Court Opinion

ID: 9529268
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:49:21.701208+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:27:43.174758
License: Public Domain

G.B. Smith, J. (dissenting).
Because I believe that the time period of one year and 90 days for bringing an action, contained in General Municipal Law § 50-i, is a condition precedent and not a statute of limitations in this case, I dissent.
On December 17, 1997, plaintiff, an inmate in the custody of the New York City Department of Correction, who was suffering from a broken leg, was being transported in a wheelchair in a van. Plaintiff claims that the wheelchair “flipped over” because he was not properly secured, causing him to fall and be injured. Pursuant to General Municipal Law § 50-e, plaintiff filed a timely notice of claim on the City on March 19, 1998.
On March 5, 1999, plaintiff filed a federal action in the Southern District of New York pursuant to 42 USC § 1983 claiming violations of his Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The federal action was dismissed on April 8, 2002 for failure to exhaust administrative remedies pursuant to 42 USC § 1997e (a). After dismissing the federal questions, federal court declined to assert pendent jurisdiction over the state law claims.
On July 22, 2002, plaintiff filed a state court action against the City. On October 21, 2002, the City filed an answer and on October 28, 2002, the City moved to dismiss pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) (7).
Supreme Court, on December 13, 2002, granted the motion to dismiss. Supreme Court reasoned that because the action against the City was not brought “within one year and ninety days” after the filing of the notice of claim against the City, it was barred and the statute of limitations could not be tolled *206because CPLR 205 (a) “could not be used to obviate the requirements of a statutory condition precedent to suit.”
On March 2, 2004, Appellate Division affirmed the order of Supreme Court, determining that plaintiff was not helped by CPLR 205 (a) which allowed for a six month tolling of the statute of limitations because General Municipal Law § 50-i was a condition precedent to the suit, not a statute of limitations. This Court granted the plaintiff leave to appeal.
Before this Court, plaintiff argues that General Municipal Law § 50-i, entitled “Presentation of tort claims; commencement of actions,” is a statute of limitations which was tolled pursuant to CPLR 205 (a). Defendant City argues, on the other hand, that General Municipal Law § 50-i is a condition precedent for filing a suit against the City.
In Yonkers Contr. Co. v Port Auth. Trans-Hudson Corp. (93 NY2d 375, 378 [1999]), this Court held that the one year time period for commencing a lawsuit against the Port Authority, contained in McKinney’s Unconsolidated Laws of NY § 7107 (L 1950, ch 301, § 7), was a condition precedent that could not be tolled by CPLR 205. Section 7107 reads:
“The foregoing consent is granted upon the condition that any suit, action or proceeding prosecuted or maintained under this act shall be commenced within one year after the cause of action therefor shall have accrued, and upon the further condition that in the case of any suit, action or proceeding for the recovery or payment of money, prosecuted or maintained under this act, a notice of claim shall have been served upon the port authority by or on behalf of the plaintiff or plaintiffs at least sixty days before such suit, action or proceeding is commenced. The provisions of this section shall not apply to claims arising out of provisions of any workmen’s compensation law of either state.”
In Yonkers, this Court distinguished between a statute of limitations and a statutory time restriction for commencing a lawsuit. There, this Court stated, “The former merely suspends the remedy provided by a right of action, but the latter conditions the existence of a right of action, thereby creating a substantive limitation on the right” (93 NY2d at 378). This Court determined that the time in which to sue was a condition for bringing the lawsuit.
*207The statute at issue in this case, General Municipal Law § 50-i, is similar to section 7107 in that it also establishes a time condition for bringing a lawsuit. Section 50-i, first enacted in 1959 (L 1959, ch 788, § 1), now reads as follows:
“1. No action or special proceeding shall be prosecuted or maintained against a city . . . unless, (a) a notice of claim shall have been made and served upon the city ... in compliance with section fifty-e of this chapter, (b) it shall appear by and as an allegation in the complaint or moving papers that at least thirty days have elapsed since the service of such notice and that adjustment or payment thereof has been neglected or refused, and (c) the action or special proceeding shall be commenced within one year and ninety days after the happening of the event upon which the claim is based ....
“2. This section shall be applicable notwithstanding any inconsistent provisions of law, general, special or local, or any limitation contained in the provisions of any city charter.
“3. Nothing contained herein or in section fifty-h of this chapter shall operate to extend the period limited by subdivision one of this section for the commencement of an action or special proceeding.”
The statute establishes three requirements for a lawsuit—a notice of claim that complies with General Municipal Law § 50-e, a time lapse of at least 30 days following service of the notice of claim and a lawsuit brought within one year and 90 days after the claim arises. Put another way, if any one of these three requirements is not met, an action or special proceeding sounding in tort cannot be prosecuted or maintained against a city.1 A reading of General Municipal Law § 50-i, which is written in the conjunctive, that seeks to sever the one-year-and 90-day time period from the other two express statutory requirements, fails to give effect to the entire statute, in direct contravention to one of the most basic rules of statutory construction. Thus, because section 50-i, on its face, creates a time condition for bringing an action, similar in purpose and function to the time condition in Unconsolidated Laws § 7107, CPLR 205 (a) is inapplicable here.
