Supreme Court providently exercised its discretion in denying leave to file a late notice of claim, as petitioner failed to sustain his burden of establishing that respondent The City of New York had actual knowledge of the essential facts of his claim within 90 days of accrual or within a reasonable time afterward. The police accident report, the record of petitioner's arrest, and the criminal complaint against petitioner did not confer actual knowledge of the essential facts of petitioner's claims; rather, these documents established only that police officers were present on the scene, and that petitioner's motorcycle crashed into a stopped police vehicle while he was travelling at high speed in the wrong direction. These assertions are insufficient to establish actual knowledge by the City of the facts alleged in petitioner's notice of claim, as the documents make no mention of acts that would constitute actionable wrongdoing by any police officers.
In addition, petitioner failed to sustain his burden of showing that the City was not prejudiced by the delay in filing. In order to demonstrate absence of prejudice, petitioner relies solely on the City's purported actual knowledge, concluding that because the City had such knowledge, it did not experience substantial prejudice from petitioner's delay in serving the notice of claim. However, as petitioner failed to sustain his burden of showing that the City had actual knowledge of the essential facts of his claims, the burden never shifted to the City to make a particularized showing of prejudice.
Finally, petitioner did not provide any medical records or other evidence corroborating his claim of incapacity. As a result, he failed to provide a reasonable excuse for his delay of serving a notice of claim His purported incapacity is also undercut by his own affidavit, in which he averred that he was still able to attend court appearances and medical treatments, and would have timely served his notice of claim had he been aware of the 90-day requirement.
Matter of Connolly vs. City of New York, NY Slip Op 06383 (1st Dep't October 29, 2026)
