Washington v. City of New York

• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: WACHTLER
• Citation: Washington v. City of New York, 532 N.Y.S.2d 361, 72 N.Y.2d 881, 528 N.E.2d 513 (N.Y. 1988)
• Decision Date: 07 July 1988
• Parties: , 528 N.E.2d 513 Gregory WASHINGTON, Appellant, v. CITY OF NEW YORK, Respondent.

Page 361

532 N.Y.S.2d 361

72 N.Y.2d 881, 528 N.E.2d 513

Gregory WASHINGTON, Appellant, v. CITY OF NEW YORK, Respondent.

Court of Appeals of New York.

July 7, 1988.

Arnold E. Di Joseph, III, New York City, for appellant.

Peter L. Zimroth, Corp. Counsel (Dana Martine Robbins, New York City, of counsel), for respondent.

OPINION OF THE COURT MEMORANDUM.

The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed, with costs.

The lower courts did not abuse their discretion in denying plaintiff's motion to file a late notice of claim. Under General Municipal Law § 50-e(5), the trial court has discretion to extend the time to serve a late notice of claim in a proper case, and the statute permits the court to consider, among all other relevant facts and circumstances, whether the municipality had actual knowledge of the facts constituting the claim within the 90-day statutory period.

The trial court considered and appropriately rejected plaintiff's purely speculative contention that the City had actual notice of the accident. Plaintiff failed to sustain his burden of establishing that the City acquired knowledge of the accident within a reasonable time, conclusorily alleging the existence of an accident report and offering no reliable basis to support his claim that the...