New York
In New York the deadline depends on who employed the officers. Against the City of New York and every other city, county, town or village, a state-law claim needs a notice of claim within 90 days and suit within one year and 90 days. Against the State, the claim goes to the Court of Claims within 90 days. The federal claim under Section 1983 against the officers themselves needs no notice and has three years. This page goes through each defendant, the City's own 2021 civil rights law, wrongful death, and the shorter clocks that run beside the lawsuit.
Most police abuse cases in New York have three defendants in view: the officers, the municipality that employs them, and sometimes the State. Each has its own clock, and the shortest one, the 90-day notice of claim, is the one most people find out about too late. The rule on this page is the same as on the deadlines page: serve the notice within 90 days for every claim, to every agency that might have employed the officers, then decide the rest with the footage in hand.
The City of New York: NYPD and the Department of Correction
A state-law claim against the City for what its officers did (assault, battery, false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, negligence) is governed by the General Municipal Law. The notice of claim must be served "within ninety days after the claim arises" (N.Y. Gen. Mun. Law § 50-e(1)(a)). At least 30 days must pass after service before suit, and the action must be commenced "within one year and ninety days after the happening of the event" (§ 50-i(1)). For the City of New York the notice is filed with the Comptroller, and the Comptroller's own guidance states the two rules the same way: notices within 90 days of the incident, lawsuits within one year and 90 days.
The City's three numbers
90 days from the incident to serve the notice of claim on the Comptroller. 30 days after service before suit may be filed. One year and 90 days from the event to file suit (N.Y. Gen. Mun. Law §§ 50-e(1)(a), 50-i(1)). The 90 days run from the arrest for a false arrest or force claim and from the favorable termination for a malicious prosecution claim.
After the notice is served the City may demand a 50-h examination, sworn testimony about the claim, within 90 days of the notice; if the claimant does not appear the action cannot proceed until the examination is held, and if the City does not hold it within 90 days of the demand the claimant may sue (§ 50-h). The notice of claim page goes through what the notice must say, where it goes, and what a court can do when it is late under § 50-e(5).
Wrongful death
When the person died, two things change. The 90 days to serve the notice of claim run from the appointment of the estate's representative, not from the death, and the suit must be brought within two years of the death (§§ 50-e(1)(a), 50-i(1)). Under the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law the personal representative brings the wrongful death action within two years of the death (N.Y. EPTL § 5-4.1), and the injured person's own claim for what happened before death survives (EPTL § 11-3.2(b)). Survival of the federal claim is governed by state law through 42 U.S.C. § 1988(a) unless that law is inconsistent with federal law (Robertson v. Wegmann, 436 U.S. 584 (1978)).
Interest on a judgment against the City
Interest on a judgment against a municipal corporation "shall not exceed nine per centum per annum," and the rate is six percent for wrongful death judgments (N.Y. Gen. Mun. Law § 3-a). Those are statutory interest rates on judgments, not a prediction about any case.
Other cities, counties, towns and villages
The same statute governs a claim against Nassau County, Suffolk County, Yonkers, Buffalo, a village police department or a county jail. The notice of claim is due within 90 days (§ 50-e(1)(a)), suit within one year and 90 days (§ 50-i(1)), and the municipality may demand a 50-h examination (§ 50-h). The difference is where the notice goes. Service is by personal delivery or registered or certified mail on the officer the law designates to receive it for that public corporation (§ 50-e(3)), and that officer varies from one municipality to the next. A notice served on the police department, the precinct or the wrong clerk is not served. This is a question to answer for the specific agency before the 90 days run, not after.
When the agency is not obvious
An arrest on a highway, at a college, on transit or near a county line may involve officers from more than one employer, and a jail may be run by a county while the arrest was made by a city. Where it is not clear who employed the officers, we serve a notice on every candidate within the 90 days. It costs nothing to serve and nothing to abandon. A court can grant leave to serve a late notice only if asked before the limitation period runs, generally one year and 90 days, and only in its discretion (§ 50-e(5)).
The State of New York: State Police and DOCCS
A tort claim against the State itself, for what a state trooper or a corrections officer in a state prison did, is not brought in Supreme Court and does not use the General Municipal Law. It is brought in the Court of Claims. The claim, or a notice of intention to file a claim, must be filed and served within 90 days of accrual (N.Y. Court of Claims Act § 10(3), (3-b)). A timely notice of intention extends the time to file the claim itself: two years for negligence and one year for intentional torts. Late-claim relief may be sought under § 10(6), but only within the period the CPLR would allow for a like claim against a private person.
The federal claim is different against the State in a way it is not against a city. A State and its agencies are not "persons" who can be sued under Section 1983, and a state official sued in an official capacity for damages is the State (Will v. Michigan Dep't of State Police, 491 U.S. 58 (1989)). The same officials may be sued in their personal capacity. So the Section 1983 claim in a State Police or DOCCS case runs against the individual troopers or officers personally, with the three-year period below, and the claim against the State as employer is the Court of Claims claim. There is no Monell route against the State.
