DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the order is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs.
Contrary to the appellant's contention, CPLR 306-b, which permits the Supreme Court to extend a plaintiff's time to serve a summons and complaint for "good cause shown or in the interest of justice", is applicable where service, timely made within the 120-day period, is subsequently found to have been defective (see, Murphy v Hoppenstein, 279 A.D.2d 410 [1st Dept., Jan. 25, 2001]; Gurevitch v. Goodman, 269 A.D.2d 355; Salamon v. Charney, 269 A.D.2d 256; see also, Alexander, 1997 Supplementary Practice Commentaries [McKinney's Cons Laws of NY, Book 7B, CPLR 306-b, 2001 Supp Pamph, at 188]). Under the circumstances of this case, the Supreme Court providently exercised its discretion in granting the plaintiff's cross motion for an extension of time to serve, in the interest of justice ( see, Leader v. Maroney, Ponzini Spencer, 276 A.D.2d 194; Scarabaggio v. Olympia York Estates, 278 A.D.2d 476).