If a city agency, the MTA, a public hospital, or a school caused your injury, you do not have three years to act. In most cases you have 90 días to serve a Notice of Claim. Miss it, and your case can be over before it starts.
GENERAL MUNICIPAL LAW § 50-E
NOTICE OF CLAIM LAWYER
NUEVA YORK
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The deadline runs from the date of the accident — not from the date you finish treatment, and not from the date you decide to hire a lawyer.
DEADLINES BY DEFENDANT
Different public entities carry different clocks. These are the ones that most often destroy otherwise strong cases.
| DEFENDANT | NOTICE OF CLAIM | DEADLINE TO SUE |
|---|---|---|
| City of New York DOT, NYPD, FDNY, Parks, city vehicles | 90 días | 1 year and 90 days |
| NYC Transit Authority / MTA Subway, city bus, Access-A-Ride | 90 días | 1 year and 30 days |
| NYC Health + Hospitals Bellevue, Elmhurst, Kings County, Jacobi | 90 días | 1 year and 90 days |
| NYC Dept. of Education Public school injuries, supervision claims | 90 días | 1 year and 90 days |
| Port Authority of NY & NJ JFK, LaGuardia, PATH, bridges, tunnels | Served at least 60 days before suit | 1 year |
| State of New York Court of Claims — state roads, SUNY, state agencies | Claim or Notice of Intention within 90 days | 2 years if Notice of Intention filed |
| Nassau & Suffolk Counties County roads, county buses, towns and villages | 90 días | 1 year and 90 days |
Deadlines vary by claim type and defendant, and certain claims are subject to tolls or exceptions. This chart is general information, not legal advice about your case.
What a Notice of Claim Actually Is
A Notice of Claim is a formal, sworn document served on a public entity before you are permitted to sue it. It is not a lawsuit. It is the condition precedent that makes a lawsuit possible.
Under General Municipal Law § 50-e, it must identify the claimant, the nature of the claim, the time and place and manner in which it arose, and the injuries sustained — with enough specificity that the agency can investigate while the evidence still exists. Vague or defective notices get challenged, and courts dismiss cases over them.
01
Location must be exact
“I fell on a sidewalk in Brooklyn” is not enough. The City will move to dismiss. The defect must be pinned down — address, side of street, distance from the corner, photographs.
02
It must be sworn and properly served
Service on the wrong entity is one of the most common fatal errors. The MTA, NYC Transit, the Health + Hospitals Corporation, and the City of New York are legally distinct defendants with separate service requirements.
03
Then comes the § 50-h hearing
After the notice is served, the entity may demand a sworn oral examination under General Municipal Law § 50-h. You generally cannot file suit until it is completed. It is testimony, under oath, taken by the defense before your case even begins — and it should never be faced without counsel.
Sidewalk and Roadway Cases: Who Is Actually Liable
THE SIDEWALK
Most people assume a sidewalk fall means suing the City. Often it does not. Under NYC Administrative Code § 7-210, liability for maintaining a sidewalk in reasonably safe condition sits with the abutting property owner — with a carve-out for owner-occupied one-, two-, and three-family residential homes, where the City may remain responsible.
THE ROADWAY
Roadway and pothole claims are harder. Administrative Code § 7-201(c) imposes a prior written notice requirement: the City generally cannot be held liable for a street or roadway defect unless it received written notice of that specific defect beforehand, or affirmatively created it. Mapped defects — including those recorded on the Big Apple Pothole and Sidewalk Protection Committee maps filed with the DOT — are frequently how that element is proven.
This is why identifying the correct defendant on day one matters so much. Serve a Notice of Claim on the City for a defect that belongs to a private owner, and you have burned 90 days on the wrong target. See our resbalón y caída y accidente peatonal pages for related claims.
IF THE 90 DAYS HAVE ALREADY PASSED
GML § 50-E(5) · LEAVE TO FILE LATE
Do not assume your case is dead. General Municipal Law § 50-e(5) permits a court, in its discretion, to grant leave to serve a late Notice of Claim. Courts weigh whether the public entity acquired actual knowledge of the essential facts within 90 days or a reasonable time after, whether there is a reasonable excuse for the delay, and whether the delay substantially prejudiced the entity’s ability to defend.
The application generally must be made within the time limited for commencing the action. Additional protections may apply to claims brought on behalf of an infant (a person under 18), where the period can be tolled.
WHAT THIS MEANS PRACTICALLY
A missed deadline is a motion, not automatically a dismissal — but the motion gets harder every week you wait. If you are past 90 days, call today rather than next month.
WHY MUNICIPAL CASES FAIL
- ✕ The Notice of Claim was served on the wrong public entity
- ✕ The location of the defect was described too vaguely to survive a motion
- ✕ The claimant gave § 50-h testimony without a lawyer present
- ✕ Counsel calendared three years, not one year and 30 days, in an MTA case
- ✕ No effort was made to preserve bus or station video before it was overwritten
- ✕ Prior written notice of the roadway defect was never investigated or pleaded
THE CLOCK STARTED THE DAY YOU WERE HURT
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Preguntas Frecuentes
Do I need a Notice of Claim to sue the MTA or NYC Transit?
Yes. A Notice of Claim must generally be served within 90 days, and the lawsuit itself must typically be commenced within one year and 30 days — a shorter window than most other municipal claims.
Can I still file if I missed the 90-day deadline?
Possibly. Courts may grant leave to serve a late Notice of Claim under General Municipal Law § 50-e(5), depending on the entity’s actual knowledge of the facts, your excuse for the delay, and whether the delay caused prejudice. It requires a motion, and time is against you.
What is a 50-h hearing?
A sworn oral examination the public entity may demand after you serve your Notice of Claim. You generally cannot commence the lawsuit until it is held. It functions like an early deposition conducted by the defense.
Who do I sue if I fell on a New York City sidewalk?
Often the abutting property owner rather than the City, under NYC Administrative Code § 7-210. Owner-occupied one-, two-, and three-family homes are treated differently. Identifying the correct defendant early is critical.
Does a Notice of Claim cost anything to file?
HaddLegal handles these cases on contingency. There is no upfront cost to have your claim evaluated and, if we take the case, no fee unless we recover.
My child was injured at a public school. Is the deadline different?
The 90-day Notice of Claim requirement applies, but claims on behalf of a minor may benefit from tolls and from a more favorable standard on late-notice applications. Do not assume the deadline has passed without speaking to a lawyer.
REVIEWED BY
Randy Haddad, Esq. — Founder, HaddLegal
Randy Haddad is a New York personal injury attorney representing injured clients across all five boroughs and Long Island. He is a member of the Brooklyn Bar Association, the Queens County Bar Association, the New York City Bar Association, and the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, and was selected to Super Lawyers in 2026. More about Randy →
This page is general legal information about New York procedural deadlines and does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines are fact-specific. Consult an attorney about your own claim.
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