Uniform Notice of Claim Certificate of Designation form: https://appext20.dos.ny.gov/noc_public/f?p=800
General Municipal Law, §50-e (1) requires the service of a notice of
claim upon a town as a condition precedent to filing suit for personal
injury and property damage. (Williams v. Nassau County Med. Ctr.,
6 NY3d 531, 535 (2006)). The purpose of GML §50-e, according to the
Appellate Division, is “to protect the municipality from unfounded
claims and to ensure that it has an adequate opportunity ‘to explore the
merits of the claim while information is still readily available.’” (Porcaro v. City of New York, 20 A.D.3d 357 (1st Dep’t 2005), quoting Teresta v. City of New York,
304 N.Y. 440, 443 (1952)). Typically a notice of claim must be
delivered personally or by registered or certified mail to the town
clerk, town supervisor or to an attorney regularly engaged in
representing such town. (General Municipal Law, §50-e (3)(a); CPLR,
§311(a)(5)).
Effective June 15, 2013, a person wishing to sue a town will have
another option for serving a notice of claim upon the town. In addition
to delivering a copy of the notice of claim to the town clerk, the town
supervisor or an attorney regularly engaged in representing the town – a
notice of claim may be delivered to the Secretary of State. The
Secretary of State will then forward the notice of claim to the person
designated by the town board to receive the notice of claim from the
Secretary of State. (General Municipal Law, §53). To assist the
Secretary of State in this task, the Department of State is creating a
form certificate to file with the Secretary of State. The required form
will be available on the Department of State’s website (www.dos.ny.gov)
on June 15, 2013. A person filing a notice of claim with the Secretary
of State may be charged a fee of up to $250, half of which shall be
forwarded to the town providing that the town files its certificate of
designation upon with Secretary of State within 30 days of June 15, 2013
(approximately July 14, 2013).
To prepare for submitting that form, the town board should adopt a
resolution designating a town officer or person who will serve in this
function. Pursuant to CPLR §311(a)(5) the town supervisor or town clerk
is the person authorized to accept service on behalf of the town. For
consistency purposes the town board may wish to designate one of these
officers for purposes of receiving notices of claim served upon the
Secretary of State.
Enclosed please find a sample resolution which you may use or modify
to assist you in this task. The town board should review this
designation periodically to make sure that the information provided is
current. Please review this with your town attorney before adoption.
Sample Resolution
Resolution No. _________ 2013, Town of ______________
WHEREAS General Municipal Law, §53 requires towns to file a
certificate with the Secretary of State designating the Secretary of
State as an agent for service of a notice of claim; and
WHEREAS, General Municipal Law, §53 requires the certificate to
include the applicable time limit for filing the notice of claim and the
name, post office address and electronic mail address, if available, of
an officer, person, for the transmittal of notices of claim served upon
the Secretary as the town’s agent; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to General Municipal Law, §50-e(1)(a), the
applicable time limit for the filing of a notice of claim upon a town is
90 days after the claim arises, or in the case of a wrongful death
action, 90 days from the appointment of a representative of the
decedent’s estate; Now therefore Be It
RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of
___________________, County of ____________________________ designates
______________________________(name of person), in his/her capacity as ____________________________(name of office / position), to
receive notices of claims served upon the Secretary of State by mail
at _______________________________________________________ (post office address) and email at ________________________________ (if available).
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby directs
the Town Clerk to file the required certificate with the Secretary of
State informing him or her of the town’s designation and applicable time
limitation for filing a notice of claim with the town on or before July
14, 2013.
(Please note that applicable time limit for the filing of a
notice of claim upon a town is 90 days after the claim arises, or in the
case of a wrongful death action, 90 days from the appointment of a
representative of the decedent’s estate General Municipal Law,
§50-e(1)(a))
General Municipal Law, §53
Alternative service of notice of claim upon the secretary of state
1. In lieu of serving a notice of claim upon a public corporation as
provided for in section fifty-e of this article, a notice of claim
setting forth the same information as required by such section may be
served upon the secretary of state in the same manner as if served with
the public corporation. All the requirements relating to the form,
content, time limitations, exceptions, extensions and any other
procedural requirements imposed in such section with respect to a notice
of claim served upon a public corporation shall correspondingly apply
to a notice of claim served upon the secretary of state as permitted by
this section. For purposes of this article, the secretary of state shall
be deemed to be the agent for all public corporations upon whom a
notice of claim may be served prior to commencement of any action or
proceeding subject to the requirements of this article.
