What a plaintiff still has to prove to take a default.

A default is not automatic. Under CPLR 3215(f) a plaintiff must file proof of service, proof of the facts constituting the claim, proof of the default, and proof of the amount due. Miss the one-year deadline and the complaint is dismissed as abandoned unless the plaintiff shows sufficient cause for the delay.

You were served. The deadline passed. A lawyer is preparing papers to take a judgment against you or your company. The statute sets out a list, and every item is a place the application can fail.

What does CPLR 3215 actually require a plaintiff to prove to get a default judgment?

CPLR 3215(f) requires a plaintiff seeking a default judgment to file four things: proof of service of the summons and the complaint, proof of the facts constituting the claim, proof of the default, and proof of the amount due. A verified complaint may substitute for the affidavit of facts. The default must still be proved by affidavit.

Law: CPLR 3215(f).

Read that list slowly. Three of the four are routinely under-documented. The affidavit of service may describe a method that does not match what happened. The affidavit of merit may be signed by a lawyer who was never in the room.

Watch the verified-complaint shortcut. A served verified complaint can stand in for the affidavit of the facts and the amount due, but an affidavit as to the default must still come from the party or its attorney. A verification by counsel with no knowledge invites attack.

Three more limits sit next to the proof requirement. On a sum certain, or a sum made certain by computation, the plaintiff may apply to the clerk within one year after the default; after that year it goes to a judge. The judgment cannot exceed in amount or differ in type from what the complaint or the CPLR 305(b) notice demanded. A defendant who appeared gets five days’ notice.

Law: CPLR 3215(a); CPLR 3215(b); CPLR 3215(g)(1).

What counts as “proof of the facts constituting the claim”?

Proof of the facts constituting the claim means a sworn statement, from someone with actual knowledge, describing what happened well enough to show the claim is real. Your default concedes liability on the facts pleaded. It does not concede damages, and it does not supply facts the plaintiff never pleaded or swore to.

The First Department has put both halves plainly. By defaulting, a defendant admits all traversable allegations and concedes liability, though not damages. But a plaintiff must still submit proof of the prima facie viability of its claims, and that standard of proof is minimal.

Cases: HF Mgt. Servs. LLC v Dependable Care, LLC, 198 AD3d 457 (1st Dept 2021); Petty v Law Off. of Robert P. Santoriella, P.C., 200 AD3d 621 (1st Dept 2021).

Take that honestly. “Minimal” is a low bar, so attacking the merits showing alone is rarely your strongest card. It becomes strong when the pleading never connected you personally to the obligation. Without a guaranty and an affidavit that you signed it, the papers reach the company and not you.

That is the shape of the Court of Appeals case discussed below. A verified complaint alleged an individual was a principal officer of the corporate defendants, did not attach the agreement, and did not allege he signed individually. The Court still held the defect was not jurisdictional. Raise it early.

A default admits what the complaint says. It does not invent what the complaint forgot to say.

What happens if the plaintiff waited more than a year to move for a default judgment?

CPLR 3215(c) is the defendant’s strongest provision. If a plaintiff fails to take proceedings for the entry of judgment within one year after the default, the court shall dismiss the complaint as abandoned, on its own initiative or on motion, unless the plaintiff shows sufficient cause why the complaint should not be dismissed.

Law: CPLR 3215(c).

The Second Department treats that language as mandatory, not discretionary, subject only to the sufficient-cause exception. The clock runs from the default, not from service. The plaintiff need not obtain judgment inside the year, but it must take proceedings toward entry.

Sufficient cause requires two showings from the plaintiff: a reasonable excuse for the delay in moving, and a potentially meritorious cause of action. With no reasonable excuse, the court need not reach merit.

Cases: Giglio v NTIMP, Inc., 86 AD3d 301, 308 (2d Dept 2011); Chase Home Fin., LLC v Morris, 235 AD3d 827, 829 (2d Dept 2025).

Note whose excuse is at issue. Not yours. The plaintiff’s. That makes this a different animal from a motion to vacate.

Generic excuses tend to fail. Conclusory assertions blaming delay on settlement conferences, a change in counsel, or the volume of other litigation have been held insufficient. But sufficient cause is a fact question. A plaintiff with a documented explanation and a viable claim survives.

Does filing a notice of appearance destroy my CPLR 3215(c) motion?

A notice of appearance can destroy a CPLR 3215(c) motion. The statute itself says a motion by the defendant under that subdivision does not constitute an appearance. But a defendant may waive the right to seek dismissal under CPLR 3215(c) by serving an answer or by taking any other steps that may be viewed as a formal or informal appearance.

Law: CPLR 3215(c). Case: Myers v Slutsky, 139 AD2d 709, 711 (2d Dept 1988).

The Second Department has applied that rule both ways. A defendant that filed a notice of appearance waived the right to seek dismissal as abandoned. A defendant that instead moved under CPLR 3012(d) to vacate its default and serve a late answer made neither a formal nor an informal appearance, and kept the right.

Cases: Bank of Am., N.A. v Rice, 155 AD3d 593 (2d Dept 2017); HSBC Bank USA, N.A. v Grella, 145 AD3d 669, 671 (2d Dept 2016).

Past the one-year mark, the order of your filings matters as much as their content.

What extra notice must a plaintiff give a corporation served through the Secretary of State?

When a default judgment based on non-appearance is sought against a domestic or authorized foreign corporation served through the Secretary of State under Business Corporation Law 306(b), CPLR 3215(g)(4)(i) requires an affidavit showing that an additional service of the summons was made by first class mail to the corporation’s last known address at least twenty days before entry of judgment.

Law: CPLR 3215(g)(4)(i); Business Corporation Law 306(b).