*208The legislative history supports this interpretation of General Municipal Law § 50-i.
In an April 10, 1959 letter “Re: Assembly Int. 4048, Print No. 4218” from Thomas McCoy, Counsel to the Judicial Conference of the State of New York, to Roswell B. Perkins, Counsel to Governor Rockefeller, recommending approval of the bill, the following statement is made:
“Section 50-i would bar suits against cities, counties, towns or villages based upon negligent acts of their employees unless, one, notice of claim is made under § 50-e; two, thirty days have elapsed since service of notice without settlement, and three, the section is commenced within one year and ninety days after the event upon which the claim is based.” (Bill Jacket, L 1959, ch 788.)
In a March 30, 1959 “Memorandum in relation to Assembly Bill Int. 4048, Pr. 4218,” William Sanford, Counsel to the Association of Towns, described the legislation in this way:
“This legislation would add a new section to the General Municipal Law to be known as section 50-i, which would require as a condition precedent to the prosecution or maintenance of an action against a city, county, town or village for personal injuries or property damage [ ] that notice of claim be made and filed pursuant to section 50-e of the General Municipal Law, that it be alleged that at least 30 days have elapsed since the service of such notice and no adjustment or payment has been arrived at, and that the action was commenced within one year and 90 days from the happening of the event upon which the claim is based. It is further provided that these restrictions shall be applicable notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law, general, special or local” {id. [emphasis supplied]).
In an April 16, 1959 letter to Roswell B. Perkins, “Re: A. Int. 4048, Pr. 4218-Approved; Comment,” Sheldon Oliensis, Chairman of the Committee on State Legislation of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, commented:
“Furthermore, we are concerned that Paragraph 3 may act as a trap for the unwary. Under the present practice, at least in New York City, the parties frequently stipulate to an extension of time for the *209completion of the City’s examination of the claim; such stipulations have heretofore not prejudiced the plaintiff because Section 50 (h) of the General Municipal Law and Section 24 of the Civil Practice Act interact to toll the period of limitations. This tolling will now be eliminated” (id. [emphasis supplied]).
The words “herein or” contained in section 50-i (3), cited above, were added by chapter 151 of the Laws of 1960. A footnote to chapter 151 states, “This bill is recommended by the Joint Legislative Committee on Municipal Tort Liability. Its purpose is to make it clear that the period within which actions and special proceedings against municipalities are required to be brought is not intended to be tolled or extended by reason of its provisions.”
The cases cited by the majority do not compel a different result. Cohen v Pearl Riv. Union Free School Dist. (51 NY2d 256 [1980]) and Henry v City of New York (94 NY2d 275 [1999]) involved infancy and the tolling provision of CPLR 208. Baez v New York City Health & Hosps. Corp. (80 NY2d 571 [1992]) also involved an argument for the infancy toll of CPLR 208, an argument which this Court rejected. In Pierson v City of New York (56 NY2d 950 [1982]), this Court held that an application to file a late notice of claim could not be made after the statute of limitations had run. It also stated that the notice of claim could not be served after one year and 90 days after the cause of action accrued, unless tolled, and cited Cohen v Pearl Riv. Union Free School Dist. (51 NY2d at 262-263), a case with an infancy toll.
CPLR 205 (a)2 authorizes a new action within six months after an action, which is timely commenced, is terminated other than “by a voluntary discontinuance, a failure to obtain personal jurisdiction over the defendant, a dismissal of the complaint for neglect to prosecute the action, or a final judg*210ment upon the merits.” As noted by the Appellate Division, section 205 does not apply when the statutory time bar to the commencement of an action is not a statute of limitations but is a condition precedent (see Dreger v New York State Thruway Auth., 81 NY2d 721, 724 [1992]; Matter of Morris Invs., Inc. v Commissioner of Fin. of City of N.Y., 69 NY2d 933 [1987]).
Accordingly, I dissent and vote to affirm the order of the Appellate Division.
Judges Cipabick, Rosenblatt, Gbaffeo, Read and R.S. Smith concur with Chief Judge Kaye; Judge G.B. Smith dissents and votes to affirm in a separate opinion.
Order reversed, etc.

. Since section 50-i conditions a lawsuit against the City upon the meeting of three requirements, it is clear that the absence of the word “condition” is not determinative as to whether one exists.

. CPLR 205 (a):
“New action by plaintiff. If an action is timely commenced and is terminated in any other manner than by a voluntary discontinuance, a failure to obtain personal jurisdiction over the defendant, a dismissal of the complaint for neglect to prosecute the action, or a final judgment upon the merits, the plaintiff, or, if the plaintiff dies, and the cause of action survives, his or her executor or administrator, may commence a new action upon the same transaction or occurrence or series of transactions or occurrences within six months after the termination provided that the new action would have been timely commenced at the time of commencement of the prior action and that service upon defendant is effected within such six-month period.”