When someone gets injured or killed on municipal property, such as a New York City Housing Authority building, what should you do?
What Should You Do If You Slip and Fall on Government Property?
At the outset, it is imperative that you seek legal counsel as soon as possible, as there is a very strict 90-day deadline to file a Notice of Claim for municipal entities and agencies, including NYCHA, pursuant to General Municipal Law (“G.M.L.”) Section 50-e. The law is very clear about what information must be included in the Notice of Claim, and New York Courts have routinely served as gatekeepers for the sufficiency of a Notice of Claim.
G.M.L. § 50-e(2), outlines, in pertinent part, “[t]he notice shall be in writing, sworn to by or on behalf of the claimant, and shall set forth, . . . (2) the nature of the claim; (3) the time when, the place where and the manner in which the claim arose.” In regards to the “nature of the claim,” New York courts have routinely held that the Notice of Claim must include sufficient information to enable the municipality to investigate the claim, and must give sufficient notice of particular cognizable theories of recovery.
Failure to Allege Claims can be Fatal to the Success of a Personal Injury or Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Failure to allege claims in the Notice of Claim can be fatal to the success of a personal injury or wrongful death victim’s impending lawsuit. Indeed, the Courts are often tasked with reviewing claims which serve as the basis for lawsuits but are omitted from the notice of claim. One example of the Court’s gatekeeping function is Mosely v City of New York, 2023 NY Slip Op 03345 (2d Dept 2023). On March 10, 2018, decedent O’Neal Shurome Mosley was shot and killed by unknown assailants at a New York City Housing Authority (“NYCHA”) building in Brooklyn, known as the Louis Armstrong houses. Decedent’s attorneys filed a Notice of Claim, pursuant to GML § 50-e, outlining claims against NYCHA for their negligence in providing adequate security, specifically, in allowing the area in which Mr. Mosley was shot to be “pitch dark without illumination” and that such failure to maintain adequate lighting for its residents “was a proximate cause of the decedent’s death.” The notice of claim failed to include allegations that NYCHA failed to install operable CCTV cameras and failed to address a pattern of alleged drug sales that occurred on the premises, prior to the shooting. Rather, decedent’s counsel raised such theories for the first time in their bill of particulars, almost two (2) years after the subject incident, and long after the expiration of their time to file a Notice of Claim.
In Mosley v City of New York, the Appellate Division, Second Department, applied this rule of law on the procedural facts above, and held that the new theories of negligence alleged in the bill of particulars must be stricken, as the municipality had not been given sufficient notice, pursuant to GML § 50-e, of such additional theories beyond poor lighting conditions. The Court did consider the fact that the Notice of Claim included the claim of negligent security, but the inclusion of only factual allegations relating to lighting conditions served as a bar to the other theories of negligence.
This case is a strong reminder that it is important to consult with an attorney as soon as possible following an accident so that a sufficient investigation can be performed by the attorney and the necessary claims can be included in a notice of claim.
Have You Been Injured in a Slip and Fall on Government Property?
If you or someone you love has been injured or killed in an accident involving a municipality or a municipal agency, please do not hesitate to contact us or call Grandelli & Eskenasi for a free legal consultation at 212-668-8400. It is crucial that you seek legal representation as soon as you can, so that we can preserve your rights through the filing of a proper and legally sufficient Notice of Claim.
