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Lewis v. New York City Transit Authority

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Apr 16, 1984
100 A.D.2d 896 (N.Y. App. Div. 1984)

Opinion

April 16, 1984


In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, etc., defendant appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Lodato, J.), dated November 8, 1981, which granted plaintiffs' motion for leave to serve a late notice of claim upon it. ¶ Order modified by adding after the word "GRANTED" the words "as to the claim of the infant IRA LEWIS and is denied in all other respects". As so modified, order affirmed, without costs or disbursements. ¶ An application for leave to serve a late notice of claim must be made within the time set by statute for the commencement of the action against the public corporation (see Pierson v City of New York, 56 N.Y.2d 950; Saler v City of New York, 96 A.D.2d 583). While the period is tolled with respect to the infant plaintiff's claim until November 6, 1984, his 18th birthday (CPLR 208; Cohen v Pearl Riv. Union Free School Dist., 51 N.Y.2d 256), the toll for infancy is not available with respect to the adult plaintiff's derivative claim (see Matter of McGrath v Board of Educ., 63 A.D.2d 1046, aff'd. 47 N.Y.2d 843; Sadler v Horvath, 44 A.D.2d 905). Since there is no basis for any other toll or for an estoppel (see Simon v Capital Dist. Transp. Auth., 95 A.D.2d 902) and since the adult plaintiff did not make the application within the time frame specified by section 1212 Pub. Auth. of the Public Authorities Law, the branch of the plaintiffs' motion which sought leave to serve a notice of claim nunc pro tunc on her behalf should have been denied ( Pierson v City of New York, supra). ¶ With respect to the infant plaintiff's claim, the fact of infancy, in and of itself, merely authorizes the courts to entertain the application on the merits; it does not compel that the application be granted ( Goudie v County of Putnam, 95 A.D.2d 823). Consideration of all the relevant factors, however, indicates that it was a proper exercise of discretion to permit service of a late notice of claim on the infant's behalf (see Matter of Cicio v City of New York, 98 A.D.2d 38; Matter of Bensen v Town of Islip, 99 A.D.2d 755). The defendant received actual notice within 90 days of the occurrence and conducted a hearing on the claim pursuant to section 50-h Gen. Mun. of the General Municipal Law. Moreover there is no evident prejudice ( Haynes v City of New York, 100 A.D.2d 572). ¶ Finally, we would note that the failure of plaintiffs' counsel to appear in support of the initial motion to serve a late notice of claim (CPLR 2216), which resulted in its being marked off the calendar pursuant to local court rule (22 NYCRR 752.11 [c]), did not bar a second motion. The order marking the case off the calendar did not operate to establish the law of the case (Siegel, Practice Commentaries, McKinney's Cons Laws of NY, Book 7B, CPLR 2216: 3 N.Y.C.P.L.R., p. 114; cf. Aridas v Caserta, 41 N.Y.2d 1059, 1061). Titone, J.P., Lazer, Mangano and Boyers, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

Lewis v. New York City Transit Authority

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Apr 16, 1984
100 A.D.2d 896 (N.Y. App. Div. 1984)
Case details for

Lewis v. New York City Transit Authority

Case Details

Full title:IRA LEWIS, an Infant, by His Mother and Natural Guardian, JOYCE LEWIS, et…

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: Apr 16, 1984

Citations

100 A.D.2d 896 (N.Y. App. Div. 1984)

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