A default judgment was entered against your business. How to get it vacated.

A default judgment against your business can often be vacated, but only on grounds New York recognizes. CPLR 5015(a)(1) requires a reasonable excuse for the default plus a potentially meritorious defense. CPLR 317 requires no excuse, but you must prove you were never handed the papers, lacked actual notice in time to defend, and have a meritorious defense.

What do I have to prove to get a default judgment vacated in New York?

A motion to vacate a default judgment under CPLR 5015(a)(1) requires two showings. First, a reasonable excuse for why you did not answer the complaint. Second, a potentially meritorious defense to the claims. Both are required. If the excuse fails, the court never reaches the defense.

The excuse must be proven, not asserted, with evidence in admissible form and a detailed, credible explanation. One defendant offered only that the summons and complaint had been routed to the wrong internal email address at its loan servicer. No person named. No date given. The Appellate Division called that conclusory and reversed the vacatur.

Law: CPLR 5015(a)(1); 259 Milford, LLC v. FV-1, Inc., 211 A.D.3d 658 (2d Dept 2022); Munro v. Christsouljah, Inc., 2026 NY Slip Op 02990 (2d Dept 2026).

How long do I have to move to vacate the default judgment?

Deadlines to vacate a default judgment in New York depend on the statute you use. CPLR 5015(a)(1) gives one year from service of the judgment with written notice of entry. CPLR 317 gives one year from the date you learn of entry, capped at five years. A jurisdictional attack has no fixed deadline.

Note what starts the CPLR 5015(a)(1) clock. Not the day your bank freezes the account. Service of a copy of the judgment together with written notice of its entry. If the plaintiff never served that document, the year has not begun to run. The other statutory trigger applies only if you entered the judgment yourself.

Missing the year is not automatically fatal. A court retains inherent power to vacate its own judgment for sufficient reason and in the interests of substantial justice. Courts use it sparingly. It is a backstop, not a route.

Law: CPLR 5015(a)(1); CPLR 317; Woodson v. Mendon Leasing Corp., 100 N.Y.2d 62 (2003); Legal Servicing, LLC v. Carty, 2024 NY Slip Op 03741 (2d Dept 2024).

What if nobody ever handed me the papers?

CPLR 317 covers the defendant who was never handed the papers. A defendant served with a summons other than by personal delivery, who did not receive actual notice in time to defend, may be allowed to defend the action on a showing of a meritorious defense. CPLR 317 requires no excuse for the delay.

Service on a New York corporation is routinely made by delivering process to the Secretary of State under Business Corporation Law section 306, and on an LLC the same way under Limited Liability Company Law section 303. The Secretary of State then mails the papers to the address on file. That service is valid, but as a matter of law it is not personal delivery. A business served that way is eligible for CPLR 317 relief.

Eligible is not entitled. Relief is discretionary, and courts can grant it on terms. You still have to establish that you did not actually receive notice in time to defend, and a bare denial of receipt is insufficient. The affidavit must come from a person with knowledge, explain the entity’s mail handling, and state when you learned of the action.

CPLR 317 also has an internal limit. It is unavailable if process was personally delivered to an agent you designated under CPLR 318.

An out-of-date address on file with the Secretary of State does not by itself defeat CPLR 317. Relief has been granted where the address was stale because the offices were under renovation. Relief is denied where the failure looks like a deliberate attempt to evade notice.

A stale address with the Secretary of State is careless, and careless is not evasive. But careless still loses if you cannot prove you never got notice in time to defend.

Law: CPLR 317; CPLR 318; Business Corporation Law 306; Limited Liability Company Law 303; Eugene Di Lorenzo, Inc. v. A.C. Dutton Lbr. Co., 67 N.Y.2d 138 (1986); Wilson v. Kore Method on Gansevoort LLC, 180 A.D.3d 486 (1st Dept 2020); Acqua Capital, LLC v. 510 W. Boston Post Rd., LLC, 164 A.D.3d 1195 (2d Dept 2018); Andrews v. Wartburg Receiver, LLC, 203 A.D.3d 1000 (2d Dept 2022).

What counts as a reasonable excuse, and what does not?

A reasonable excuse under CPLR 5015(a)(1) is a specific, documented account of why the answer was never served. Reasonableness is decided case by case, weighing the length of the delay, prejudice, willfulness, and the strong public policy favoring resolution of cases on the merits. Documentation separates the two columns below.

Law office failure deserves a walkthrough. It means your lawyer, not you, dropped the file. CPLR 2005 provides that a court is not precluded as a matter of law from excusing a default resulting from law office failure. That statute is permission, not entitlement.

The showing has to be granular. In one recent case counsel failed to calendar the opposition date, but had asked the other side for an adjournment and filed the papers the same day. Negligible delay, no willfulness, no prejudice. Relief granted. In another, counsel’s affirmation never said when the file reached the new attorney, and the prior attorney submitted nothing. Relief denied.

Two excuses recur in business cases and both fail. Waiting on your insurance carrier is not reasonable, because the carrier’s failure to defend does not excuse your failure to answer on time. Deliberate default is not an excuse either, by definition.

