCKET NO. A-2028- 22 DISCOVER BANK, Plaintiff-Respondent,

v. CHRYSSOULA ARSENIS, Defendant-Appellant.

Argued May 22, 2024

– Decided July 30, 2024 Before Judges Currier and Vanek. On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Somerset County, Docket No. DC

- 000755

- 21. Chryssoula Arsenis, appellant, argued the cause pro se. Donald V. Valenzano, Jr. argued the cause for respondent (Pressler, Felt & Warshaw, LLP, attorney s; Donald V. Valenzano, Jr. and Michael J. Peters, on the brief).
PER CURIAM NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court. " Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the parti es in the case and its use in other cases is limite d. R. 1:36- 3.2 A- 2028

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In this debt collection action, defendant appeals from the December 23 , 2022 order entering judgment for plaintiff and the March 6, 2023 order denying her motion for reconsideration. We affirm. Plaintiff filed a complaint seeking judgment again st defendant after she defaulted on her credit card account. The Special Civil Part Clerk sent the complaint by mail to 65 Mountain Blvd., Unit 207, W arren, New Jersey

. Thereafter, the "Customer Assistance Group" of the Speech & Language Center, LLC located at the Mountain Blv d address sent a letter to plaintiff's counsel stating: Please be advised that Speech and Language

Center, L.L. C is in recei pt of the legal case Docket NO

. S OM

- DC

- 000755 -21 Civil Action inv ol v in g your Legal F ir m. It w ould be greatly appreciated if you cea se , and halt serv in g irrelevant or personal ma tters to a business entity , such as Speech and Language Ce nter, L.L.C. The unsigned l et ter carbon copied the Somerset Civil Division. The certified mail had a sticker that stated " ATTEM PTED

— NOT KNOWN." The envelope also had writing on it that stated "REFUSE D" and "return to sender." The Special Civil Part deemed the service effective

. After receiving the anonymous letter, plaintiff found a residential address for defendant and asked the Special Civil Part to v acate the effective service and3 A- 2028

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serve the complaint on defendant at 6 Quail Run, Wa rren, New Jersey. Tax assessment records indicated defendant was the sole and current owner of the property. The court granted the application. The clerk served the complaint by regular and certi fied mail to the Quail Run address on September 28, 2021 1 but both were returned with a postal sticker stating "ATTEMPTED

— NOT KNOWN ." The court dismissed the case for lack of service in November 2021. In April 2022, plaintiff moved to vacate the dismis sal and deem the September 28, 2021 service effective. In addition to the above-described information regarding attempted service, plaintiff advised the court it had sent a letter to defendant at the Q ua il Run address via FedEx and the delivery was successful. In addition, plaintiff had not been no tified defendant had changed her address. The court granted the motion on May 17, 2022, vacat ing the dismissal and deeming service effective on September 28, 2021 at the Quail Run address. Plaintiff sent the order to defendant via regular a nd certified mail. Both items were refused. Defendant did not answer the complai nt.

1 This appears to be a typographical error in the p leading

. Per the USPS Tracking notes, the certified mail wa s delivered September 29, 2021.4 A- 2028

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In November 2022, plaintiff moved for the entry of default judgment. Defendant responded by objecting to the motion, stating she was never ser ved with the complaint. Defendant listed the Quail Run address as her address on the answer and asserted she received the motion for entry of default judgment at that address. Her listed email wa s speechandlanguage@gmail.com. Judge Haekyoung Suh granted the motion on December 5, 2022, noting the court could not cons id er defendant's objection because she was in default

. Judgment was entered against defendant for $12,279. 41. Thereafter, defendant moved to vacate default, reit erating she was not served with the complaint. Judge Suh denied the mo tion on December 23, 2022

. In a cogent statement of reasons, Judge Suh stated:

Court records and plaintiff's certifications reflec t that, despite initial issues with mailing, the summons an d complaint were mailed and delivered to defendant's hom e address on September 29, 2021 via regular and certified mail. At oral argument plaintiff's couns el confirmed that the summons and complaint, as well a s the May 20, 2022 [o]rder were served by regular and certified mail to defendant. Although certified mail was not signed for by defendant, the regular mail w as not returned. Accordingly, plaintiff's service com plied with the Court Rules and was proper. Defendant doe s not dispute th at she resides at the mailing address of 6 Quail Run, Warren, New Jersey, now or at the date o f mailing. Defendant's mere contention that she did not sign for the certified mai l is of no moment. The absence of defendant's signature on the certified mailing c ard is5 A- 2028

- 22 not evidence of defective service and does not rebu t the presumption of proper service by regular mail. The judge further noted defendant had not proffered a merito rious defense to the complaint as required under Rule 4 :50 -1(a) to vacate judgment. Nor had defendant demonstrated exceptional circumstances to permit relief from the judgment under Rule 4:50 -1(f). Judge Suh denied defendant's subsequent motion for reconsideration on March 6, 2023. In a written statement of reasons, Judge Suh stated:

Defendant has not articulated any basis upon which this court erred or failed to appreciate the significance of probative evidence. This court thoroughly investigated defendant's contention that there was a lack of service and confirmed the servi ce was properly effectuated. While the summons and complaint were initially served at an employer' s address, plaintiff filed a certification of service dated May 25, 2021 confirming the summons and complaint were re-served on defendant at 6 Quail Run, Warren, New Jersey. The certified mail tracking number in eCourts confirmed that the summons and complaint mailed via USPS certified mail were delivered to defendant's home address at 6 Quail Run, Warren, New Jersey 07059 on September 29, 2021 at 6:16 p.m. Defendant has not identified any new evidence that was not available at the time this court denied defenda nt' s motion to vacate. Nor has defendant presented a meritorious defense. Defendant focuses on lack of service and violating due process rights ignoring entirely the May 17, 2022 determination of service. Finding that defendant has not satisfied the6 A- 2028

- 22 requirements under R[ ule ] 4:49 -2, defendant's motion for reconsideration is denied. On appeal, defendant contends the court erred in d enying her motion to vacate default judgment and in denying her motion f or reconsideration because she was not served with the summons and complaint. We review both orders for an abuse of discretion. As our Supreme Court has st at ed, a trial court's decision under Rule 4:50 -1 "warrants substantial deference, and should not be reversed unless it res ults in a clear abuse of discretion ." US Bank Nat 'l Ass'n v. Guillaume, 209 N.J. 449, 467 (2012). We apply the same standard to a trial court's deter mination of a motion for reconsideration. Branch v. Cream-O-Land Dairy, 244 N.J. 567, 582 (2021). An abuse of discretion occurs "when a decision is ' "made without a rational explanation, inexplicably departed from established policies, or rested on an impermissible basis." '" Guillaume, 209 N.J. at 467- 68 (quoting Iliadis v. WalMart Stores, Inc., 191 N.J. 88, 123

- 24 (2007)). Based on our review of the record and applicable la w, we deem defendant's arguments without merit. They do not warrant any further discussion beyond the comments set forth in Judge S uh's written opinions of December 23, 2022, and March 6, 2023. R. 2:11 -3 (e) (1 )( E ). Affirmed.