Vacating a Default Judgment in New York
A Judgment Is Not the End
A default judgment is not a final ruling on the merits. It is a procedural outcome that follows from a missed deadline, and New York law gives a business the ability to ask the court to undo it. The path back into the case is narrow, the timing matters, and the burden of proof falls on the defendant. But when the right defense is presented in the right way, New York courts vacate default judgments every term in Kings, New York, Queens, and Richmond County. Vacating is one piece of business litigation defense for owners who have been hit with judgments they never had the chance to fight.
What follows is what actually works on a motion to vacate under CPLR 5015, when each ground applies, how timing reshapes the analysis, and the procedural mistakes that sink otherwise strong motions before the judge ever reaches the substantive question of whether your business has a real defense to the underlying claim. The starting point is the four statutory grounds, which decide everything that follows in the motion practice that defends your business in this state. The motion frame matters because vacating reopens the case explored in the default judgment process in New York.
The Four Statutory Grounds
CPLR 5015(a) lists four separate grounds your business can raise to vacate a default judgment in New York. Each ground carries its own proof requirements, its own time limit, and its own tactical value. The right ground depends on what actually happened in your case, not on what reads best in the abstract. Picking the wrong ground burns the motion and often forecloses the right one.
CPLR 5015(a)(1). The most common ground. Requires a reasonable excuse for missing the deadline plus a meritorious defense to the underlying claim. Both prongs are required. One-year filing limit from notice of entry.
CPLR 5015(a)(2). Evidence that existed at the time of default but could not have been discovered with reasonable diligence. Must be material enough that the result would likely change. Rarely used in default practice.
CPLR 5015(a)(3). Fraud by the adverse party in obtaining the judgment. False affidavits of service, manufactured documents, or misrepresentation to the court qualify. Requires specificity and proof, not suspicion.
CPLR 5015(a)(4). The court never had personal jurisdiction over the defendant. Raised when service of process was defective. No time limit. No meritorious defense requirement. The strongest ground when facts support it.
The Reasonable Excuse Test
The first prong of CPLR 5015(a)(1) is reasonable excuse for the default. Courts in this state read it through the lens of two competing policies. The policy of deciding cases on their merits favors vacating. The policy that procedural deadlines mean something real favors the judgment. The answer turns on detailed, sworn facts about what happened and why.
Excuses that courts in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and Staten Island have accepted include documented illness of the principal or counsel, detailed law office failure under CPLR 2005 with specific facts about which staff member missed which entry on which date, a mailing or service mishap supported by USPS records, a bona fide settlement negotiation interrupted by an unrelated default motion, and lack of actual notice where contact information had been updated with the court but never propagated. The common thread is specificity. A reasonable excuse is a story with names, dates, and documents.
Excuses that fail are the opposite. Bare assertions that the case did not seem serious. Generic claims of being too busy. Conclusory law office failure with no detail. A pattern of dilatory conduct in the same case or in others. Excuses raised eighteen months after entry with no urgency shown earlier in the timeline. The closer the motion is filed to the date of entry, the more leniently New York courts read the excuse. Motions filed within thirty days land differently than motions filed at month eleven. For deeper background, see how missed deadlines factor into a vacate motion.
The Meritorious Defense Test
The second prong of CPLR 5015(a)(1) is a meritorious defense. New York courts do not require proof that the defendant will win at trial. They require enough sworn detail to show that if the case proceeds, a fact-finder could reasonably decide in the defendant's favor on at least one element of the claim. The standard is lower than most owners expect at first, but the execution is unforgiving.
What satisfies the meritorious defense burden in New York includes a signed contract that contradicts what the plaintiff filed, sworn statements with specific dates and amounts that dispute the breach claim, documentary evidence of payment, performance, or release, a defense the plaintiff failed to anticipate and plead around, and statute of limitations or jurisdictional objections that defeat the claim on its face. The defense has to be readable in the moving papers without testimony.
A meritorious defense is not "the plaintiff might be wrong" or "the amount seems too high." It is a specific factual or legal basis to deny relief, presented in sworn form with documents attached. Bare denials never satisfy this prong, and motions built on conclusory affidavits get denied even when the underlying excuse is strong. A frequent path to merit is attacking the plaintiff's damages presentation. See how inflated damages function as a defense on a vacate motion.
The Jurisdictional Defense
The strongest defense under CPLR 5015 is lack of personal jurisdiction. Unlike the excusable default path, jurisdictional defects under CPLR 5015(a)(4) have no one-year deadline, no meritorious defense requirement, and no exercise of judicial discretion. If the court did not have personal jurisdiction over the defendant when the default was entered, the judgment is void from the start, and New York courts must vacate it once the lack of jurisdiction is shown to the judge in proper form.
For corporations and LLCs, jurisdiction usually hinges on service of process. Defects that void default judgments in this state include service on a stale Secretary of State address that no longer reflects where the business operates, service on an office that has been closed for months or years, a false or fabricated affidavit of service by a process server who never attempted service in the first place, service on a person with no authority to accept on behalf of the business, and substituted service without the underlying due diligence required by CPLR 308. Any single defect can void the judgment.
Jurisdictional defense is fact-intensive and almost always turns on the affidavit of service. Pulling the file, comparing what the process server swore happened against what your records show, identifying the specific defect, and presenting that defect with sworn proof is what wins these motions. See when service of process on a business is defective for a deeper breakdown of the rules.
