Notice of Motion in New York Supreme Court: Contents and Service

A Notice of Motion in New York Supreme Court is the formal document you use to ask a judge to take a specific action in a pending case, and CPLR 2214(a) requires it to state four things: the time and place of the hearing, the supporting papers, the relief you want, and the legal grounds for it.¹ Get any of those wrong, or miss the service timing, and even a strong motion can be adjourned or rejected before a judge reads a word of it.

What the Notice Itself Must Say

Start with the caption. CPLR 2101(c) requires the court, the parties, and the index number on all filed papers. In a motion caption you can name the first party on each side and note that others are omitted, rather than listing everyone.² If a judge has already been assigned, include the judge’s name and the court part.

Formatting is not optional. Papers must be on white, letter-sized paper, in black ink, with type no smaller than ten-point. Clerks reject papers that miss basic formatting rules or omit the index number.³

The body of the notice states exactly what you’re asking for. Common examples include dismissal under CPLR 3211, an order compelling discovery under CPLR 3124, and summary judgment under CPLR 3212. You can request alternative relief or multiple forms of relief in a single motion, but list each one separately. Courts generally will not grant relief the notice does not request, and a vague request can draw a denial or a demand to refile.¹

You pick the return date, but it has to work with the service deadlines below and it has to fall on a day the motion part actually sits. Check the court’s motion calendar first. Where the motion goes depends on the county: some route everything to a centralized motion submission part, others send motions directly to the assigned judge. In cases under mandatory e-filing, the NYSCEF system handles routing.

Papers You File With the Notice

The notice by itself is a cover page. The argument lives in the papers attached to it.

Affidavit or Affirmation

An affidavit is a sworn statement signed before a notary. An affirmation says the same thing under penalty of perjury without one. Under the current version of CPLR 2106, any person can submit an affirmation in lieu of an affidavit, so you no longer need a notary for routine motion practice.⁴ Affidavits still work; affirmations are simply easier.

Content is what matters. The statement must set out facts based on personal knowledge, not conclusions or speculation. For a summary judgment motion under CPLR 3212, that means admissible evidence: contracts, deposition excerpts, sworn statements showing no material fact is in dispute. Conclusory allegations are not enough.⁵ Some motions call for more than one affidavit. A medical malpractice motion may need an expert affirmation. A discovery motion may need a corporate officer’s affidavit explaining why particular records are necessary. Each affiant should stick to what they personally know.

Memorandum of Law

Uniform Rule 202.8-a expects the moving party to specify the exact relief sought in the notice and in a concluding section of a memorandum of law. On a simple motion the argument can sit inside the supporting affirmation, but a separate memo is standard practice for anything substantive. It walks the judge through the authority, applies it to the facts, and explains why the relief follows.

Good-Faith Affirmation for Discovery Motions

If the motion concerns discovery or a bill of particulars, Uniform Rule 202.7(a) adds a required good-faith affirmation from counsel certifying that you tried to resolve the dispute with opposing counsel before filing. Discovery motions that skip this step get denied.

When and How to Serve It

A motion is considered “made” on the date it is served, so missing a service deadline can render the whole motion untimely.

Timing

CPLR 2214(b) sets the floor at eight days before the return date for personal delivery. Serve by mail within New York and CPLR 2103(b)(2) adds five days, so the effective minimum becomes thirteen days.⁶ Overnight delivery adds one business day, making the minimum nine.

There is a reason to give more notice than the minimum. Serve at least sixteen days before the return date and demand a response, and the opposing party must serve answering papers at least seven days before the return date. You then have the right to serve reply papers at least one day before. Without the sixteen-day notice and demand, answering papers are due only two days before the return date, and you have no automatic right to reply.¹

Methods

CPLR 2103(b) lists the accepted methods for serving motion papers on opposing counsel: personal delivery, mail, leaving papers at the attorney’s office or residence, facsimile, and overnight delivery.⁶ In e-filed cases, filing through NYSCEF serves consenting parties automatically and generates a notification that doubles as proof of service. Any party who has not consented to e-filing still has to be served by one of the traditional methods.

Whoever serves the papers must be at least eighteen and not a party to the action. After service, the server signs an affidavit or affirmation of service describing when, where, and how delivery happened. That proof of service gets filed with the motion papers.

Filing, Fees, and the RJI

Most Supreme Court cases now require electronic filing through NYSCEF. Unrepresented litigants are exempt unless they choose to participate, and attorneys without the necessary equipment can opt out.⁷ Cases outside e-filing use hard copies filed with the appropriate clerk.

