What's happening
This bill expands the exemption from stating a specific monetary sum in a summons to include personal injury or wrongful death actions, not just medical malpractice.
Why it matters
Expanding the exemption to both personal injury and wrongful death cases means plaintiffs in these cases will no longer have to specify a monetary amount in the initial summons, potentially reducing the risk of anchoring jury expectations to a specific figure early in the process.
This change may help protect privacy for plaintiffs by not requiring public disclosure of the amount sought, which can be especially important in sensitive or high-profile cases.
By broadening the exemption, the bill aligns procedural requirements for personal injury and wrongful death actions with those already in place for medical malpractice, potentially streamlining court administration and reducing technical pitfalls for plaintiffs.
Because the bill applies to all pending actions, it could have immediate effects on ongoing litigation, allowing current plaintiffs in these cases to amend filings and benefit from the new rule right away.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Clarify Summons Notice Rules
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 42
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Committed to rules
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
- 1st report cal.1324
- Referred to judiciary
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
8288
IN SENATE
April 26, 2018
Introduced by Sen. BONACIC -- (at request of the Office of Court Administration) -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to the content of a summons with notice in certain actions
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision (b) of rule 305 of the civil practice law and rules, as amended by chapter 528 of the laws of 1978, is amended to read as follows:
(b) Summons and notice. If the complaint is not served with the summons, the summons shall contain or have attached thereto a notice stating the nature of the action and the relief sought, and, except in an action for [medical malpractice] personal injury or wrongful death, the sum of money for which judgment may be taken in case of default.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all pending actions.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14647-01-8
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to the content of a summons with notice in certain actions
This is one of a series of measures being introduced at the request of the Chief Administrative Judge upon the recommendation of his Advisory Committee on Civil Practice.
This measure would amend CPLR 305(b) to provide that where the plaintiff in an action for personal injury or wrongful death commences suit with a summons with notice rather than with a summons and complaint, the summons with notice need not specify "the sum of money" the plaintiff seeks, popularly known as the ad damnum. This would eliminate an incon- sistency that arises from a 2003 amendment of CPLR 3017(b).
Read the full memo (616 words)
Prior to 2003, plaintiffs in all personal injury and wrongful death actions were, with two exceptions, required to specify in the complaint the amount of money sought in the action. The two exceptions were actions against municipalities and medical malpractice actions. In those two kinds of cases, defendant could serve a supplemental demand for that information, but the information would not appear in the complaint.
In 2003, CPLR 3017(b) was amended to extend to all personal injury and wrongful death actions the rule then followed only in medical malprac- tice actions and actions with municipal defendants. Complaints in personal injury and wrongful death actions would no longer contain ad damnum clauses specifying the damages plaintiffs sought, but defendants would be entitled to obtain that information on demand.
There were several reasons for the amendment. One was a concern that the prior practice encouraged inflated demands since (a) plaintiffs were incentivized to make their ad damnum large enough to encompass any potential recovery, and (b) the severity of the injury was not always known at the time of commencement of the suit. Additionally, the prior practice led to undue focus, especially in the media, upon ad damnum demands that were essentially meaningless and often misleading. Finally, a defendant naturally wanted to know and was entitled to know far more than the gross figure plaintiff would claim as his or her total damages, and the more sensible course was to require plaintiff to provide such information as the defendant demanded in the course of discovery.
CPLR 305(b) specifies the information that must appear in the summons in those instances in which "the complaint is not served with the summons." Unfortunately, when CPLR 3017(b) was amended to effectively remove the ad damnum clause from the complaints served in personal injury and wrongful death actions, CPLR 305(b) was not similarly amended. It still requires the plaintiff to specify "the sum of money" sought except in actions for medical `malpractice.
As is noted in Professor Patrick M. Connors' McKinney's commentary, this inconsistency, which is of course an historical anomaly that serves no purpose, serves as a trap for the unwary that could potentially result in dismissal of an action. McKinney's Practice Commentary, C3017:10A. This could occur if an attorney who is familiar with the rules governing content of the complaint reflexively assumes that the ad damnum also should be omitted from a summons served without complaint.
This measure would amend CPLR 305(b) to exempt personal injury and wrongful death actions from the requirement that the pleader specify "the sum of money" sought, thus eliminating the inconsistency with CPLR 3017(b). As in those personal injury and wrongful death actions that are commenced with service of a complaint (the vast majority of such actions), plaintiff will be required to provide that information (and more) on demand.
This measure, which would have no fiscal impact, would take effect imme- diately.
Legislative history
None. New proposal.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.