Opinion
May 18, 1992
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Westchester County (Facelle, J.).
Ordered that the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
The plaintiff Dorothy Singer allegedly sustained injuries when the automobile which she was driving collided with a bus owned by Westchester County and operated by the defendant Liberty Lines as part of the County's public transit system. The plaintiffs subsequently commenced suit against Liberty Lines and the driver of the bus, but did not serve a notice of claim upon the County of Westchester. The Supreme Court granted the motion of Liberty Lines to dismiss the action on the ground that the plaintiffs had failed to serve a notice of claim upon the County. We affirm.
Local Laws, 1969, No. 8 of the County of Westchester, and Local Laws, 1970, No. 11 of the County of Westchester, which created the County's transit system, imposed upon the County a statutory duty to operate the system (see, e.g., Coleman v. Westchester St. Transp. Co., 57 N.Y.2d 734). The imposition of such a duty created an obligation on the County's part to indemnify the defendant Liberty Lines for any damages recovered against it (General Municipal Law § 50-b), and, therefore, a notice of claim was required (see, General Municipal Law § 50-e [b]; Losado v Liberty Lines Tr., 155 A.D.2d 337; Tacinelli v. Liberty Lines, 123 A.D.2d 756; Montalto v. Westchester St. Transp. Co., 102 A.D.2d 816, 818). Since the plaintiffs failed to timely serve a notice of claim, the Supreme Court properly granted the motion to dismiss the action (see, Pierson v. City of New York, 56 N.Y.2d 950, 954-956).
There is no basis in the record for the application of an estoppel against asserting the failure to serve a notice of claim as a bar to the instant action (see, Matter of Quintero v. Town of Babylon Indus. Dev. Agency, 172 A.D.2d 527; Ceely v. New York City Health Hosps. Corp., 162 A.D.2d 492, 493; Nicholas v. City of New York, 130 A.D.2d 470, 471; Matter of Gross v. New York City Health Hosps. Corp., 122 A.D.2d 793, 794; see also, Fleming v Long Is. R.R., 59 N.Y.2d 895; Rodriguez v. City of New York, 169 A.D.2d 532; cf., Matter of Hamptons Hosp. Med. Center v. Moore, 52 N.Y.2d 88, 93-94, n 1). Thompson, J.P., Rosenblatt, Miller and O'Brien, JJ., concur.