Hurt on Public Property? The 90-Day Notice of Claim
When a city, county, or public authority is responsible for an injury, the usual three-year deadline does not apply. The real one is 90 days.
If a private company's negligence injures you in New York, you generally have three years to bring a lawsuit (CPLR 214(5)). If a government body is responsible, you have to act within about three months, or you may lose the claim entirely.
This is the rule that most often defeats otherwise valid cases, because people learn about it too late.
What a notice of claim is
Before you can sue a city, county, town, village, school district, or most public authorities for negligence, you generally must first serve a written notice of claim on that entity. General Municipal Law § 50-e requires it to be served within 90 days after the claim arises.
The notice is a formal document. It must be in writing and sworn, and it must set out who is making the claim, the nature of the claim, the time, place, and manner in which it arose, and the injuries claimed so far. Its purpose is to give the government a chance to investigate while the facts are fresh.
Who counts as a public entity
More than most people expect. Common examples in the New York City area and on Long Island include:
- A city bus, sanitation truck, or other municipal vehicle
- A public school or its grounds
- A public housing development
- A municipal hospital
- A park, playground, or public building
- A road or sidewalk that the municipality is responsible for maintaining
Some public bodies have their own statutes with their own notice rules and deadlines, which is one reason to get advice early rather than assume the general rule applies.
The lawsuit deadline is shorter too
Serving the notice is only the first step. The lawsuit itself usually must be started within one year and 90 days of the incident (General Municipal Law § 50-i). After the notice is served, the entity can also demand to question you under oath at a hearing before the suit goes forward (General Municipal Law § 50-h).
If the 90 days have already passed
A court has discretion to allow a late notice of claim in some circumstances (General Municipal Law § 50-e(5)). Among the things courts look at are whether the entity actually knew the essential facts within the 90 days or soon after, whether there is a reasonable excuse for the delay, and whether the delay hurt the entity's ability to defend itself.
Permission is not guaranteed, and it cannot be granted once the time to start the lawsuit has run out. A late notice is something to try when there is no alternative, not something to plan on.
Sidewalk falls are their own puzzle
Whether the municipality or the adjoining property owner is responsible for a broken sidewalk depends on where it is and what kind of property it runs past. In New York City, the owner of the adjoining property is generally responsible for keeping the sidewalk reasonably safe, with an exception for certain small owner-occupied residential properties (Administrative Code § 7-210). Elsewhere, the answer turns on local law.
Because you often cannot know at the start who is responsible, the safe course is to treat the 90-day deadline as if it applies until someone has confirmed that it does not.
What to do now
Write down exactly where and when it happened. Photograph the location and the condition that caused the injury before it is repaired. Keep the names of witnesses and of any public employees you dealt with. Then speak with a lawyer quickly, so that every potentially responsible party can be identified and the right notice served on time.
If you were injured on public property or by a public vehicle, call the office as soon as you can. For more, see Personal Injury.
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