The Docket
Everything we have written down about defending a New York business lawsuit.
Grouped by the problem rather than the date, because you almost certainly arrived here with one. Start with the section that matches the papers on your desk.
You have just been served
The first days decide more than most owners realize.
The litigation hold you should have issued the day you were served.
First 72 hours · 8 min read
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How long you actually have to answer a summons in New York.
First 72 hours · 9 min read
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The nine things to stop doing the day you are served.
First 72 hours · 4 min read
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How you were served
Jurisdiction starts with the papers.
Sued in New York when your business is somewhere else.
Service defects · 9 min read
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They say you were served. What if you were not?
Service defects · 10 min read
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A judgment already exists
A default is not the end of the case.
What a plaintiff still has to prove to take a default.
Default judgments · 9 min read
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A default judgment was entered against your business. How to get it vacated.
Default judgments · 10 min read
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Killing claims early
The motions that narrow a case before discovery starts.
Sued for breach of contract: the defenses that actually work in New York.
Motion practice · 9 min read
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The note of issue, and what stops being possible after it is filed.
Motion practice · 9 min read
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Unjust enrichment where a contract already governs.
Motion practice · 9 min read
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When summary judgment can be made, and when it is already too late.
Motion practice · 9 min read
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The counterclaim you have to bring now, and the one that can wait.
Motion practice · 9 min read
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Fraud in the inducement: the one fraud claim that survives a contract case.
Motion practice · 9 min read
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When the first paper you receive is a motion, not a complaint.
Motion practice · 10 min read
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The fraud claim bolted onto a contract case, and how it dies.
Motion practice · 6 min read
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Why a bare denial is the most expensive document in your case.
Motion practice · 5 min read
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Claims that are already dead
Some claims expire before they are filed.
Six years, three years, or two: which clock is running on the claim against you.
Statutes of limitation · 9 min read
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Dead on arrival: the New York claims that expire before they are ever filed.
Statutes of limitation · 6 min read
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When it reaches you personally
A guaranty is its own contract, on its own clock.
You bought the assets. Can you still be sued for the seller’s debts?
Personal exposure · 9 min read
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Did you sign that guaranty personally, or as an officer?
Personal guaranties · 9 min read
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When the lawsuit tries to reach you personally: piercing the corporate veil.
Personal exposure · 10 min read
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You signed a personal guaranty. Here is what that actually means now.
Personal guaranties · 7 min read
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Funders and collections
Sale or loan is the question that decides these cases.
The usury defense: when the loan suing you was never enforceable at all.
Merchant cash advances · 9 min read
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The reconciliation clause is the whole case.
Merchant cash advances · 10 min read
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Account stated: why “you never objected to the invoice” is its own claim.
Collections · 10 min read
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Sued on a promissory note in New York.
Notes and loans · 10 min read
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Sued by a merchant cash advance company in New York.
Merchant cash advances · 8 min read
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Leases and premises
The Yellowstone injunction: freezing your lease cure period before it kills the tenancy.
Commercial leases · 9 min read
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Guaranteeing a lease: what you owe after the tenant is gone.
Commercial leases · 9 min read
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The good-guy guaranty, and what it actually costs you to walk away.
Commercial leases · 10 min read
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Carriers against medical practices
Most of these are won on the carrier’s own paperwork.
The fee schedule defense: when the carrier says you billed too much, not too late.
No-fault defense · 9 min read
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The IME no-show defense, and how it differs from the EUO you already know.
No-fault defense · 9 min read
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The thirty-day rule that decides most no-fault disputes.
No-fault defense · 9 min read
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Mallela: when a carrier says your practice was never eligible to bill.
No-fault defense · 9 min read
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The examination under oath your practice missed, and what it costs.
No-fault defense · 9 min read
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When a no-fault insurer sues your medical practice.
No-fault defense · 8 min read
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Fraud and business torts
The claims bolted on to raise the stakes.
Sued for defamation over a review, a complaint, or a heated email.
Business torts · 9 min read
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Trade secret claims against your business: what the plaintiff must actually prove.
