2 New York Civil Practice: CPLR P 305.12

Summary

Under former C.P.R. 46, the summons could provide notice that a judgment for a sum of money would be taken in case of default in certain types of actions. Former C.P.A. § 485 permitted the clerk to enter judgment for this sum on default. In effect, C.P.R. 46 provided a short form of complaint for enumerated categories of contract actions.1 The rule was omitted when the assumption became that the complaint and summons would be served together.2 When the recommendations of the Advisory Committee were modified to permit service of a summons without a complaint, the details of Rule 46 were not added to the rules. Instead, CPLR 305(b) was enacted to read:

If the ...