Served by Imperial Advance? 5 Deadlines That Decide the Case

Served by Imperial Advance? The exact number of days you have to answer depends on how the complaint was served on you. But there are five events to watch for. Miss the answer’s deadline, and a judge can sign off on a default judgment against you, but you will have other chances to undo the result if that happens. It is the deadlines early in the case that matter the most.

There is a good reason to contest your case if you’ve received a cash advance and now the suit has come due. In New York, the Attorney General said the cash advance operator Yellowstone Capital was actually making loans to small businesses at annual rates of up to 820 percent. In January 2025, the AG’s office announced a $1.065 billion judgment against the firm.

1. Answer the summons on time

The thing that makes the summons time limits tick is how the summons and complaint was handed to the defendant. If you are served with a lawsuit in New York, you have 20 days to file an answer with the court. If the summons was handed to you by a process server, that’s the clock. If served by some other means, there are additional steps that the server must take, and you have 30 days from the date that all of those steps have been completed to file your answer. If the court is a federal court, you have 21 days. Not all courts use the same timetable. Some state rules give you 30 days to answer, but that 21-day federal limit doesn’t apply if you waive service.

2. Raise your defenses early

Defenses like bad service, no jurisdiction over you, or improper venue may sound like things the court would fix automatically, but they don’t. You can’t save any of these defenses to argue later in the lawsuit. If you want to argue them at all, you have to do it when you file your first response to the complaint, or you lose them. An extension of time to answer the complaint doesn’t waive those early defenses. Sometimes, a motion to dismiss or transfer venue delays the answer until 20 days after the ruling on the motion.

Not every defense is lost by waiting. The fact that the complaint doesn’t state a valid claim for relief can be raised at any time, even at trial. A court that does not have subject-matter jurisdiction over the lawsuit must dismiss it.

3. Check what you were served

A summons tells you when you have to appear in court or file an answer. It is supposed to come with a complaint that lays out the reason you’ve been sued. If you get a summons without a complaint, you have the right to demand that it be given to you. You must ask for a copy of the complaint in writing within your time to appear in court, then the plaintiff has 20 days to get you a copy. Sometimes, instead of a personal visit from the process server, you can be sued by serving the summons on the New York Secretary of State. If this happens, that’s just half the job. You still have to be mailed the summons by first-class mail at least 20 days before default judgment can be taken against you. If the plaintiff waits over a year after your default to ask for judgment, the court must dismiss the case as abandoned, unless the plaintiff can show a good reason for the delay.

Also check whether you signed a confession of judgement. These can be dangerous, and the New York law gives you some extra protections on them. The lender has three years from signing to file that confession with the court, and they have to do it in the county where you live or where the business is located.

4. Watch the bank freeze

When judgment goes against you and a restraining notice arrives in the bank’s mail, your account goes in the deep freeze. Once that happens, the bank holds it for one year or until the judgment is paid or vacated. Once you get the freeze notice in the mail, you have 20 days after the postmark to let the bank and the creditor know about any exemptions you have.

5. Undo a default fast

Maybe that deadline got past you, but what if you had a good reason to be late? That counts for something if you act promptly. In New York, when there is a default judgment against you, you have one year to make a motion to vacate it from the day you were served with it and a copy of the notice of entry.

You have one year from the time you learn about the judgment to ask the court for a chance to defend the lawsuit, if you never were personally served and never entered an appearance. Even if you knew nothing for years, that date won’t be more than 5 years after the entry of judgment. If you don’t like what the judge decides, you have 30 days to appeal.

Close your office door, gather your documents and find your answer deadline first. The sooner you act, the more chances you have to keep the case on track. If your time to answer is already running, write the date down right now.

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.