APPLICATION FOR LEAVE TO SERVE LATE NOTICES OF CLAIM SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED, CRITERIA EXPLAINED.
The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the city’s (petitioner’s) application to serve late notices of claim should have been granted. The court provided a clear explanation of the analytical criteria:
The key factors in determining whether to allow service of a late notice of claim are whether (1) the petitioner demonstrated a reasonable excuse for the failure to serve a timely notice of claim, (2) the municipality acquired actual notice of the essential facts of the claim within 90 days after the claim arose or a reasonable time thereafter, and (3) the delay would substantially prejudice the municipality in its defense … . The presence or absence of any one of these factors is not necessarily determinative … , and the absence of a reasonable excuse is not necessarily fatal … . “However, whether the public corporation acquired timely actual knowledge of the essential facts constituting the claim is seen as a factor which should be accorded great weight” … .
Here, the County acquired timely actual knowledge of the essential facts constituting the claims … . Matter of City of New York v County of Nassau, 2017 NY Slip Op 00465, 2ne Dept 1-25-17
MUNICIPAL LAW (APPLICATION FOR LEAVE TO SERVE LATE NOTICES OF CLAIM SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED, CRITERIA EXPLAINED)/NOTICE OF CLAIM (MUNICIPAL LAW, APPLICATION FOR LEAVE TO SERVE LATE NOTICES OF CLAIM SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED, CRITERIA EXPLAINED)