ALTHOUGH THE COURT HAS THE DISCRETION TO ALLOW AMENDMENT OF A NOTICE OF CLAIM BASED UPON EVIDENCE GIVEN AT THE 50-H HEARING, THE AMENDMENT CANNOT SUBSTANTIALLY CHANGE THE FACTS AND ADD A NEW THEORY OF LIABILITY (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the petitioner’s motion to amend the notice of claim in this medical malpractice action against the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation should not have been granted. Although the court has the power to allow amendment of a notice of claim based upon evidence given at the 50-h hearing, the amendment cannot substantively change the facts and add a new theory of liability:
After a hearing was conducted pursuant to General Municipal Law § 50-h … , the petitioner served an amended notice of claim … expanding the dates of alleged malpractice from January 2, 2014, through September 6, 2018, based on the petitioner’s testimony at the hearing that the decedent had stomach pains since 2016, had been diagnosed with paralytic ileus, and had been treated for that condition by a physician affiliated with Coney Island Hospital since approximately 2016. …
“‘A notice of claim may be amended only to correct good faith and nonprejudicial technical mistakes, omissions, or defects, not to substantively change the nature of the claim or the theory of liability'” … . “[W]hile a court has the discretion to permit a plaintiff to serve an amended notice of claim, amendment is permitted only where the error in the original notice of claim was made in good faith, the municipality is not prejudiced, and the amendment does not substantively change the nature of the claim” … . “A court may consider evidence adduced at a 50-h hearing to correct a good faith and nonprejudicial technical mistake, omission, irregularity, or defect in the notice of claim. However, the evidence adduced at the 50-h hearing cannot be used to substantively change the nature of the claim or the theory of liability” … . Matter of Lesaine v New York City Health & Hosps. Corp., 2021 NY Slip Op 06617, Second Dept 11-24-21
