N.Y. General Municipal Law § 50-i: Presentation of tort claims; commencement of actions

§ 50-i. Presentation of tort claims; commencement of actions. 1. No

action or special proceeding shall be prosecuted or maintained against a

city, county, town, village, fire district or school district for

personal injury, wrongful death or damage to real or personal property

alleged to have been sustained by reason of the negligence or wrongful

act of such city, county, town, village, fire district or school

district or of any officer, agent or employee thereof, including

volunteer firefighters of any such city, county, town, village, fire

district or school district or any volunteer firefighter whose services

have been accepted pursuant to the provisions of section two hundred

nine-i of this chapter, unless, (a) a notice of claim shall have been

made and served upon the city, county, town, village, fire district or

school district in compliance with section fifty-e of this article, (b)

it shall appear by and as an allegation in the complaint or moving

papers that at least thirty days have elapsed since the service of such

notice, or if service of the notice of claim is made by service upon the

secretary of state pursuant to section fifty-three of this article, that

at least forty days have elapsed since the service of such notice, and

that adjustment or payment thereof has been neglected or refused, and

(c) the action or special proceeding shall be commenced within one year

and ninety days after the happening of the event upon which the claim is

based; except that wrongful death actions shall be commenced within two

years after the happening of the death.

2. This section shall be applicable notwithstanding any inconsistent

provisions of law, general, special or local, or any limitation

contained in the provisions of any city charter.

3. Nothing contained herein or in section fifty-h of this chapter

shall operate to extend the period limited by subdivision one of this

section for the commencement of an action or special proceeding.

4. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,

including any other subdivision of this section, section fifty-e of this

article, section thirty-eight hundred thirteen of the education law, and

the provisions of any general, special or local law or charter requiring

as a condition precedent to commencement of an action or special

proceeding that a notice of claim be filed or presented, any cause of

action against a public corporation for personal injuries suffered by a

participant in World Trade Center rescue, recovery or cleanup operations

as a result of such participation which is barred as of the effective

date of this subdivision because the applicable period of limitation has

expired is hereby revived, and a claim thereon may be filed and served

and prosecuted provided such claim is filed and served within one year

of the effective date of this subdivision.

(b) For the purposes of this subdivision:

(1) "participant in World Trade Center rescue, recovery or cleanup

operations" means any employee or volunteer that:

(i) participated in the rescue, recovery or cleanup operations at the

World Trade Center site; or

(ii) worked at the Fresh Kills Land Fill in the city of New York after

September eleventh, two thousand one; or

(iii) worked at the New York city morgue or the temporary morgue on

pier locations on the west side of Manhattan after September eleventh,

two thousand one; or

(iv) worked on the barges between the west side of Manhattan and the

Fresh Kills Land Fill in the city of New York after September eleventh,

two thousand one.

(2) "World Trade Center site" means anywhere below a line starting

from the Hudson River and Canal Street; east on Canal Street to Pike

Street; south on Pike Street to the East River; and extending to the

lower tip of Manhattan.

5. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, this section

shall not apply to any claim made against a city, county, town, village,

fire district or school district for physical, psychological, or other

injury or condition suffered as a result of conduct which would

constitute a sexual offense as defined in article one hundred thirty of

the penal law committed against a child less than eighteen years of age,

incest as defined in section 255.27, 255.26 or 255.25 of the penal law

committed against a child less than eighteen years of age, or the use of

a child in a sexual performance as defined in section 263.05 of the

penal law committed against a child less than eighteen years of age.

6. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any person

who suffers physical, psychological, or other injury or condition while

in custody shall have, pursuant to section two hundred eight-a of the

civil practice law and rules, the full benefit of the limitations period

provided in this section and, in addition, shall have a two-year window

following the date of the person's release from that period of custody

within which to commence an action based on such injury or condition.

For any otherwise time-barred civil claims or causes of action revived

by section two hundred eight-a of the civil practice law and rules, no

notice of claim shall be required as a condition precedent to the

commencement of such action or special proceeding. This exemption shall

not apply to any claim that was timely under the otherwise applicable

statute of limitations.