Pursuant to the statute, where a plaintiff fails to take proceedings for the entry of judgment within one year after a default, the court will dismiss the complaint as abandoned. The one exception to the otherwise mandatory statutory language is that the failure to timely seek a default on an unanswered complaint or counterclaim may be excused if 'sufficient cause is shown why the complaint should not be dismissed. The Second Department interprets this language as requiring both a reasonable excuse for the delay in timely moving for a default judgment, plus a demonstration that the cause of action is potentially meritorious. The determination of whether an excuse is reasonable in any given instance is committed to the sound discretion of the motion court.
Deutsche Bank Nat'l Trust Co. v. Brathwaite, NY Slip Op 04659 (2d Dep't August 11, 2021)
Tomorrow's issue: CPLR 3211(a)(7).
