A Parkview Advance LLC Lawsuit: 6 Ways These Cases Usually End

What happens when New York merchant cash advance funder Parkview Advance LLC sues your business and the owner or owners personally? Usually the case ends in one of six ways: by default judgment, by confession of judgment, by settlement, by funder winning on summary judgment, by a successful defense or dismissal, or by bankruptcy. How things turn out depends on what you do before your response deadline.

1. Default judgment

A default judgment occurs when you receive a summons and complaint and do not respond. If you fail to submit an answer on time then the plaintiff can request that the court enter a default judgment against you.

In New York, you must answer the complaint or appear within 20 days after someone serves you the summons and complaint personally within the state. If you receive service another way, such as leave-and-mail, the answer is due 30 days after service is completed. The clerk can enter a default judgment only within one year after the default occurs. If the funder waits longer than a year to ask for judgment, the court must dismiss the case as abandoned unless the funder provides a good reason for waiting so long. To get out of the default, you generally must move to vacate the default judgment within one year after someone serves you notice of entry of the judgment.

To avoid a default, you need to act now. Keep the summons, complaint and all exhibits together and keep the envelopes they came in. Note who is suing, who is named personally and the court and index number. Also write down when and how the papers arrived. Find the agreement or other contract that forms the basis of the complaint and, if the plaintiff is suing a guarantor, get the guarantee. The fact that you are in settlement talks will not extend your deadline.

2. Confession of judgment

You may have signed papers with the merchant cash advance funder that let the funder get a judgment without the normal contested lawsuit. Since an August 30, 2019 amendment, a New York confession must name the county where the defendant lives or, for a business, has a place of business, so it can no longer be filed against out-of-state merchants with no New York presence. However, whether you have a valid legal argument on the enforceability of the documents you signed may depend on where you are. Do not assume a confession cannot be challenged; have counsel check the documents you signed and what has been filed in court.

3. A negotiated settlement

Either before or after the filing of a lawsuit, you may work out an agreement with the funder through your lawyer or by negotiating directly. Before you settle, you should get advice on what the legal issues are, whether your defenses or claims are good, bad or indifferent, and what the risks are if you don’t resolve the case and it continues to a judgment. Beware of offers to settle that do not settle both you and your business.

Another possibility that comes up is you are negotiating a smaller weekly or monthly payment, to give yourself some breathing room. While the weekly payment may help your cash flow, make sure to also discuss how long the deal lasts and how much is left unpaid at the end. Otherwise you may have to pay every week but still owe a big balance if one week’s payment is missed. The written deal should cover the total, the payment dates, credit for money already taken, which businesses, people and agreements are covered, when releases kick in and whether the personal guarantee is released, how the case is discontinued or the judgment satisfied, release of bank restraints and UCC filings, and what happens after a missed payment. A deal with one funder does not settle your other merchant cash advance deals.

4. The funder wins on paper

If there is no deal, other things can happen. One risk you take is Parkview (or some other funder) winning on paper before any trial, based on motions. Here is an example: in Monroe County, New York, a case was filed in February 2024 against a merchant and its owner personally. On July 1, 2025 the court granted Parkview’s cross-motion for summary judgment, so the docket does not show the merchant’s usury defenses going to trial. Answering the complaint once does not make the case disappear. Discovery, conferences and motion deadlines follow.

To fight a summary judgment motion, you have to have some evidence, which may mean discovery (like requiring the funder to provide its backup material). Are the documents attached to the complaint the same as what you signed? The fact that a bigger number appears in the complaint does not mean the funder can collect more than is truly owed. If an owner is being sued, find the personal guarantee and what the funder claims triggered it.

5. A defense that holds up

Whether a court rules that a defense wins or loses generally depends on what the specific agreements say and the facts of your situation. It is not automatic that a defense will help. For example, is a merchant cash advance really a loan or another kind of contract, or the advance of a payment stream based on future accounts receivable? In LG Funding v. United Senior Properties (2020) a New York appeals court weighed three things: a reconciliation provision, a finite term, and whether the funder has recourse if the merchant files bankruptcy. Calling the deal an advance or a loan does not decide the question.

The question of whether a particular merchant cash advance deal is a loan is important because in New York an unauthorized lender who knowingly charges more than 25% a year commits criminal usury, a felony. In 2021 New York’s highest court said a loan to a corporation proven criminally usurious is void. That means nothing, not even principal, can be collected. However, to get that result you have to prove criminal usury.

6. Bankruptcy

What if the business cannot dig out from several funders at once? One possibility may be to file a bankruptcy petition, which will automatically stop lawsuits, new or pending, that try to collect money from before the filing, including the funder’s case. However, filing a petition is serious so get advice first.

Wherever the case is headed, if a settlement company or broker is negotiating for you, confirm whether a lawyer has actually agreed to defend the lawsuit. Negotiating payments and defending a lawsuit are separate jobs.

A free contract review costs nothing and takes a day or two. Call (888) 837-7053, or send the agreements to Delancey Street for a straight read on your options.