§ 3020.Verification.

A verification is a sworn statement, made under CPLR 2106's penalty-of-perjury procedure, that a pleading is true to the deponent's knowledge, except for matters alleged on information and belief, which the deponent believes to be true. Once a party verifies a pleading, CPLR 3020(a) generally requires every later pleading in the case to be verified too, with two exceptions: an infant's answer, and any matter the party would be privileged from testifying about as a witness. If the complaint itself isn't verified, a defendant can still choose to verify a counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party claim contained in the answer, separately and with the same effect as if it stood alone.

Two situations force verification of an answer even when the complaint wasn't verified. The first covers allegations that the defendant confessed or suffered a judgment, transferred property with intent to defraud creditors, or committed fraud affecting another's rights or property — allegations serious enough that the legislature wanted the defendant's denial made under oath. The second covers a corporate defendant sued to recover on an unpaid promissory note or other instrument for the absolute payment of money on demand or at a set time. Subdivision (c) adds a third, more general rule: any defense that doesn't go to the merits of the action must be verified regardless of what came before.

Subdivision (d) says who may sign. Ordinarily it's the party, or, where several parties with a united interest are pleading together, at least one of them who knows the facts. A domestic corporation verifies through an officer; a government body, agency, or public officer may use anyone acquainted with the facts. An agent or the attorney may verify instead where the party is a foreign corporation, isn't in the county where the attorney's office sits, where no one among multiple united parties knows the facts within that county, or where the claim or defense rests on a written instrument for the payment of money only, or on facts, that are within the agent's or attorney's own knowledge or possession.