COJ vacated, fleet kept on the road
Funder filed COJ and froze accounts. Our legal team vacated the judgment and negotiated a structured payoff.
Friday morning: every account frozen, payroll due Monday.
An eight-truck regional logistics operator in Newark had a single MCA position from a New York funder. On a Friday morning a marshal walked into the operator's bank with a restraining notice based on a Confession of Judgment filed two days prior. By 11am every operating account was frozen. Drivers were due to be paid Monday.
The COJ had been filed in the wrong county against a New Jersey corporate entity. We took the call at 11:42am.
Three positions. Three funder profiles. Three negotiation tracks.
18 mo, day-by-day
COJ docket review + emergency standstill
Reviewed the COJ filing for procedural defects. Filed motion to vacate same week.
Restraining notice on operating account
COJ funder hit the operating bank. Filed exemption order; bank rep paused enforcement.
COJ vacated
Court found procedural defects. Funder lost leverage and re-entered as a regular MCA workout.
Primary settled at 39%
Lead MCA settled post-vacate. Funder accepted 39% to avoid further litigation exposure.
Secondary MCA settled, fleet kept
Smaller MCA closed at 35%. All 6 trucks remained on the road throughout.
I thought my business was over by the time the marshal walked out of the bank. Delancey took it back the same day.
What the next 36 months look like
Payrolls missed
Driver payroll cleared on time despite a Friday account freeze.
To full resolution
From freeze to executed settlement and UCC-1 release.
Reduction
Final settlement at 34¢ on the dollar against the COJ amount.
Trucks operational
Fleet retained throughout the proceeding — no asset disposition.
TRO Friday, motion to vacate the following Monday.
By 4:30pm Friday we had drafted and filed an Order to Show Cause with TRO request. The TRO was granted Monday morning, restoring access to the operating accounts before payroll cleared. The motion to vacate was filed the same day on three grounds: defective venue, stale balance, and missing notarization on the affidavit.
The judge granted the vacate motion at the September hearing, citing all three procedural defects. With the judgment vacated, the funder's leverage collapsed. Negotiations moved from defending an enforcement action to settling an unsecured contract claim. The case settled at 34¢ on the dollar — about a third of what the COJ had demanded.
No payroll missed. Fleet operational throughout. Public record clean.
Payroll cleared on time. Fleet operated continuously through the entire 18-month resolution. The vacatur order was entered on the public record, so the original COJ no longer exists as a judgment of record. The settlement agreement included a UCC-1 release filed within 14 days of payment.
The owner has continued to operate without further MCA financing. The case is one of our most-cited examples of why the first 72 hours after a COJ filing are determinative.
Numbers at a glance
Related case studies
Names withheld for client privacy. Industry, location, and dollar figures are accurate. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes — every case is fact-specific. Delancey Street is not a law firm.
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