CPLR Cross Motion in New York: Deadlines, Replies, and Sanctions

A CPLR cross motion is the vehicle a responding party uses in New York to ask the court for its own relief while opposing someone else’s motion, and the rules for it live in CPLR 2215. The statute lets you demand any type of relief, in the alternative or in combination, and the relief you seek does not have to match what the moving party asked for.¹ What matters is that the notice of cross motion, the supporting papers, and any required affirmations are served on time, in the right form, with the right fee. Miss a deadline and the court can reject the cross motion without ever reaching the merits.

What You Can Ask For

CPLR 2215 permits a party served with a motion to serve a notice of cross motion demanding relief, with or without supporting papers. The statute’s closing line is the operative one: “Relief in the alternative or of several different types may be demanded; relief need not be responsive to that demanded by the moving party.”¹ You can respond to a summary judgment motion with a cross motion for discovery sanctions, or answer a motion to compel with a cross motion for a protective order, and the court will consider both.

The looseness of the “need not be responsive” language has practical limits. A cross motion that has nothing to do with the timely motion can be treated as a standalone motion and measured against the case’s motion-filing deadlines and page limits. If the deadline for dispositive motions has passed, calling an untimely request a “cross motion” will not rescue it. In Filannino v. Triborough Bridge & Tunnel Authority, 34 A.D.3d 280 (1st Dep’t 2006), the Appellate Division held that a late cross motion for summary judgment can be considered without a showing of good cause only when the timely motion sought nearly identical relief.²

A cross motion also has to carry its own weight evidentiarily. Supporting affidavits or affirmations, exhibits, and legal argument are expected on a cross motion just as they are on any original motion. If your papers only oppose the movant’s request and do not affirmatively prove your entitlement to the relief you asked for, the court will treat them as opposition, not as a cross motion.

Service Deadlines

Timing is where most cross motions live or die. CPLR 2215 sets two baseline windows, keyed to how the original motion was served.

If the original motion was served at least eight days before the return date, the cross motion must be served at least three days before the return date.¹
If the movant served the original motion at least sixteen days before the return date and demanded answering papers under CPLR 2214(b), the cross motion must be served at least seven days before the return date.³

The method of service tacks on more time. CPLR 2215(a) requires three additional days when the cross motion is served by mail within New York, and one additional day for overnight delivery.¹ Those extensions sit on top of the three-day or seven-day baseline. Count the days out from the return date, not from when you finished drafting.

Courts enforce these windows. A cross motion served a day late can be rejected on that basis alone, and the excuses that get accepted are narrow.

What Goes in the Filing

A complete cross motion package generally contains:

A notice of cross motion identifying the relief sought and the return date.
Supporting affidavits or affirmations from people with personal knowledge of the facts.
Exhibits such as contracts, correspondence, or deposition transcripts.
A memorandum of law where legal argument is required, although some parts accept an attorney’s affirmation in its place.

In cases subject to mandatory e-filing in New York Supreme Court, papers must be submitted through NYSCEF.⁴ Unrepresented parties are exempt and may file on paper with the clerk. Where e-filing is not required, the papers go to the clerk’s office in hard copy.

The Supreme Court filing fee for a motion or cross motion is $45 under CPLR 8020.⁵ If no judge has been assigned, a Request for Judicial Intervention is also needed, and that carries a separate $95 fee.⁶ A party granted poor-person status under CPLR 1101(a) pays no fee.

Good-Faith Affirmation for Discovery Cross Motions

If the cross motion involves a discovery dispute, 22 NYCRR 202.7 requires an affirmation that counsel conferred with the other side in good faith to resolve the issue before bringing the motion. The affirmation must describe the time, place, and nature of the consultation, what was discussed, and what was resolved, and it must explain why no consultation took place if none did.⁷ Discovery motions filed without this affirmation are routinely rejected regardless of how strong the underlying arguments are.

