N.Y. New York City health and hospitals corporation act 1016/69 § 20: Actions by and against the corporation

§ 20. Actions by and against the corporation. 1. In every action

against the corporation for damages for injuries to real or personal

property, or for the destruction thereof, or for personal injuries or

death, the complaint shall contain an allegation that at least thirty

days have elapsed since the demand, claim or claims upon which such

action is founded were presented to a director or officer of the

corporation and that the corporation has neglected or refused to make an

adjustment or payment thereof for thirty days after such presentment, or

if the demand, claim or claims upon which such action is founded was

presented to a director or officer of the corporation by service upon

the secretary of state pursuant to section fifty-three of the general

municipal law, that at least forty days have elapsed since such service

was made, and that the corporation has neglected or refused to make an

adjustment or payment thereof for forty days after such presentment.

2. Except in an action for wrongful death, an action against the

corporation for damages for injuries to real or personal property, or

for the destruction thereof, or for personal injuries, alleged to have

been sustained, shall not be commenced more than one year and ninety

days after the cause of action thereof shall have accrued, nor unless a

notice of intention to commence such action and of the time when and the

place where the tort occurred and the injuries or damage, were

sustained, together with a verified statement showing in detail the

property alleged to have been damaged or destroyed and the value

thereof, or the personal injuries alleged to have been sustained and by

whom, shall have been filed with a director or officer of the

corporation within ninety days after such cause of action shall have

accrued. All the provisions of section fifty-e of the general municipal

law shall apply to such notice. The corporation may require any claimant

hereunder to be examined as provided in section fifty-h of the general

municipal law, and all the provisions of such section shall apply to

such examinations. An action against the corporation for wrongful death

shall be commenced in accordance with the notice of claim and time

limitation provisions of title eleven of article nine of the public

authorities law.

3. All actions against the corporation of whatever nature shall be

brought in the city of New York, in the county within the city in which

the cause of action arose, or if it arose outside of the city, in the

county of New York.

4. The corporation may require any person presenting for settlement an

account or claim for any cause against the corporation, except as to

examination on claims as set forth in subdivision two of this section,

to be sworn before an officer, counsel or an attorney of the

corporation, touching such account or claim, and when so sworn, to

answer orally as to any facts relative to the adjustment of such account

or claim. The corporation may settle or adjust all claims in favor of or

against the corporation, and all accounts in which the corporation is

concerned as debtor or creditor; but in adjusting and settling such

claims, it shall, as far as practicable, be governed by the rules of law

and principles of equity which prevail in courts of justice.

5. Except as hereinafter provided in this subdivision, the rate of

interest to be paid by the corporation upon any judgment or accrued

claim against the corporation shall not exceed three per centum per

annum. The rate of interest to be paid upon any judgment or accrued

claim against the corporation arising out of an action to recover

damages for wrongful death shall not exceed six per centum per annum.

6. The corporation shall be an "agency" for the purposes of section

fifty-k of the general municipal law and its officers and employees

shall be entitled to legal representation and indemnification pursuant

to the provisions of and subject to the conditions, procedures and

limitations contained in such section, except that any judgment or

settlement pursuant to this section shall be payable from the monies of

the corporation.