American Tr. Ins. Co. v Baucage, 2017 NY Slip Op 00015 (1st Dept. 2016)
In a case of first impression, the Appellate Division held that an answer can be rejected through filing a default motion within 15-days after its receipt. This would mean that sending a proposed clerk’s judgment when one has not been created would also be sufficient to reject an untimely answer. Therefore, the notion that an untimely answer must be formally “rejected” has been expanded beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.
This is another example of what seems to be the benefits of haphazard practice.
One Response
Here’s how i would have handled it:
Me: “hi your honor, I’d like to vacate this default judgment”
judge: “why?”
me: “my dog ate my homework”
judge: “default vacated”
Maybe there wasn’t a reasonable excuse that was quite up to that level? maybe some people just feel fancy appealing things?
a bit haphazard either way.