Establishes criteria for notice to be filed and served when done by electronic means in N.Y. city

Section two amends subdivision 5 of section 50-e of the General Municipal Law by authorizing the courts, when considering whether to grant a motion to a claimant who applies to the court to file a late notice of claim, to consider whether claimant's failure to file a timely notice of claim was due to the technical failure of the computer system of the public corporation, the claimant or the claimant's attorney. The claimant or attorney must provide sufficient proof that the electronic service was attempted in a timely manner.

Section three sets forth the effective date of the bill.

Justification

Filing a Notice of Claim is a prerequisite to the commencement of a tort-based action against a public corporation. When claims are against a public corporation, such as New York City, the provisions of section 50-e of the General Municipal Law control. Currently, section 50-e (3) of the General Municipal Law requires service of the Notice of Claim to be made personally, or by registered or certified mail.

In light of new technology and the public's increasing reliance on the Internet, claimants or their attorneys may benefit from the ease of electronically filing their Notice of Claim. Not only will filing the Notice of Claim electronically result in a faster and less costly means of transmission, but also, and perhaps more importantly, a means that is less prone to human error. Moreover, both the public corporation and the public will benefit because the public corporation will be able to store and manage records in a more efficient manner.

New York has realized the practical and beneficial effects of using technology in the service process of various types of claims. For example, in 1989, an amendment was made to CPLR 2103 (b)(5) to allow attorneys to serve court papers via facsimile. Further, in 1999, an amendment was made to CPLR 2103(b)(7) to allow service via electronic means, which now allows service of court papers by attorneys over the Internet. More recently, in 2003, the New York State Court of Claims began the Filing by Electronic Means pilot project, which allows certain claims to be filed and served via e-mail. To date, the pilot project is still running.

In 2006, a similar bill was vetoed on the grounds that the bill could inadvertently increase the number of motions to file a late notice since there was no means to ascertain whether a filing, delay was, in fact, due to a computer system failure. The current bill addresses this concern.

Moreover, due to concerns that many public corporations throughout the State, especially those who retain private attorneys to represent the public corporation, may not be prepared to adopt this new process, this bill will be limited to notices of claim served upon any city with a population of over one million inhabitants.

Legislative history

2007; A.8996-A/S.6122- Passed Assembly/S. Rules Committee 2006 - A.11919; Veto Memo 317

Fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

On the one hundred and eightieth day after it shall have become law.