On April 19, 2023, the Second Department issued a decision in Deutsche Bank Natl. Trust Co. v. Williams, 2023 NY Slip Op. 01982, holding the denial of receipt of service was insufficient to overcome the presumptive validity of an affidavit of service, explaining:
Ordinarily, a process server’s affidavit of service establishes a prima facie case as to the method of service and, therefore, gives rise to a presumption of proper service. To be entitled to vacatur of a default judgment under CPLR 5015(a)(4), a defendant must overcome the presumption raised by the process server’s affidavit of service. Although bare and unsubstantiated denials are insufficient to rebut the presumption of service, a sworn denial of service containing specific facts generally rebuts the presumption of proper service established by the affidavit of service and necessitates a hearing.
Here, the process server’s affidavit of service constituted prima facie evidence of proper service and, thus, gave rise to a presumption of proper service. In an affidavit in support of his motion, inter alia, to vacate the judgment of foreclosure and sale, the defendant stated that the plaintiff effected service of process “at 113-20,” and denied that he lived at that address. However, that was not the address recited in the affidavit of service. Moreover, the defendant offered no specific facts or documentary or other evidence demonstrating that he did not reside at the address where service was effected. Therefore, his affidavit was insufficient to rebut the presumption of proper service established by the affidavit of service.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted) (emphasis added).