On July 14, 2025, Justice Boddie of the Kings County Commercial Division issued a decision in Chang v. Livlng Space Design, LLC, 2025 NY Slip Op. 32498(U), granting a default judgment against a limited liability company that failed to engage replacement counsel, explaining:
Pursuant to CPLR 321 (a), which provides that a corporation shall appear by attorney, a limited liability company must be represented by counsel to prosecute, or defend, a litigation. Insofar as Living Space has declined to retain new counsel to represent it, despite having had ample time to do so since February 26, 2025, a default judgment is appropriate at this juncture, lest corporate defendants be encouraged unduly to prolong longstanding cases by failing to retain counsel. A limited liability company is subject to a default judgment where, as here, such entity’s counsel has been terminated, and the limited liability company subsequently fails to appear through new incoming counsel.
As established above, despite having been afforded various opportunities by the court and plaintiff alike to retain counsel since February 26, 2025, Living Space has obdurately refused to retain counsel, informing the court in open court during the April 1, 2025 hearing that it has no intention of hiring another attorney, in contravention of CPLR 321(a), thereby leaving the court with no alternative but to hold that a default judgment is appropriate in this longstanding proceeding.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).