The Reply Sequence and the Sur-Reply Trap

When the movant serves on the sixteen-day schedule and demands answering papers, CPLR 2214(b) creates a fixed order of filings:

Original motion served at least sixteen days before the return date.
Answering papers and any cross motion served at least seven days before the return date.
Reply or responding affidavits served at least one day before the return date.³

That last slot belongs to the original movant, who uses it to answer the cross motion and rebut the answering affidavits. There is no automatic right to a sur-reply. If the reply raises something genuinely new, you can ask the court for leave to respond, but courts are cautious about opening that door because motion practice can spiral. One related trap worth avoiding: filing an unrelated request as a “cross motion” and then submitting a reply on it can function as an unauthorized sur-reply on the original motion, and courts have struck papers filed that way.

How the Court Can Rule

A court has broad discretion on a cross motion, and the outcome is not tied to what happens on the original motion. The common results are:

The cross motion is granted and the original motion is denied, because the record supports the cross-movant’s position.
The original motion is granted and the cross motion is denied, because the movant established its entitlement to relief and the cross-movant failed to raise a genuine dispute or supply admissible proof.
Both motions are denied, usually because factual disputes remain. In Vega v. Restani Construction Corp., 18 N.Y.3d 499 (2012), the Court of Appeals denied both the defendant’s summary judgment motion and the plaintiff’s cross motion because unresolved factual issues required trial.⁸
Both motions are granted in part, when each side is right about some issues and wrong about others.

Filing a cross motion does not, on its own, make the movant’s case any weaker. Each motion is judged independently against its own legal standard. A poorly supported cross motion can backfire by exposing weaknesses that the movant then uses in reply.

Sanctions for a Frivolous Cross Motion

Filing a cross motion for delay or with no legal basis can trigger sanctions under 22 NYCRR 130-1.1. Conduct is frivolous under the rule if it is completely without merit in law, is undertaken primarily to delay or harass, or asserts material factual statements that are false.⁹ The court can impose financial sanctions of up to $10,000 per occurrence, plus the opposing party’s actual costs and reasonable attorney fees. Sanctions can be imposed on the court’s own initiative or on motion, after the party has a chance to be heard.

In deciding whether conduct is frivolous, the court looks at the circumstances, including how much time counsel had to investigate the law and facts and whether the party continued the conduct after its lack of merit became apparent.⁹ A motion for sanctions that is itself frivolous is sanctionable under the same rule.

Appealing the Decision

Losing on a cross motion does not end the matter, but the appellate deadlines are short. Under CPLR 5701, an appeal as of right lies from an order that grants or denies summary judgment or otherwise affects a substantial right; other orders require permission.¹⁰

The 30-day clock to file and serve a notice of appeal starts when the winning party serves a copy of the order with written notice of entry, not when the court issues the order.¹¹ Missing that deadline forfeits the appeal absent extraordinary circumstances.

After the notice of appeal is filed, the appeal must be perfected within six months. That deadline applies in all four Appellate Division departments under 22 NYCRR 1250.9(a) and is self-executing: if you miss it, the appeal is deemed abandoned and dismissed automatically.¹² A motion to vacate the dismissal is possible but rarely granted. On review, appellate courts defer to the trial court’s factual findings and will generally uphold the ruling on a cross motion absent a clear legal error or an abuse of discretion.

1
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law R2215 – Relief Demanded by Other Than Moving Party
2
FindLaw. Filannino v Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority
3
FindLaw. New York Consolidated Laws, Civil Practice Law and Rules CVP Rule 2214
4
NYCOURTS.GOV. E-Filing
5
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law 8020 – County Clerk Fees
6
NYCOURTS.GOV. Filing Fees
7
Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. N.Y. Comp. Codes R. and Regs. Tit. 22 Section 202.7 – Calendaring of Motions; Uniform Notice of Motion Form; Affirmation of Good Faith
8
Case Law Summary. Minerva Vega, Respondent, v Restani Construction Corp. et al., 18 N.Y.3d 499
9
NYCOURTS.GOV. Part 130 – Costs and Sanctions
10
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law 5701
11
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law 5513 – Time to Take Appeal, to Move for Permission to Appeal
12
Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division: Fourth Judicial Department. Perfecting an Appeal