§ 3031.Simplified procedure for court determination of disputes—action without pleadings

CPLR 3031 opens a side door into New York's courts. Instead of serving a summons and exchanging a complaint and answer, the parties file one statement, signed and acknowledged by them or their lawyers, that lays out the claims, defenses, and relief each side wants. Signing the statement certifies that the dispute is real, not staged, and filing it along with a note of issue joins the issue automatically. No motion, no separate answer, no default judgment for missing a response deadline.

The rule gives this process a name: the New York Simplified Procedure for Court Determination of Disputes. Businesses that want a faster route to a binding court judgment can write that name into a contract ahead of time, so that when a dispute arises, either side can invoke section 3031 without arguing over what procedure applies. It works like an arbitration clause, except the case stays inside the court system and produces an ordinary, appealable judgment.

That convenience comes with a trade-off. Submitting a controversy under section 3031 waives the right to a jury trial. A lawyer drafting or reviewing a submission-to-court clause needs to flag that consequence before a client signs, because the waiver is automatic, not something either side negotiates case by case.

Sections 3032 through 3036 fill in the mechanics: what the statement must say, how a court enforces a contract to submit a dispute, and how the trial itself runs once issue is joined.