Personal Injury Law

New York Accidents--Notice Of Claim Must Be Filed When Suing Municipality

By Mark Siesel, Esq.

Here are three very common scenarios for prospective clients who come for their free consultation to our White Plains, New York law offices. The client was walking on a public sidewalk and tripped and fell on a defective sidewalk, suffering serious injuries. The potential client was injured in a New York car crash with a car or truck owned by a village, town or city. While entering or leaving a municipally owned building, the client slipped and fell in an area which had not been plowed, shoveled, sanded or salted.

These three potential cases against municipalities have a common, critical element: A notice of claim, alerting the town, village or city department to the date. time, location and the specifics of the accident must be filed within 90 days of the accident. If a properly prepared notice of claim is not filed with the municipality within that 90 days, your New York County trip and fall, Kings County car accident or Westchester County slip and fall accident (to use three examples) will be denied by the municipality and dismissed by a local Court. There are exceptions to this very harsh rule, for example, in some cases involving infants and those with certain disabilities, but for the most part, failure to file a timely notice of claim is fatal to your personal injury case.

Thus, it is vital that you consult an experienced, knowledgeable lawyer immediately after your accident to assure that your rights and interests are protected.

Full post as published by New York Legal Blog on October 27, 2009 (boomark / email).