Counsel’s Appearance Plus Failure to Move or Plead Defense Waived Lack of Personal Jurisdiction Defense

On October 12, 2022, the Second Department issued a decision in U.S. Bank N.A. v. Black, 2022 NY Slip Op. 05732, holding that the appearance of counsel, combined with the defendant’s failure to move to dismiss or plead a defense of lack of personal jurisdiction, waived that defense, explaining:

The filing of a notice of appearance in an action by a party’s counsel serves as a waiver of any objection to personal jurisdiction in the absence of either the service of an answer which raises a jurisdictional objection, or a motion to dismiss pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(8) for lack of personal jurisdiction. Here, the defendant filed a notice of appearance on August 20, 2018, and did not either file an answer asserting lack of personal jurisdiction or move to dismiss the complaint on that ground. Thus, the defendant waived any defense of lack of personal jurisdiction.

(Internal quotations and citations omitted).

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