Law: CPLR 2005; Khan v. Santana, 2026 NY Slip Op 03432 (2d Dept 2026); April I.O. v. Taylor, 2026 NY Slip Op 02741 (4th Dept 2026); Munro v. Christsouljah, Inc., 2026 NY Slip Op 02990 (2d Dept 2026); World O World Corp. v. Anoufrieva, 163 A.D.3d 610 (2d Dept 2018); San-Dar Assoc. v. Corporate Habitat NY, LLC, 2024 NY Slip Op 02028 (1st Dept 2024).

What is a potentially meritorious defense?

A potentially meritorious defense is a real answer to the claim, supported by facts a witness can swear to. The standard sits below what wins at trial. You are showing the court that the case deserves to be decided rather than defaulted. Conclusory denials do not qualify.

Build it from documents, and name each one. On a promissory note, the note and the payment history. On a personal guaranty, the guaranty, and whether the signature block binds the company or you individually. In a members’ dispute, the operating agreement.

Your motion should include the following. Each one is a common point of failure.

• An affidavit from a person with knowledge. Not your attorney. The officer or employee who lived the facts.
• The documents themselves. Named, attached, and cited by paragraph.
• A timeline of the default. When the papers arrived or did not, who handled them, and when you learned of the judgment.
• A proposed answer. Attach the pleading you want accepted, with your defenses and counterclaims stated.
• A request under CPLR 3012(d). The court may extend your time to plead and compel acceptance of a late pleading on a showing of reasonable excuse.

Law: CPLR 5015(a)(1); CPLR 3012(d); 259 Milford, LLC v. FV-1, Inc., 211 A.D.3d 658.

Can I attack the service instead of explaining the default?

Attacking service is often the stronger motion. CPLR 5015(a)(4) permits vacatur of a judgment for lack of jurisdiction to render it. A defendant moving on that ground need not show a reasonable excuse or a meritorious defense. Once lack of personal jurisdiction is established, the default must be vacated.

Improper service means the court never acquired personal jurisdiction, and a judgment entered without personal jurisdiction is a nullity. The process server’s affidavit is prima facie evidence of proper service. You rebut it with a sworn denial of receipt setting forth specific facts that contradict the server’s account. The plaintiff then carries the burden at a hearing.

Specific facts means specific. The affidavit of service describes a person of a stated height, weight, age, and hair color, at a stated address, on a stated date. If nobody matching it was there, say so and say how you know.

One trap. The objection to personal jurisdiction can be waived. Appear in the action and ask the court for relief without contesting service, and you can forfeit the argument you were most likely to win. Raise the jurisdictional ground first, and plead the excusable-default grounds in the alternative.

Check the plaintiff’s own timing. Under CPLR 3215(c), if the plaintiff fails to take proceedings for the entry of judgment within one year after the default, the court shall dismiss the complaint as abandoned unless sufficient cause is shown. Read that wording. The plaintiff must take proceedings within the year, not obtain judgment within it. The protection is waivable by a defendant who appears and litigates without raising it.

Law: CPLR 5015(a)(4); CPLR 3215(c); Bank of Am., N.A. v. City of N.Y. Dept. of Hous. Preserv. and Dev., 211 A.D.3d 661 (2d Dept 2022); Legal Servicing, LLC v. Carty, 2024 NY Slip Op 03741 (2d Dept 2024).

How fast do I need to move?

Move to vacate the default judgment immediately. Delay in bringing the motion is an independent reason courts deny relief, separate from the deadlines in CPLR 5015 and CPLR 317. The extent of the delay is a named factor, and an unexplained gap between learning of the judgment and filing undercuts every excuse.

The case law is unforgiving here. A defendant who waited more than two years after her answer was rejected, giving no reason, lost. A defendant that did nothing for three months and moved only after its assets were restrained was told the delay was not excusable.

Speed is practical too. A default judgment is enforceable while your motion is pending. Restraining notices, subpoenas, and levies do not pause because you filed. Ask for a stay of enforcement in the same motion.

Every week you wait converts a procedural argument you were likely to win into a credibility argument you are likely to lose.

Law: Nationstar Mtge., LLC v. Hassanzadeh, 2024 NY Slip Op 03488 (2d Dept 2024); San-Dar Assoc. v. Corporate Habitat NY, LLC, 2024 NY Slip Op 02028 (1st Dept 2024).

What do I do first?

Your first practical step after a default judgment is to find the judgment itself. You need the entered judgment and the cover document served with it, because the paper marked “notice of entry” starts your one-year clock under CPLR 5015(a)(1). Then work through the list below in order.

1. Calculate two dates. The date you were served with the judgment and written notice of entry, and the date you learned the judgment had been entered. Those trigger CPLR 5015(a)(1) and CPLR 317 respectively.
2. Answer one question honestly. Did anyone hand the summons to you or to an agent you designated under CPLR 318? If not, and service went through the Secretary of State, CPLR 317 is on the table.
3. Pull the affidavit of service. Compare the described person, address, and date against what you know. Discrepancies point toward a CPLR 5015(a)(4) motion, which carries no deadline in the statute.
4. Check the entity address on file with the Secretary of State. Confirm whether it was current on the date of service, and be ready to explain why not.
5. Identify the document the claim rests on. The guaranty, the note, the lease, the operating agreement. Your potentially meritorious defense comes from that document.
6. Preserve everything now. Mail logs, forwarding orders, the email account that should have received notice, and the calendar around the answer deadline.

Then file, in the court that entered the judgment. A motion to vacate is decided on the papers you submit, and those papers get worse every week you spend assembling them.