Filing a motion or cross-motion in Supreme Court costs $45, paid to the county clerk.⁸ NYSCEF collects it electronically at submission. In-person filers pay at the clerk’s window. If you can’t afford the fee, CPLR 1101 allows a separate motion for a fee waiver based on insufficient means.⁹

If your motion is the first request for judicial involvement in the case, you also file a Request for Judicial Intervention. The RJI triggers assignment of a judge and carries its own $95 fee under CPLR 8020(a).¹⁰ If an RJI was already filed earlier, you don’t file another. Forgetting to file one when it’s needed stalls the motion, because no judge gets assigned to consider it.¹¹

Opposition, Cross-Motions, and Reply

The other side can oppose the motion with an affidavit or affirmation, a memorandum of law, and exhibits. The deadline for answering papers depends on the notice you gave. Serve with the eight-day minimum and answering papers are due at least two days before the return date. Serve with at least sixteen days’ notice and a demand for a response, and answering papers must arrive at least seven days before.¹

Rather than only opposing, the other side can also file a cross-motion asking for its own relief. Under CPLR 2215, a cross-motion served personally must arrive at least three days before the return date. Mail adds three days, so six days before. Overnight delivery adds one, so four days before. The cross-motion’s subject does not have to match the original; the statute says the relief “need not be responsive to that demanded by the moving party.”¹²

Reply papers are the moving party’s last word, and you only have the right to them when you served with at least sixteen days’ notice and demanded a response. Replies must be served at least one day before the return date. They are for answering the opposition, not for introducing new arguments or new evidence.

When an Order to Show Cause Fits Better

Not every situation fits the Notice of Motion timeline. When you need the court to act quickly, or you need a temporary restraining order to preserve the status quo, CPLR 2214(d) allows an order to show cause “to be served in lieu of a notice of motion, at a time and in a manner specified therein.”¹

The process is different. You draft the OSC with a supporting affidavit, bring the papers to a judge, and the judge decides whether to sign, sets the return date, and specifies how the other side must be served. The judge can also grant immediate temporary relief, such as freezing an account or halting a sale, that lasts until the return date.¹³ The risk is that the judge might not sign it. A Notice of Motion, properly served, goes on the calendar automatically. For routine motions the standard Notice of Motion is the more predictable choice.

How the Court Decides It

Most motions are decided “on submission.” The judge reads the papers and issues a written decision without a hearing. Under Uniform Rule 202.8, any party can request oral argument, and the court must grant it when all parties request it, unless the court finds argument unnecessary.¹⁴ Ask for argument in the notice of motion, the order to show cause, or on the first page of the answering papers. Because paper submission is the default, the written affidavit and memorandum usually are the only shot at persuading the judge.

Sanctions Risk

Filing a motion with no legal basis, or one meant to harass or delay, can cost you. Under 22 NYCRR 130-1.1, courts have discretion to award costs and reasonable attorney’s fees against a party or attorney who engages in frivolous conduct.¹⁵ The rule defines frivolous conduct as completely without merit and unsupportable by any reasonable argument, undertaken primarily to delay or harass, or asserting false material factual statements. Sanctions can hit the attorney, the client, or both, and can be imposed on the court’s own initiative or on motion, after a reasonable opportunity to be heard. A frivolous sanctions motion is itself frivolous conduct under the rule.

1
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law R2214 – Motion Papers; Service; Time
2
FindLaw. New York Code CPLR 2101 – Form of Papers
3
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. 22 NYCRR 202.5 – Papers Filed in Court
4
New York State Senate. New York Code CVP R2106 – Affirmation of Truth of Statement
5
New York State Court of Appeals. Zuckerman v City of New York
6
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law R2103 – Service of Papers
7
New York State Unified Court System. Rules – E-Filing
8
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law 8020 – County Clerks as Clerks of Court
9
New York State Senate. New York Code CVP 1101 – Motion to Waive Costs, Fees, and Expenses
10
New York State Unified Court System. Filing Fees – N.Y. State Courts
11
Legal Information Institute. 22 NYCRR 202.6 – Request for Judicial Intervention
12
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law R2215 – Relief Demanded by Other Than Moving Party
13
New York State Unified Court System. Motion or Order to Show Cause
14
Legal Information Institute. 22 NYCRR 202.8 – Motion Procedure
15
Legal Information Institute. 22 NYCRR 130-1.1 – Costs; Sanctions