Vacate Judgment

To vacate a judgment is to file a formal motion asking an administrative body to overturn a default judgment that was entered against a respondent who failed to respond to a summons or failed to appear at a scheduled hearing. In NYC, both DOF (for parking and camera violations) and OATH (for environmental and commercial violations) allow vacate motions under specific circumstances.

The respondent generally must demonstrate two things: a valid excuse for missing the original deadline or hearing (never received the summons, medical emergency, vehicle already sold) and a meritorious defense to the underlying violation. If the motion is granted, the default judgment is vacated and the case is rescheduled for a new hearing — effectively a second chance to contest. If denied, the judgment stands.

For fleet operators, vacate-judgment motions are the last line of defense against a default penalty that can be up to 5x the original fine (for OATH) or full penalty escalation plus judgment (for DOF). They are especially important when a fleet inherits violations from a prior owner or when summonses were mailed to outdated addresses. Clear Plates tracks vehicle-level default history so fleet managers can build vacate-motion packages with the evidence already organized.