2. All public corporations entitled to have served upon them a notice
of claim as a condition precedent to commencement of an action or
proceeding shall, no later than thirty days after the date upon which
this section shall take effect, file a certificate with the secretary of
state designating the secretary as the agent for service of a notice of
claim and shall in such statement provide the secretary with the name,
post office address and electronic mail address, if available, of an
officer, person, or designee, nominee or other agent-in-fact for the
transmittal of notices of claim served upon the secretary as the public
corporation's agent. Any designated post office address or electronic
mail address to which the secretary of state shall mail transmit a copy
of the notice of claim served upon him or her as agent shall continue to
be the address to which such notices shall be transmitted until the
public corporation sends a notice to the secretary informing him or her
of a new post office address or electronic mail address to which such
notices shall be transmitted. The initial filing with the secretary of
state shall also contain the applicable time limit for filing a notice
of claim upon that public corporation, or if later changed by statute, a
new filing shall be made detailing the new time limit. Any public
corporation that does not have a current and timely statutory
designation filed with the secretary of state shall not be entitled to
the portion of the fee to which it would otherwise be entitled pursuant
to subdivision four of this section. Failure of the public corporation
to so file with the secretary of state will not invalidate any service
of a notice of claim upon the public corporation which has been received
by the secretary of state.
3. The secretary of state is hereby empowered to accept properly
transmitted notices of claims on behalf of a public corporation, with
the same effect as if served directly upon a public corporation. The
secretary of state shall accept such service upon the following terms
and conditions:
(a) the secretary of state shall set and notify the public, on his or
her website of times, places and manner of service upon him or her of
notices of claims necessary to comply with the provisions of this
section;
(b) upon receipt of a notice of claim, the secretary of state shall
issue a receipt or other document acknowledging his or her receipt of
such notice, and such receipt shall contain the date and time of receipt
of the notice, an identifying number or name particular to the notice
received, and the logo or seal of the department of state embossed upon
it. Such receipt shall be prima facie evidence of service upon the
secretary of state for all purposes;
(c) nothing in this section shall be deemed to alter, waive or
otherwise abrogate any defense available to a public corporation as to
the nature, sufficiency, or appropriateness of the notice of claim
itself, or to any challenges to the timeliness of the service of a
notice of claim. Timely service upon the secretary of state shall be
deemed timely service upon the public corporation for purposes of
instituting an action or proceeding or other requirement imposed by law.
4. The secretary of state may impose a fee upon any person who serves
a notice of claim with the department. Such fee shall not exceed two
hundred fifty dollars for each such notice filed. One-half of the fee
imposed shall be retained by the secretary of state as payment for its
services provided in accordance with this section. The remaining
one-half of such fee shall be forwarded to the public corporation named
in the notice of claim provided, however, if more than one such public
corporation is named, each named public corporation shall be entitled to
an equal percentage of the one-half amount.
5. The secretary of state shall within sixty days after the effective
date of this section post on the departmental website a list of any
public corporation, including any public authority, public benefit
corporation or any other entity entitled to receive a notice of claim as
a condition precedent to commencement of an action or proceeding, and
that has filed, pursuant to this section, a certificate with the
secretary of state designating the secretary as the agent for service of
a notice of claim. The list should identify the entity, the post office
address and electronic mail address, if available, of the public
corporation to which the notice of claim shall be forwarded by the
secretary of state, and any statutory provisions uniquely pertaining to
such public corporation and the commencement of an action or proceeding
against it.
6. The secretary of state is authorized to promulgate any rules or
regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this section.
The Secretary of State may be served with notices of claim for public corporations beginning Monday, July 15, 2013.