The 90-day mistake
In New York, a state-law claim against the City needs a notice of claim within 90 days, and most criminal cases from the same arrest last far longer than that. If you waited, the state claim may be in trouble, but the federal claim under Section 1983 is not governed by that deadline.
The call usually goes like this. "My case was finally dismissed last week. It took fourteen months. Now I want to sue." And the first thing we have to do is count backward from the arrest, because one of the clocks ran out more than a year ago.
Nobody told you. The criminal court does not mention it. It is not printed on any paper you were handed. This post explains the mistake, what it costs, what can sometimes be done about it, and what survives no matter what.
The rule, in three numbers
To bring a state-law claim against the City of New York, or any other municipality in the state, you first serve a notice of claim. It must be served "within ninety days after the claim arises" (N.Y. Gen. Mun. Law § 50-e(1)(a)). For the City, it is filed with the Comptroller, whose own guidance says the same thing: 90 days from the incident.
The lawsuit itself must start within one year and 90 days after the event, and at least 30 days must pass after the notice before you sue (§ 50-i(1)). In between, the City may demand to question you under oath, the 50-h hearing, and if you do not appear the case cannot go forward until you do (§ 50-h).
The notice is not a lawsuit and it is not long. It states who you are, the nature of the claim, when, where and how it arose, and the injuries claimed (§ 50-e(2)). The notice of claim page goes through each part.
Why people miss it
Almost always for one reason: they are waiting for the criminal case.
It feels logical. You were arrested. You have a court date. Your defense lawyer is focused, correctly, on the charge. Suing the police while the District Attorney is still prosecuting you sounds like a bad idea, and in some ways it is. So you wait. The case gets adjourned, and adjourned again. By the time it is dismissed, the 90 days from the arrest are long gone.
The criminal case runs on the court's calendar. The notice of claim runs on the statute's. They do not wait for each other.
The answer is not to ignore your defense lawyer. It is to get the two lawyers talking inside the first month. A person with a pending charge should talk to their defense lawyer before describing the arrest to anyone, and a notice of claim is a description of the arrest, filed with the City. What it says and how much it says is a joint decision. The criminal case and civil case page explains how that coordination works.
What the mistake costs
It costs the state-law claims for the arrest itself: false arrest and the other New York claims for what happened that day. Those claims matter because they name the City directly. Under Section 1983, a city answers only where its own policy or custom caused the violation (Monell v. Dep't of Social Servs., 436 U.S. 658 (1978)). Lose the state claim and you may be left suing individual officers, with qualified immunity as their defense. The state-law claims page lays out what each side of the case adds.
If you already missed it: late notice
There is a safety valve, and it has a lid on it.
Leave to serve a late notice, N.Y. Gen. Mun. Law § 50-e(5)
A court may grant leave to serve a late notice of claim, but only on an application made before the limitation period for the claim has run. For most claims against the City that is one year and 90 days from the event. After that, the court has nothing to extend.
The court looks in particular at whether the City acquired actual knowledge of the essential facts within the 90 days or a reasonable time afterward, and whether the delay substantially prejudiced its defense. A reasonable excuse is among the other factors.
This is a request, not a right. The court may say no, and "I was waiting for my criminal case" is an explanation the court weighs, not one it must accept. If you are past 90 days and inside one year and 90 days, the time to call a lawyer is this week.
New Jersey has a similar structure with different numbers: notice within 90 days, and a late-notice motion within one year on a showing of extraordinary circumstances (N.J.S.A. 59:8-8, 59:8-9). A claim against New York State, rather than a city, goes to the Court of Claims, also within 90 days (N.Y. Court of Claims Act § 10(3)). The deadlines page has every clock in one place.
What survives: the federal claim
Here is the part that the person on that phone call most needs to hear.
State notice-of-claim statutes do not apply to claims under Section 1983. The Supreme Court held that in Felder v. Casey, 487 U.S. 131 (1988). A state cannot put a 90-day gate in front of a federal civil rights claim.
The federal claim borrows the state's general personal injury limitation period (Owens v. Okure, 488 U.S. 235 (1989)). In New York that is three years (N.Y. CPLR 214(5)). In New Jersey it is two years, and in Florida four. For an NYPD search, seizure or use of force, the City's 2021 civil rights law also has a three-year period of its own (N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 8-806). Whether that law requires a notice of claim is a question we do not answer on this site, because the statute is silent and we have found no appellate decision. We serve one within 90 days anyway.
So a missed notice narrows a case. It does not always end one. The only way to know which claims are alive is to put the dates on paper, and the deadline tool does that in your browser without sending anything anywhere.
The notice of claim
What it must say, where it goes, the 50-h hearing, and late notice.
The full rule →The deadline tool
Pick the agency and the date. It counts every clock and stores nothing.
Count the days →Charges dismissed?
The dismissal starts new clocks of its own, including a second 90 days.
Read the post →Common questions
My criminal case is still open. Do I really have to file something against the City now?
For the state-law claim, yes: the 90 days do not wait for the criminal case. But how it is done matters. A person with a pending charge should talk to their defense lawyer before describing the arrest to anyone, and a notice of claim describes the arrest. The civil lawyer and the defense lawyer should decide together what the notice says.
I missed the 90 days. Is my case over?
Not necessarily. A court may grant leave to serve a late notice, but only on an application made before the limitation period for the claim has run, which for most claims against the City is one year and 90 days. And the federal claim under Section 1983 does not require a notice of claim at all (Felder v. Casey). In New York it has a three-year limitation period.
Does the 90 days run from the arrest or from the dismissal?
Both, for different claims. The statute says 90 days after the claim arises. For what happened at the arrest, we count from the arrest. A state malicious prosecution claim arises when the criminal case ends in your favor, so that notice runs from the dismissal. Many people have two notice deadlines from one incident.
Tell us what happened.
One conversation with an attorney, in your language. We tell you which claims the facts support, which deadline runs first for the agency involved, what evidence to preserve this week, and whether a pending criminal case changes the timing. If it is not a case we can take, we say so and tell you where to go.
(718) 484-7510If a criminal charge is still open, talk to your defense lawyer before you describe the arrest to anyone, including us. English, Russian and Spanish in-house; an interpreter for any other language. Contingency fee, confirmed in writing before we begin.