| Defendant | Pre-suit step | State-law suit | Federal claim | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of New York (NYPD, Department of Correction) | Notice of claim to the Comptroller, 90 days | 1 year and 90 days; wrongful death 2 years from death | 3 years | Gen. Mun. Law §§ 50-e, 50-i; CPLR 214(5) |
| Another city, county, town or village | Notice of claim to the designated officer, 90 days | 1 year and 90 days | 3 years | Gen. Mun. Law §§ 50-e, 50-i; CPLR 214(5) |
| State of New York (State Police, DOCCS) | Claim or notice of intention in the Court of Claims, 90 days | Set by the Court of Claims Act; a notice of intention extends it | 3 years, against the officers personally only | Court of Claims Act § 10(3), (3-b), (6); Will v. Michigan |
| NYPD employee and the City under the 2021 city law | Not expressly required by the statute; we serve a notice anyway | 3 years | same claim | N.Y.C. Admin. Code §§ 8-803, 8-806 |
The federal claim: three years, no notice
A Section 1983 claim has no limitation period of its own. It borrows the state's general or residual personal injury period, and the Supreme Court held that in New York that is the three-year period of CPLR 214(5), not the one-year period for intentional torts (Owens v. Okure, 488 U.S. 235 (1989)). A state notice-of-claim requirement cannot be applied to the federal claim (Felder v. Casey, 487 U.S. 131 (1988)). So the federal claim against the officers is alive for three years from accrual whether or not a notice was ever served. What is lost without the notice is the direct state-law claim against the City, which the federal claim reaches only through Monell.
Three years from what is the harder question. A false arrest claim accrues when the detention without legal process ends, usually at arraignment (Wallace v. Kato, 549 U.S. 384 (2007)). A malicious prosecution or fabricated-evidence claim accrues when the criminal case ends without a conviction (McDonough v. Smith, 588 U.S. 109 (2019)). An excessive force claim accrues at the incident. The deadlines page has the accrual table, and the tool counts every clock from the incident date and says so.
The City's 2021 civil rights law
Local Law 48 of 2021 added a chapter to the Administrative Code that creates a civil right of security against unreasonable search and seizure and against excessive force, enforceable against an NYPD employee or special patrolman and against the City as employer (N.Y.C. Admin. Code §§ 8-801 to 8-803). Qualified immunity "is not a defense to liability" (§ 8-804). The limitation period is three years, "notwithstanding section 50-k of the general municipal law or any other provision of law" (§ 8-806), and exhaustion of administrative remedies is not required (§ 8-803). The statute is silent on whether a § 50-e notice of claim is needed, we have found no appellate decision answering it, and we do not publish a guess. We serve the notice within 90 days anyway. The city law page has the rest.
The other New York clocks
Several shorter or separate clocks run beside the lawsuit. None of them extends the notice of claim.
The CCRB and NYPD discipline: 18 months
NYPD administrative discipline must be commenced within 18 months of the incident (N.Y. Civ. Serv. Law § 75(4)). The Civilian Complaint Review Board treats a complaint filed more than one year after the incident, or after the 18 months, as late and investigable at the Chair's discretion, and advises filing as soon as possible (38-A RCNY § 1-15; CCRB). The CCRB investigates and recommends discipline; it does not award damages or file lawsuits. Whether and when to file a CCRB complaint is a decision to make with counsel, because the complaint is a statement about the incident. If a criminal charge is pending, talk to your defense lawyer before describing the arrest to anyone, including the CCRB; the criminal case and civil case page explains why. The CCRB page covers the process.
Recording the police: three years
Since July 14, 2020, a person not under arrest has the right to record law enforcement activity and keep the recording; officers may not prevent it, threaten, order it stopped, or arrest for it. The statute gives a civil action for damages, including punitive damages and fees, with a three-year limit (N.Y. Civ. Rights Law § 79-p).
Disciplinary records and the business card
Civil Rights Law § 50-a, which shielded police disciplinary records, was repealed by legislation signed June 12, 2020 (Ch. 96, L. 2020), and those records are now subject to the Freedom of Information Law with personal-information redactions. Under the Right to Know Act, effective October 19, 2018, an NYPD officer who stops you must identify themselves by name, rank, command and shield number and give you a business card that tells you how to file a complaint and where to request body-camera footage (Local Law 54 of 2018); a consent search requires the officer to tell you that you may refuse (Local Law 56 of 2018). The evidence page explains what to request in the first week.
The 90-day notice of claim
What goes in it, where it goes, the 50-h examination, and what a court can do when it is late.
Notice of claim →The City's 2021 law
A three-year claim against an NYPD employee and the City with no qualified immunity defense.
City law →The CCRB and a lawsuit
What a CCRB complaint does, what it does not do, and how to sequence it around an open charge.
CCRB →Common questions
The officers were NYPD. Which clock applies to me?
Three at once. A state-law claim against the City needs a notice of claim served on the Comptroller within 90 days of the incident and a lawsuit within one year and 90 days. The federal claim against the officers has three years from accrual. The claim under the City's 2021 civil rights law has three years. The 90 days is the one that runs out first, and it runs while the criminal case is open.
The officers were State Police or DOCCS. Is it the same?
No. A state-law claim against the State of New York goes to the Court of Claims, and the claim or a notice of intention to file one must be filed and served within 90 days. The State itself cannot be sued under Section 1983, so the federal claim is against the individual troopers or officers in their personal capacity, with three years.
Someone died. What changes?
For a wrongful death claim against the City, the 90 days to serve the notice of claim run from the appointment of the estate's representative, not from the death, and the suit must be brought within two years of the death. Under the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law the personal representative brings the wrongful death action within two years, and the injured person's own claim survives the death.
Can I still file a CCRB complaint a year later?
You can file, but the CCRB treats a complaint filed more than a year after the incident as late, and NYPD discipline must be commenced within 18 months of the incident. The CCRB advises filing as soon as possible. A CCRB complaint is separate from a lawsuit and does not extend any deadline. If a criminal charge is pending, coordinate the complaint with your defense lawyer first.
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.