SUPREME COURT, IN THIS NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION ACTION, HAD USED CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING A MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE A LATE NOTICE OF CLAIM WHICH HAS SINCE BEEN CHANGED BY THE COURT OF APPEALS, MATTER REMITTED FOR A RULING UNDER THE CURRENT LAW (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department determined that Supreme Court used the wrong criteria for analyzing whether plaintiffs’ motion for leave to file a late notice of claim should have been granted. Plaintiffs’ child was seriously injured in a game at school which was supervised by teachers. In 2016 the Court of Appeals (Matter of Newcomb) held that a plaintiff must make an initial showing that the school would not be prejudiced by a late notice, then the school must come forward with evidence it would be prejudiced. Supreme Court had analyzed the criteria under the existing law at the time, which was changed by Matter of Newcomb. The Second Department found, under the Matter of Newcomb criteria, plaintiffs had presented sufficient proof of a lack of prejudice to shift the burden to the school. The matter was remitted for analysis under the current law:

The plaintiffs submitted an affidavit from the infant plaintiff’s father in which he averred that he received a call from school personnel informing him about his child’s injury and requesting his presence at the school. When the father arrived at the school minutes later, he observed an assistant principal, two security guards, the school nurse, and New York City Fire Department personnel attending to the situation and the injuries of his daughter. At that time, the infant plaintiff’s father was informed that his daughter was playing a game with other children wherein they were jumping on each other’s backs. He also learned that this activity occurred under the supervision of three or four teachers, two of whom were named in his affidavit. The infant plaintiff was transported by ambulance from the school to the hospital. The infant plaintiff allegedly fractured the tibia and fibula of her right leg, and underwent surgery as a result of her injuries. Given the evidence of the number of school personnel attending to the situation, the reporting of the incident to the infant plaintiff’s father, and the seriousness of the alleged injuries, the plaintiffs argued that a number of reports would likely have been prepared, and that such reports were in the possession of the defendants. Under certain circumstances, this Court has recognized that the “existence of reports in [a defendant’s] own files concerning . . . facts and circumstances'”of an incident may be “the functional equivalent of an investigation” … . …

Given that Matter of Newcomb was decided during the pendency of this appeal, and since the Supreme Court relied upon this Court’s prior authority, which had placed the sole burden on the plaintiffs to show that the defendants were not substantially prejudiced by the delay in filing, the defendants did not have an opportunity to submit evidence to make their particularized evidentiary showing in the manner set forth in Matter of Newcomb. The court, therefore, did not have the opportunity to weigh such evidence in consideration of the plaintiffs’ motion. N.F. v City of New York, 2018 NY Slip Op 03663, Second Dept 5-23-18

​EDUCATION-SCHOOL LAW (NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION, NOTICE OF CLAIM, SUPREME COURT, IN THIS NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION ACTION, HAD USED CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING A MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE A LATE NOTICE OF CLAIM WHICH HAS SINCE BEEN CHANGED BY THE COURT OF APPEALS, MATTER REMITTED FOR A RULING UNDER THE CURRENT LAW (SECOND DEPT))/NOTICE OF CLAIM (EDUCATION-SCHOOL LAW, NEGLIGENCE SUPERVISION, SUPREME COURT, IN THIS NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION ACTION, HAD USED CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING A MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE A LATE NOTICE OF CLAIM WHICH HAS SINCE BEEN CHANGED BY THE COURT OF APPEALS, MATTER REMITTED FOR A RULING UNDER THE CURRENT LAW (SECOND DEPT))/NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION (EDUCATION-SCHOOL LAW, NOTICE OF CLAIM,  SUPREME COURT, IN THIS NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION ACTION, HAD USED CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING A MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE A LATE NOTICE OF CLAIM WHICH HAS SINCE BEEN CHANGED BY THE COURT OF APPEALS, MATTER REMITTED FOR A RULING UNDER THE CURRENT LAW (SECOND DEPT))/NOTICE OF CLAIM (EDUCATION-SCHOOL LAW, NEGLIGENCE SUPERVISION, SUPREME COURT, IN THIS NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION ACTION, HAD USED CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING A MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE A LATE NOTICE OF CLAIM WHICH HAS SINCE BEEN CHANGED BY THE COURT OF APPEALS, MATTER REMITTED FOR A RULING UNDER THE CURRENT LAW (SECOND DEPT))