A case in the supreme court or a county court marked “off” or struck from the calendar or unanswered on a clerk’s calendar call, and not restored within one year thereafter, shall be deemed abandoned and shall be dismissed without costs for neglect to prosecute. The clerk shall make an appropriate entry without the necessity of an order.
R 3404.Dismissal of abandoned cases.
Article 34. Calendar Practice; Trial Preferences · Last amended 1963 · Last verified July 21, 2026
In one sentenceCPLR 3404 automatically dismisses, without costs, any case that has been marked off or struck from the calendar, or gone unanswered on a clerk's calendar call, and not restored within a year, treating that year of inaction as abandonment.
Full Text of CPLR 3404
Plain-English Summary
CPLR 3404 covers cases in supreme court or county court that get marked "off" the calendar, struck from it, or left unanswered when the clerk calls it. If a year passes without the case being restored, the rule deems it abandoned and dismisses it for neglect to prosecute, without costs to either side.
The dismissal happens without a court order. The clerk makes the entry once the year runs, which makes this rule easy to overlook until a party goes looking for the case and finds it closed.
Because the dismissal is automatic rather than the product of a motion, parties who let a case sit off the calendar for a year should expect to find it dismissed, and any effort to revive it typically requires its own motion addressed to the court's discretion.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if a case is marked off the calendar in New York?
Under CPLR 3404, a case marked off, struck from the calendar, or unanswered on a calendar call is deemed abandoned and dismissed without costs if it is not restored within a year.
How long do I have to restore a case marked off the calendar under CPLR 3404?
One year from when the case was marked off, struck, or left unanswered on a calendar call. After that, the rule treats it as abandoned.
Is a CPLR 3404 dismissal automatic?
Yes. The clerk enters the dismissal without the necessity of a court order once a year passes without the case being restored to the calendar.
Can a case dismissed under CPLR 3404 be restored?
A party can seek to restore a case dismissed under CPLR 3404, but doing so requires a motion to the court rather than a right to automatic reinstatement.
Does a CPLR 3404 dismissal count as a decision on the merits?
CPLR 3404 dismisses a case for neglect to prosecute due to a year of calendar inactivity, which is a procedural dismissal rather than a ruling on the underlying claims.
Advisory Committee Notes
This rule is derived from subd 2 of RCP 302 without change of substance. The reference to terms has been omitted. See notes to CPLR rule 3402. Subd 1 of former rule 302 was actually a time limitation on the entry of default judgments and has been treated in the provisions governing defaults. See CPLR § 3215(c). The phrase “neglect to prosecute” is used to conform to CPLR § 205, so that a dismissal under this rule will not provide a six-month period to begin a new action which would otherwise be barred by the statute of limitation.
Amendment History
Add, L 1962, ch 308, eff Sept 1, 1963.
Source & verification. Provision text, History, and Advisory
Committee Notes are reproduced verbatim from the Consolidated Laws of New York.
Last verified July 21, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: case marked off calendar New Yorkrestore case to the calendar NYdismissal for neglect to prosecute New Yorkabandoned case New York lawsuitone year to restore case CPLRstruck from calendar dismissal NY