Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Court Orders
Court Orders
QUEENS COUNTY
writing although occasionally orders are delivered orally (right from on the bench) that
(Remember, a motion is defined as a specific request (or prayer) for specific relief
from a court in the form of an order.) A judgment is, generally speaking, a determination
by a court (either by a judge or justice acting alone or together with a jury) that sets forth
the final results of an entire case or of a discrete claim for relief in a case. For example,
a judgment may award plaintiff a specific sum of money based upon the court's finding that
Court the judge's proper title is justice.) Judgments may be signed by a justice or by the
County Clerk in accordance with a written directive (or decision) issued by a justice.
Obviously, before a justice signs an order, the order must be drafted (written) (the correct
form order. (See, Appendix 1.) Occasionally, however, the justice will direct that the
prevailing (winning) party on a motion to draw (prepare) a long form order for the justice's
In the case of Funk v Barry, 89 NY2d 364 (that is, Volume 89 of the casebooks
called New York Second, page 364), the New York Court of Appeals (New York's highest
court) explained:
"When a decision ends with the directive to 'submit order' the court is
generally directing the prevailing party to 'draw[] the order and present[] it to
the judge . . . who looks it over to make sure it reflects the decision properly,
and then signs or initials it' (Siegel, Practice Commentaries, McKinney's
Cons Laws of NY, Book 70, CPLR C2220:4, at 170). This procedure calls
for no notice to the opponent (id.).
Accordingly, should a party make or oppose a motion and then receive a favorable
decision, which directs that an order be "submitted or settled," that party must properly
draw (prepare) the proposed order and then take the proper procedural steps to arrange
The basic rules covering these procedures are found in the Civil Practice Law and
Rules (the "CPLR" for short), Sections 2219 and 2220 and in Volume 22 of the New York
Code Rules and Regulations ("22 NYCRR" for short), Rule 202.4P (see, Appendix 2 and
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requirement that the proposed order "state the court . . . the place and date of the
signature, recite the papers used on the motion and give the determination or directive in
such detail as the judge deems proper. (A sample long form order is attached as
Appendix 4.)
If the judge's decision merely directed "submit order" once the order is drawn, the
prevailing party just submits it to the Court, but this should (must) be done within
If the justice's decision says settle order or submit order on notice, unless otherwise
specifically directed by the court, the prevailing party must draw the order, attach the order
to a notice of settlement (this is usually done by completing the notice of settlement box
in the lower left hand corner of a blue back (see, Appendix 5) and serving on the other
parties to the lawsuit at least five (5) days before its settlement date (ten (10) days if the
order is served by mail). The order together with the notice of settlement must be served
and presented to the court within sixty (60) days of the justice's decision. The party settling
the order must also submit an original affidavit of service showing the proposed order and
notice of settlement was served on all other parties to the case. A form is available from
Proposed counter orders must be made returnable on the same day and place as
the original order and served at least two (2) days before the return day (seven (7) days
if served by mail).
Once the prevailing party has served and settled the order, it may or may not be
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Once the order (or judgment) is signed, the prevailing party needs to insure that it
is entered by the Queens County Clerk and that a copy of the signed order with notice of
entry is served on the other parties to the lawsuit. It is this service which commences the
Entry in this context is defined as the formal filing in the County Clerk's Office and
recording in the County Clerk's records (called minutes) of an order or judgment after it is
signed by the County Clerk. The "entry" date is the actual date stamped by the County
Generally speaking, after a justice or judge signs an order, the court's own clerks
arrange to have the order sent to the County Clerk who then "enters" it.
prevailing party must obtain a copy of the signed (by the judge or justice or County Clerk)
entered (stamped with the entry [filed] date by the County Clerk) from the County Clerk.
Once this is done, the prevailing party should serve a copy of the signed entered order with
The notice of entry is usually prepared by using the notice of entry box found on the
upper left hand part of the blue back (see, Appendix 5).
After the service is complete, the prevailing party should file with the Queens County
Clerk an original affidavit of service showing that a copy of the signed entered order with
notice of entry was actually served on all the other parties to the case. A form affidavit of
However, for judgments, the prevailing party must appear before the Judgment
Clerk in the Office of the County Clerk, Room 100 and request entry of judgment.
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It is the prevailing party's responsibility to prepare the proper papers for this. These
papers are called the judgment-roll and are set forth in CPLR 5017 (see, Appendix 6).
Once the papers are in proper form, the County Clerk will sign and enter the
judgment (CPLR 5016) (see, Appendix 6). Once this is done, the prevailing party should
serve a copy of the signed judgment with notice of entry on all other parties using the same
It is this final service which starts the clock on the losing party's time to appeal.
(Remember, after this service is complete, an original affidavit of service stating this was