General Municipal Law §50-e directs a party seeking to bring suit against a public corporation to serve a notice of claim upon the entity within 90 days after the claim arises. Unfortunately, there are occasions where, for a variety of reasons, it is not timely served. General Municipal Law §50-e(5) grants the motion court the discretion to extend the time to serve a notice of claim. Such an application must be made prior to the expiration of the statute of limitations to commence the action. The very recent decision of the Court of Appeals in Newcomb v. Middle Country Central School, 2016 N.Y. Slip. Op. 08581 (December 2016) will have a profound impact on these applications.
The statute provides in pertinent part as follows:
