New York City Government Vehicle Accident Lawyer

Potentially. The fact that the vehicle belongs to the City does not by itself establish liability, but the City can be responsible for negligent conduct by a City employee under circumstances recognized by New York law. We would first establish which agency operated the vehicle, what the employee was doing and how the accident occurred. A claim against the City also requires attention to the special notice and filing procedures that apply to municipal defendants.

For a tort claim against the City of New York, a Notice of Claim generally must be served within 90 days after the claim arises. That is not the same as saying the entire lawsuit must be completed within 90 days. The notice is an early procedural requirement that ordinarily comes before the lawsuit. General Municipal Law § 50-e sets out the statutory requirements, and the NYC Comptroller’s Office provides information about filing claims against the City.

No. A police report documents information about the accident. A Notice of Claim is a separate legal notice required for certain claims against public entities. Reporting the collision to the police, a City agency or an insurance company should not be assumed to satisfy the Notice of Claim requirement.

General Municipal Law § 50-e requires the notice to contain specified information including the claimant’s name and address, the nature of the claim, when and where it arose, how it occurred, and the injuries or damages claimed so far as practicable. Proper service is also part of the statutory requirement.

The City can investigate the claim and may request additional information. It can also demand an examination under General Municipal Law § 50-h, which can require the claimant to answer questions under oath concerning the accident and injuries. The statute also permits a physical examination under specified circumstances. A claimant is entitled to be represented by counsel at the examination.

Do not assume that the claim is automatically over, but do not delay further. General Municipal Law § 50-e contains provisions allowing a court, in appropriate circumstances, to permit service of a late Notice of Claim. Whether that relief is available depends on the facts and the applicable statutory time limits. Missing the initial deadline is therefore something that should be evaluated promptly rather than guessed about.

Under certain circumstances. Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1104 gives an authorized emergency vehicle involved in an emergency operation specified privileges, including proceeding past a red signal after slowing as necessary for safe operation. The statute does not give emergency drivers unlimited freedom to disregard safety and expressly preserves duties concerning the safety of others.

No. The analysis depends on whether the ambulance was operating under circumstances that satisfy the statutory requirements for an authorized emergency vehicle engaged in an emergency operation. We would want to know what the ambulance was doing, whether the statutory conditions were met, what maneuver led to the collision and what warnings were being used.

We would investigate the truck’s movement in the same careful way we would any other government vehicle and also determine what operation it was performing. Some government vehicles actually engaged in work on a highway can fall within the special provisions of Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1103. The applicable driving standard can therefore depend on what the vehicle was doing at the time rather than simply on the fact that it was a sanitation truck.

Government ownership alone does not create a general exemption from New York’s traffic laws. Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1103 generally applies the rules of the road to government-operated vehicles while providing specific exceptions for particular operations. If the vehicle was simply traveling rather than performing an activity covered by an exception, that distinction can be important.

The claim procedure can be different. Claims against New York State are governed by the Court of Claims Act rather than simply following the City’s claim process. Court of Claims Act § 10 contains filing, service and notice-of-intention deadlines that vary according to the type of claim. Identifying the owner of the vehicle early is therefore important.

We would identify the authority before determining the claim procedure. Public authorities are legally distinct entities, and the statutes governing particular authorities can impose their own notice requirements and limitations periods. The correct deadline should be determined from the law applicable to that authority rather than assumed from the rules governing the City of New York.

A government contract does not automatically turn a private vehicle into a City vehicle or make the City responsible for the driver’s negligence. We would examine who owned the vehicle, who employed and supervised the driver, what work was being performed and the relationship between the contractor and the government agency. A private contractor and a public entity can present different liability and procedural issues even when both are connected with the same project.

They may. NYC DCAS requires City agencies to report collisions and incidents involving City vehicles through the City’s fleet collision-reporting system. Depending on the accident and agency, relevant evidence may include collision reports, vehicle information, maintenance records, supervisor evaluations, assignment information or electronic data. The existence of a particular record should be confirmed rather than assumed.

For covered personal-injury actions against the City, General Municipal Law § 50-i generally requires the action to be commenced within one year and 90 days after the event, in addition to satisfying the applicable Notice of Claim requirements. Other public entities can be governed by different statutes, so that deadline should not be applied indiscriminately to every government-vehicle case.

A government defendant does not automatically eliminate the No-Fault issues that ordinarily arise after a covered motor vehicle accident. First-party benefits and any claim for injuries against another party must be evaluated under the applicable insurance law and the facts of the collision. The government-claim procedures are an additional part of the case rather than a substitute for analyzing the motor vehicle insurance issues.

It depends on the allocation of fault and the type of claim. Under the current version of CPLR § 1411, claimant fault generally reduces recoverable damages in proportion to that fault. In a personal-injury action subject to Article 51 of the Insurance Law, however, recovery is barred when the claimant’s culpable conduct is greater than that of the person, or the combined persons, against whom recovery is sought.

Get appropriate medical care and report the collision. If you can do so safely, photograph the government vehicle, including its agency markings, vehicle number and license plate, and preserve witness information, video and any paperwork you receive. Because some government claims require action within 90 days, the identity of the vehicle owner and public entity should be determined promptly rather than waiting for the ordinary limitations period that may apply to a private motor vehicle claim.