Timing and Filing the Motion
Time controls almost everything about a motion to vacate. The deadlines run from the date the judgment was entered by the clerk, not the date your business found out about it. Four windows shape the analysis, and each one calls for a different motion strategy.
Within 30 Days of Entry
The easiest path. CPLR 5015(a)(1) relief is routine when the motion is filed promptly after the judgment is entered. Courts read the excuse generously, the meritorious defense showing leniently, and the policy of deciding cases on their merits tips the scale toward vacating. The window is short but it is the right window when it exists.
Thirty Days to One Year
The standard CPLR 5015(a)(1) window. Both prongs are scrutinized closely. The excuse needs detailed sworn facts. The meritorious defense needs documentary support. A pattern of inaction during this window starts to weigh against the defendant, and courts ask why the motion was not filed sooner once the business learned of the default.
After One Year
CPLR 5015(a)(1) closes. Only fraud under (a)(3), newly discovered evidence under (a)(2), and jurisdiction under (a)(4) remain available. Most successful late motions are jurisdictional because the time bar does not apply. A late (a)(1) motion is dead on arrival regardless of how strong the underlying defense would have been within the window.
CPLR 317 Alternative
A separate path for defendants who were not personally served and had no actual notice of the action in time to defend. Allows up to one year from learning of the judgment, with a five-year outer limit from entry. Requires a meritorious defense but not a reasonable excuse. The relationship to default proofs is discussed in what the plaintiff must show on a default motion.
Mistakes That Sink the Motion
Motions to vacate with strong substantive grounds get denied every term because of procedural execution that ignores what New York courts require. Two categories of failure recur in the denied orders that come out of Kings, New York, Queens, and Richmond County motion practice.
Missing the proposed answer that has to accompany the motion. Filing under the wrong index number or in the wrong court. Failing to serve the judgment creditor with the motion papers. Submitting conclusory affidavits that lack the detail courts demand. Skipping the proof of mailing required for substitute service rebuttal. Each failure is independently fatal to the motion.
Presenting a bare denial as a meritorious defense. Offering generic law office failure with no specifics about staff, dates, or files. Ignoring the timing of when the default was discovered and why no motion was filed sooner. Failing to address the plaintiff's prima facie case on the underlying claim. Each gap gives the court a reason to deny without reaching the merits.
The lesson is that vacating is about execution as much as it is about grounds. A motion with the strongest jurisdictional argument loses if the moving papers do not lay out the service defect with sworn proof. A motion with a clean excusable default story loses if the proposed answer is not attached. Related defenses turn on similarly tight execution, including unsigned contract defenses and breach of contract litigation that follow once the case is reopened.
After the Motion
If the court grants the motion to vacate, the default judgment is vacated, enforcement stops, restraining notices on bank accounts are lifted, frozen accounts are released, and the proposed answer attached to the motion is deemed served. The case returns to active litigation as if the default had not occurred. The plaintiff still has to prove the underlying claim on the merits, and the defendant has the full panoply of judgment enforcement defenses available going forward against any future collection effort.
If the court denies the motion, the judgment stands and enforcement resumes or continues. The defendant may appeal the denial to the appropriate Appellate Division within thirty days of service of the order with notice of entry. In some cases, a renewed motion based on different grounds becomes available. A defendant whose excusable default motion was denied may still have a jurisdictional motion under CPLR 5015(a)(4), which carries no time bar and no discretion.
Vacating is not a win on the merits. It is permission to defend the underlying case. The plaintiff who lost the default will press the substantive claim with renewed force, and the defendant who fought to get back into the case must now actually defend it. The motion to vacate is the beginning of the defense, not the end. The full arc of defense work continues through Kleyman Law Group from the vacate motion to disposition of the underlying claim.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to vacate a default judgment in New York?
For most grounds under CPLR 5015(a)(1), one year from the date of entry of the judgment. Jurisdictional defects under CPLR 5015(a)(4) have no time limit. CPLR 317 provides a separate path for unserved defendants, with up to one year from notice and a five-year outer limit from entry.
What counts as a reasonable excuse for missing the deadline?
Documented illness, detailed law office failure with specific facts, a mailing or service mishap, settlement negotiations interrupted by default, or lack of actual notice where the business address was stale. Conclusory excuses that lack names, dates, or supporting documents are denied as a matter of routine in New York motion practice.
What is a meritorious defense?
A specific factual or legal basis that, if accepted, would defeat the plaintiff's claim. It has to be supported by sworn affidavits with detail and documents the court can read on the papers. Courts do not require proof the defendant will win at trial, only that the case is genuinely defensible on the merits.
Can I vacate a judgment older than one year?
Yes, on three grounds. Lack of personal jurisdiction under CPLR 5015(a)(4) has no time limit. Newly discovered evidence under (a)(2) and fraud by the adverse party under (a)(3) remain available beyond one year. CPLR 317 also extends the window for defendants who were never personally served and had no actual notice in time to defend.
What happens if the court grants my motion to vacate?
The default judgment is vacated, enforcement stops, restraining notices and bank freezes are released, and the proposed answer attached to the motion is deemed served. The case returns to active litigation. Vacating is not a win on the merits, it restores the right to defend the underlying claim with full procedural protections.
Need to Vacate a Default Judgment?
Kleyman Law Group files motions to vacate default judgments across Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and Staten Island. Talk to a business litigation attorney about your case today.