On August 20, 2025, the Second Department issued a decision in Greenpoint Mtge. Funding, Inc. v. Recinos, 2025 NY Slip Op. 04707, dismissing an action for failure timely to seek a default judgment, explaining:
CPLR 3215(c) provides that, if the plaintiff fails to take proceedings for the entry of judgment within one year after the default, the court shall not enter judgment but shall dismiss the complaint as abandoned unless sufficient cause is shown why the complaint should not be dismissed. This statute is strictly construed, as the language of CPLR 3215(c) is not, in the first instance, discretionary, but mandatory, inasmuch as courts shall dismiss claims for which default judgments are not sought within the requisite one-year period, as those claims are then deemed abandoned. However, there is an exception to this mandatory dismissal if the plaintiff shows sufficient cause as to why the complaint should not be dismissed. This Court has interpreted 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.
. . . It is undisputed that this action was commenced in 2008 and that in the 14 years since the commencement of this action, the plaintiff failed to move for entry of a default judgment. Thus, because the plaintiff failed to take proceedings for the entry of a default judgment within the statutorily required time frame of one year and did not offer any reasonable excuse for this failure, the Supreme Court properly granted that branch of Sandra Youssef’s motion which was pursuant to CPLR 3215(c) to dismiss the complaint insofar as asserted against her.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).