Business torts · 9 min read
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Tortious interference: the claim that follows you to your customers.
Business torts · 10 min read
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Partners and dissolution
Derivative claims inside your LLC: when your partner sues on the company’s behalf.
Business divorce · 9 min read
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Breach of fiduciary duty: when a business relationship becomes something more.
Business divorce · 9 min read
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Business divorce: what happens when your partner asks a judge to dissolve the company.
Business divorce · 9 min read
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Emergencies and arbitration
Orders that land fast and are argued faster.
A lis pendens just froze your property. What a notice of pendency really does.
Emergency applications · 9 min read
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There is an arbitration clause. Who decides whether it applies?
Arbitration · 9 min read
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An arbitration award against your business. You have ninety days.
Arbitration · 6 min read
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What a TRO actually is, and how you beat one in seventy-two hours.
Emergency applications · 7 min read
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After a judgment
Restraint, collection, and what can be undone.
A confession of judgment was filed against your business.
Enforcement · 9 min read
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Your bank account is frozen. What a restraining notice is, and what to do first.
Enforcement · 10 min read
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Moving money after you are sued: what makes a transfer a fraudulent conveyance.
Enforcement · 10 min read
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What the fight costs
Fees, interest, and the economics of ending it.
When is a settlement actually binding? The CPLR 2104 trap in your email thread.
Litigation economics · 9 min read
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The indemnification clause someone just invoked against you.
Litigation economics · 9 min read
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The attorney’s fees clause in the contract they are suing on.
Litigation economics · 9 min read
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The nine percent that accrues while the case is pending.
Litigation economics · 8 min read
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Reading the release before you sign the settlement.
Litigation economics · 10 min read
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Discovery
What they can demand, and what you must keep.
A subpoena arrived and you are not even a party. What it can and cannot demand.
Discovery · 8 min read
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Your deposition: what the other side is actually allowed to ask a business owner.
Discovery · 9 min read
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What the other side can actually make you turn over.
Discovery · 9 min read
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More from The Docket
The email you sent may have restarted their clock.
Revival by acknowledgment · 9 min read
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Your contract may have cut their deadline to one year.
Shortened by contract · 9 min read
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The plaintiff is out of state. Their clock may be shorter.
Borrowing statute · 8 min read
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The clock started when they breached, not when they knew.
When the clock starts · 8 min read
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Not every claim against you gets six years.
Which period applies · 8 min read
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The Commercial Division has rules that limit your costs.
Commercial Division rules · 9 min read
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Making the other side pay for a frivolous claim.
Sanctions and costs · 9 min read
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A formal offer can make the plaintiff pay your costs.
Offers to compromise · 10 min read
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What a motion to dismiss costs you in time.
Motion timeline · 8 min read
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You only get one motion to dismiss.
Single motion rule · 8 min read
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When your motion to dismiss becomes summary judgment.
Summary judgment conversion · 8 min read
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Why a weak complaint still survives a motion to dismiss.
Pleading sufficiency · 8 min read
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Not every document is documentary evidence.
Documentary evidence · 9 min read
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Moving money after you are sued creates a second case.
Voidable transfers · 9 min read
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You have seven days to answer an information subpoena.
Information subpoenas · 9 min read
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Your bank account was frozen by a restraining notice.
Restraining notices · 9 min read
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Deadlock dissolution needs half the votes.
Deadlock dissolution · 9 min read
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Your partner demanded the books and records.
Books and records · 9 min read
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You can buy the petitioner out under BCL 1118.
Buyout election · 8 min read
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Your minority shareholder called it oppression.
Shareholder oppression · 9 min read
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Your co-owner filed to dissolve the LLC.
LLC judicial dissolution · 8 min read
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Money owed under a contract is not conversion.
Conversion of money · 8 min read
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A faithless servant forfeits every dollar of pay.
Faithless servant · 8 min read
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Sued for interfering with someone else’s contract.
Tortious interference · 8 min read
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The fraud claim against you must be pleaded in detail.
Fraud pleading standard · 8 min read
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82 entries · a new one most days
