Recovery in New York
New York puts no dollar cap on damages against a city, a county or the State in a police abuse case. The limits are procedural: a notice of claim within 90 days for the state-law claims, one year and 90 days to sue on them, three years for the federal claim. The City of New York has its own civil rights law with no qualified immunity defense, and it indemnifies its officers by statute. This page sets out what can be recovered, what comes off the top, and every public New York figure in our ledger, each one another person's case.
A New York case is usually three claims filed together: the federal claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the officers, the state-law torts (assault, battery, false arrest, malicious prosecution) against the officers and their employer, and, where the officers are NYPD, a claim under the City's own civil rights law. None of the three is capped. Each has its own clock, and the shortest is 90 days.
The figures further down are public records of what other people's New York cases paid. They show range. They do not show what your case is worth, and the what a case is worth page explains why nothing on this site does.
The federal claim in New York
The federal claim pays compensatory damages for a proved injury (Carey v. Piphus, 435 U.S. 247 (1978)), nominal damages where a violation is proved and a loss is not (Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski, 592 U.S. 279 (2021)), punitive damages against an individual officer whose conduct showed evil motive or reckless or callous indifference to federal rights (Smith v. Wade, 461 U.S. 30 (1983)), and a reasonable attorney's fee to the prevailing party (42 U.S.C. § 1988(b)). The City itself never pays punitive damages under Section 1983 (City of Newport v. Fact Concerts, 453 U.S. 247 (1981)).
New York plaintiffs have one rule the other three states' plaintiffs do not have in the same words. In Kerman v. City of New York, 374 F.3d 93 (2d Cir. 2004), the Second Circuit held that loss of liberty is separately compensable, independent of physical or emotional harm, and that a jury that finds no probable cause should award compensatory damages, not merely nominal ones. Hours in a cell are an injury even when nothing else happened.
The state-law claims: no cap, a short notice
The state-law claims reach the employer directly for what its officer did, with no need to prove a policy. The condition is General Municipal Law § 50-e: a notice of claim served within 90 days after the claim arises, and for the City of New York that means filed with the Comptroller. Suit follows within one year and 90 days of the event, at least 30 days after the notice (§ 50-i(1)). A wrongful death claim runs two years from the death. A court may allow a late notice, but only if asked before the limitation period has run (§ 50-e(5)). The notice of claim page has the contents and the hearing that follows.
Against the State of New York (the State Police, state prisons) the state-law claim goes to the Court of Claims: the claim, or a notice of intention to file one, within 90 days of accrual (Court of Claims Act § 10(3), (3-b)). The State is not a "person" under Section 1983 (Will v. Michigan Dep't of State Police, 491 U.S. 58 (1989)), so the federal claim runs against the individual troopers or corrections officers only.
What New York limits is interest, not damages. Interest on a judgment against a municipal corporation "shall not exceed nine per centum per annum," and 6 percent on a wrongful death judgment (Gen. Mun. Law § 3-a).
The City's own civil rights law
Local Law 48 of 2021 created a City-law right against unreasonable search and seizure and excessive force by NYPD employees, enforceable against the officer and the employer (N.Y.C. Admin. Code §§ 8-802, 8-803). Qualified immunity is not a defense (§ 8-804). The remedy is in § 8-805: compensatory damages, with punitive damages in the court's discretion, or at the plaintiff's election $1,000, plus attorney's fees and costs. The $1,000 is a statutory election, not a cap and not a measure of any case. The limitation period is three years (§ 8-806). The City law page has the rest, including the notice question we do not answer.
Who pays: General Municipal Law § 50-k
The City "shall indemnify and save harmless" its employees for judgments and approved settlements arising from acts within the scope of their employment. The statute then says when the duty does not arise: where the injury resulted from intentional wrongdoing or recklessness on the employee's part (Gen. Mun. Law § 50-k(3)). That is the text. It draws its line at the employee's conduct, not at a category of damages, and we describe it no further than its words. What the City pays each year is public, and the totals are below. The who pays page compares the four states.
What comes off a City settlement
The City offsets settlements for public assistance and Medicaid reimbursement, child support arrears and parking judgments. The Comptroller's Annual Claims Report for fiscal 2023 counts $7.5 million collected that way in the year: $4.6 million in Medicare and Medicaid liens, $1.4 million in child support and $942,897 in parking judgments. Those are Comptroller collections from other people's settlements, reported as public statistics. The liens, taxes and fees page covers the fee, the liens and the tax rules.
The City's totals
Two public sources count what New York City pays. They count different things.
Lawsuits. The Legal Aid Society's analysis of Law Department data, released March 2, 2026, counts payouts in NYPD misconduct lawsuits by year of disposition: 1,044 lawsuits and $117,251,230.82 in 2025; 980 and $206,472,256.53 in 2024; 811 and $115,852,780.64 in 2023. From 2019 to 2025 the total was 6,766 lawsuits and $796,213,846.51. Those figures are payouts by the City in other people's lawsuits and exclude claims the Comptroller settled before suit.
