No Default Judgment for Petitions to Confirm

On July 13, 2023, the Southern District of New York reminded litigants that “default judgments in confirmation/vacatur proceedings are generally inappropriate” and that the Court treats unanswered petitions to confirm an arbitration award as an unopposed motion for summary judgment.

The Court referred to a number of New York precedent, including D.H. Blair & Co., Inc. v. Gottdiener, 462 F.3d 95, 109 (2d Cir. 2006), Trustees of the N.Y.C. Dist. Council of Carpenters Pension Fund v. Harbor Island Contracting Inc., No. 14-CV-9507 (AJN), 2015 WL 5146093, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 31, 2015) (noting that “default judgment motions in an action to confirm an arbitration award are . . . inappropriate”); Trustees of the N.Y.C. Dist. Council of Carpenters Pension Fund, Welfare Fund, Annuity Fund, & Apprenticeship Journeyman Retraining, Educ. & Indus. Fund v. Innovative Furniture Installations, Inc., No. 14-CV-2508 (ER), 2015 WL 1600077, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 9, 2015) (same).

The Court set up a schedule, asking that Petitioners file and serve Respondent with any additional materials in support of the Petition and giving the parties the opportunity to file an opposition and a reply.

The case is VC Healthy Living, Inc., et al. v. ILKB, LLC, No. 22-5549 (S.D.N.Y.). Petitioners are represented by William Michael Garner from Garner, Ginsburg & Johnsen, P.A. The order is available for download below.

Order - VC Healthy Living - 22 Civ. 5549 (JHR) .pdf

Download PDF • 163KB

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