Default judgment

The judgment entered when a summons respondent fails to appear at their OATH hearing, generally at the maximum penalty for the charge.

Ignoring a summons is the most expensive way to respond to one. A respondent who does not show up defaults, the penalty is imposed at or near the maximum, and the judgment is docketed against the property. Docketed judgments go to collections and can become liens, but the city's collection of them is slow, which is why buildings carry six-figure default balances for years.

On a building page here, "Defaulted (did not respond)" in the fines table is this. A pattern of defaults is one of the clearest signals in the record: the owner is not engaging with enforcement at all.