Opinion
April 1, 1991
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Jones, J.).
Ordered that the order is reversed, on the law, and the application is denied, with costs.
After the petitioner was injured, she timely served a notice of claim and a summons and complaint upon the Town of Babylon. Subsequently learning that the proper defendant was the Town of Babylon Industrial Development Agency, she sought leave to serve a late notice of claim upon that latter entity. Although the relevant Statute of Limitations had expired (see, General Municipal Law § 880), the Supreme Court invoked the doctrine of equitable estoppel and granted the application. In support of this determination, the court relied on the "conduct" of the Town of Babylon which, "throughout this litigation * * * failed to hint that it was not the real party in interest". This was an insufficient ground upon which to base the invocation of the doctrine of equitable estoppel against the Town of Babylon Industrial Development Agency (see, Ceely v. New York City Health Hosps. Corp., 162 A.D.2d 492; Henderson v. City of New York, 143 A.D.2d 884; Nicholas v. City of New York, 130 A.D.2d 470; Albano v. Long Is. R.R. Co., 122 A.D.2d 923; Soloff v. Board of Educ., 90 A.D.2d 829; see also, Matter of Hamptons Hosp. Med. Center v. Moore, 52 N.Y.2d 88, 93, n 1; Rodriguez v. City of New York, 169 A.D.2d 532; cf., Bender v. New York City Health Hosps. Corp., 38 N.Y.2d 662). Mangano, P.J., Brown, Sullivan, Harwood and Miller, JJ., concur.