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“Law Office Failure” Excuse for Failure to Enter a Default Judgment Within One Year Not Sufficient

The Second Department determined that the offered “law office failure” excuse for failing to enter a default judgment within the one-year time limit was not sufficient:

CPLR 3215(c), entitled “Default not entered within one year,” provides, in pertinent part, that “[i]f the plaintiff fails to take proceedings for the entry of judgment within one year after the default, the court shall not enter judgment but shall dismiss the complaint as abandoned, without costs, upon its own initiative or on motion, unless sufficient cause is shown why the complaint should not be dismissed” (emphasis added). “To avoid dismissal of the complaint as abandoned pursuant to CPLR 3215(c), a plaintiff must offer a reasonable excuse for his or her delay and must demonstrate that the complaint is meritorious” … .

Here, contrary to the Supreme Court’s conclusion, the plaintiff failed to offer a reasonable excuse as to why it did not seek to enter a judgment against the defendant until nearly three years after his failure to answer or appear (see CPLR 3215[c]…). The excuse of law office failure proffered by the plaintiff in its moving papers was “vague, conclusory, and unsubstantiated” and, thus, did not constitute a sufficient excuse for the plaintiff’s extended delay in moving to enter a default judgment after the defendant’s default… . GMAC v Minewiser, 2014 NY Slip Op 01581, 2nd Dept 3-12-14

 

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