Guide

Your company defaulted at OATH — the contractor's 75-day playbook

The summons went to a job-site trailer or an old mailing address, nobody appeared, and a $5,000 charge became a $25,000 judgment. You get one automatic do-over — if you move inside 75 days.

A missed OATH hearing means the maximum penalty by default — often several times the base charge — entered against your company. Here's the 75-day window to undo it, the form that does it, and what to bring to the new hearing.

When this applies
Your construction company (or your superintendent, personally) is the respondent on a DOB-issued summons and the hearing result reads DEFAULTED.

How it's normally done — and how we make it easy

Step by step

1. 1

   Confirm what actually defaulted

   Pull every summons in the company's name — the city dockets respondents exactly as the officer spelled them, so check the variants too. For each default, note the missed hearing date: that date starts the clock.

2. 2

   Count the 75 days

   A new-hearing request received within 75 days of the missed hearing is granted automatically — no excuse needed. Past 75 days you must show exceptional circumstances, and most of those motions fail. If several summonses defaulted on different dates, each has its own clock.

3. 3

   File the new-hearing request

   One request per summons, on OATH's form or online. If a hired representative will appear instead of an officer of the company, an authorization form has to accompany them.

4. 4

   Fix and document before the new date

   Hearing officers can mitigate or dismiss when the condition is corrected and provable. Date-stamped photos, corrected-condition sign-offs, and training records beat testimony.

5. 5

   Appear — this time with the calendar watched

   A second default on the same summons re-imposes the maximum and closes the door for good. Put every rescheduled date under watch with reminders that escalate as it approaches.

Frequently asked

Does the default penalty disappear when the reopen is granted?

The default is vacated and the case is heard fresh. Lose at the new hearing and the standard scheduled penalty applies — typically far less than the default amount. Win and it's dismissed outright.

We're past the 75 days. Is it hopeless?

Not hopeless, but hard: you'll need an exceptional-circumstances motion explaining why the company never got notice or couldn't respond. Meanwhile the judgment accrues interest and counts toward the DOB's permit-block threshold — get advice quickly.

The summons names our superintendent, not the company. Who files?

The named respondent — the super personally, or someone they authorize in writing. The company can prepare everything, but the request runs in the respondent's name.

Can we just pay the default instead?

You can, and sometimes that's rational for small amounts. But paying doesn't remove the violation from the job site's record, and a vacated default usually costs less than a paid one.