The mechanics are spelled out. The mailing may be made simultaneously with or after service through the Secretary of State. The affidavit must be executed by the person who mailed the summons and filed with the judgment. Where the plaintiff complied, non-receipt does not bar entry.

Law: CPLR 3215(g)(4)(ii).

The corollary is the useful part. Compliance is a condition of granting the motion, so a plaintiff who cannot produce the affidavit should lose it. Be realistic. The defect is not jurisdictional, and a plaintiff can usually cure by mailing and renewing. Leverage, not a permanent bar.

Case: Schilling v Maren Enters., Inc., 302 AD2d 375, 376 (2d Dept 2003).

The requirement is entity-specific. By its express terms it reaches a “domestic or authorized foreign corporation” served under Business Corporation Law 306(b). It does not pertain to a limited liability company.

Cases: Gershman v Ahmad, 131 AD3d 1104, 1105 (2d Dept 2015); Jian Hua Tan v AB Capstone Dev., LLC, 163 AD3d 937, 939 (2d Dept 2018).

If you signed personally, look at a different paragraph. Before a default judgment against a natural person in an action based upon nonpayment of a contractual obligation, CPLR 3215(g)(3)(i) requires an affidavit of additional notice twenty days before entry, by first-class mail to the residence, in an envelope marked “personal and confidential,” with nothing outside indicating it is from an attorney or concerns a debt. If it returns undeliverable, or the residence is unknown, the statute routes the notice elsewhere.

Law: CPLR 3215(g)(3)(i).

Why are defective default papers a route to vacatur independent of excuse and merit?

Defective default papers matter because the ordinary route to vacatur under CPLR 5015(a)(1) requires you to prove two things about yourself: a reasonable excuse for the delay in appearing and answering, and a meritorious defense. That motion carries its own deadline. Attacks on the plaintiff’s failures shift the focus off your excuse.

Law: CPLR 5015(a)(1). Case: Eugene Di Lorenzo, Inc. v A.C. Dutton Lbr. Co., 67 NY2d 138, 141 (1986).

Diary that deadline. A CPLR 5015(a)(1) motion is to be made within one year after service on you of the judgment with written notice of entry. A CPLR 5015(a)(4) motion, for lack of jurisdiction, is not.

Be precise about how far a CPLR 3215(f) defect gets you. The Court of Appeals left open in Woodson v Mendon Leasing Corp. whether non-compliance with the proof-of-facts requirement is jurisdictional, rendering a judgment a nullity. It answered in Manhattan Telecommunications. It is not. Missing proof should lead a court to deny the application, but a court that enters judgment anyway has erred rather than usurped a power it lacks, and the error is corrected under CPLR 5015.

Cases: Manhattan Telecom. Corp. v H & A Locksmith, Inc., 21 NY3d 200, 202-203 (2013); Woodson v Mendon Leasing Corp., 100 NY2d 62, 71 (2003).

The routes that reduce the weight on your own excuse are these:

• CPLR 3215(c). Abandonment turns on the plaintiff’s delay and the plaintiff’s excuse. Your conduct matters only to whether you appeared and waived the motion.
• Improper service. No proper service, no personal jurisdiction, and the judgment is vacated under CPLR 5015(a)(4) with no showing of excuse. Expect a traverse hearing where the affidavit of service is facially valid, and raise the objection promptly, because it can be waived.
• CPLR 317. A defendant served other than by personal delivery, who does not appear, may be allowed to defend on a finding that it did not personally receive notice in time to defend and has a meritorious defense. No reasonable excuse is required, and the relief is discretionary. Built for the company served through the Secretary of State at an old address.
• Missing statutory notice. Without the affidavit of the CPLR 3215(g)(4) mailing, the corporate application is not in the posture the statute requires.

Law: CPLR 317; CPLR 5015(a)(4). Case: Eugene Di Lorenzo, Inc. v A.C. Dutton Lbr. Co., 67 NY2d 138, 141 (1986).

Under CPLR 5015(a)(1) you are on trial for missing the deadline. Under CPLR 3215(c) and CPLR 317, the plaintiff is on trial for how it built the file.

One caution. CPLR 317 relief must be sought within one year after you obtain knowledge of entry of the judgment, and never more than five years after entry. Learning of a judgment and waiting is how a good CPLR 317 argument disappears.

What should you do first, before you file anything?

The first move after a default is a documents move, not a filing move. Anything filed in the wrong order can waive the best argument you have. Assemble the record of how the case reached you, fix the dates, then choose the vehicle. Concrete steps, in order:

• Fix the default date. Find the affidavit of service and count forward. The day your time to answer expired started the CPLR 3215(c) clock.
• Pull the entity record. Corporation or LLC, and the address on file with the Department of State on the date of service. That decides whether the CPLR 3215(g)(4) mailing was required and whether CPLR 317 is available.
• Locate the signed documents. The guaranty, the note, the lease, the purchase order. If you are sued personally, the question is whether any document bears your individual signature.
• Check the mail log. Look for a first class envelope containing the summons, separate from the Secretary of State transmittal, and for a “personal and confidential” envelope.
• Do not appear reflexively. Past the one-year mark, appearing can waive dismissal as abandoned. Choose the vehicle first.
• Preserve everything. Emails about the deal, payment records, and the envelope the summons came in. The envelope is evidence.

Then the analysis is close to mechanical. Default over a year old and no appearance by you, move under CPLR 3215(c). Bad service, the attack is jurisdictional. Good service but no actual notice, CPLR 317. Judgment already entered, CPLR 5015.

You are not asking a court for mercy. You are asking whether the plaintiff did what the statute requires. Often enough, it did not.

Prencipe International defends businesses and individuals against default judgments in New York state and federal courts.