Claims. The Comptroller's fiscal 2023 report counts 6,891 tort claims filed against the NYPD and 2,821 resolved for $266.7 million in payouts, 36 percent of the City's tort payout cost and the highest of any agency. Thirteen reversed-conviction matters accounted for $81.3 million of those payouts. For fiscal 2019 to 2023 the Comptroller's average personal injury police action claim settled before litigation was $17,609, and the average resolved in litigation was $68,702. Those are averages, not medians. In fiscal 2025 police action claims were the City's most common tort claim, 6,082 filed, with over $113 million in settlements as of September 16, 2025 (NYC Comptroller, September 2025). The by the numbers page has the year-by-year table.
New York figures from public records
Each entry names the amount, what kind of payment it was, who paid, when, and where the record is. Two are jury verdicts, and a verdict is not money paid until the post-trial motions and any appeal are over.
Estate of Eric Garner
A chokehold death during an arrest on Staten Island in 2014. The Comptroller settled the claim before a lawsuit was filed, with no admission of liability.
Source: NYC Comptroller. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
Family of Kalief Browder
Held about three years at Rikers Island from age 16, about two of them in solitary confinement, on a charge that was dropped. He died by suicide in 2015.
Source: Prison Legal News. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
The Central Park Five
Five wrongful convictions in a 1989 case, vacated in 2002.
Source: Innocence Project. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
Sow v. City of New York, the 2020 protest class
Arrests and force at the 2020 racial justice protests. About 1,300 people were eligible. The City admitted nothing.
Source: Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
Family of Layleen Polanco
A transgender woman with epilepsy died in a Rikers restrictive housing cell in June 2019 after going unmonitored.
Source: NBC News. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
Grottano v. City of New York
Invasive strip searches of people visiting City jails, 2012 to 2019.
Source: Prison Legal News. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
Eric Smokes and David Warren
Wrongful convictions for a 1987 Times Square killing, vacated in 2024. The two settlements were reported as $13 million and about $11.1 million.
Source: ABC7 New York. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
A stun gun injury
The lawsuit alleged a Taser strike to the eye.
Source: ABC7 New York. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
Brigid Pierce
A traumatic brain injury at a Brooklyn protest. A federal jury found the City liable for assault and battery.
Source: The Legal Aid Society. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
Castaneda v. County of Suffolk
A class of 674 people held past their release dates on ICE detainers. The verdict was reported as $75 million on the Fourth Amendment claim and $37 million on the due process claim. We have not confirmed the post-trial motions or any appeal, so this is a verdict, not money paid.
Source: Prison Legal News. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
Onadia v. City of New York
More than 20,000 people held in City jails past their release on ICE detainers, 1997 to 2012. We have not confirmed final approval.
Source: ecbawm.com, class counsel. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
These are other people's cases. What a case is worth depends on the injury, the evidence and the defenses, and the what a case is worth page goes through the factors. The public settlements page has all four states.
The New York clocks
| Claim | Notice | Suit due | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section 1983 | None (Felder v. Casey) | 3 years from accrual | CPLR 214(5); Owens v. Okure, 488 U.S. 235 (1989) |
| State torts against the City or another municipality | 90 days | 1 year and 90 days; wrongful death 2 years from death | Gen. Mun. Law §§ 50-e, 50-i |
| State torts against the State | Claim or notice of intention within 90 days | Set by the Court of Claims Act | Court of Claims Act § 10(3), (3-b) |
| City civil rights law (NYPD) | Not expressly required; we serve one anyway | 3 years | N.Y.C. Admin. Code §§ 8-803, 8-806 |
If a criminal charge from the same incident is pending, talk to your defense lawyer before describing the arrest to anyone. The 90 days run anyway; the criminal case and civil case page explains how the two cases fit together. The New York deadlines page has the full rules.
Recovery, all four states
The federal claim against the state claims, and the comparison table for New York, New Jersey, Florida and Pennsylvania.
Recovery →Who pays
Indemnification under § 50-k and its counterparts, punitive damages, and why the City pays.
Who pays →New York deadlines
The City, other municipalities, the State, the Court of Claims, the City's 2021 law and wrongful death.
New York clocks →Common questions
Is there a cap on police misconduct damages in New York?
No statute in our ledger caps damages against a New York municipality or the State in these cases. What New York limits is interest: on a judgment against a municipal corporation it may not exceed 9 percent a year, and 6 percent on a wrongful death judgment, under General Municipal Law 3-a. The real limit is the 90-day notice of claim for the state-law claims.
How much does New York City pay in police misconduct cases?
The Legal Aid Society's analysis of Law Department data, released March 2, 2026, counts 1,044 NYPD misconduct lawsuits paid out in 2025 for $117,251,230.82, and 6,766 lawsuits for $796,213,846.51 from 2019 to 2025. Those are payouts in lawsuits and exclude pre-litigation Comptroller settlements. They are public statistics about other people's cases, not a prediction.
What is the $1,000 under the City's civil rights law?
Under N.Y.C. Administrative Code 8-805 a plaintiff suing over an unreasonable search or seizure or excessive force by an NYPD employee may recover compensatory damages, with punitive damages in the court's discretion, or may elect $1,000 instead, plus attorney's fees and costs either way. The $1,000 is a statutory election for a case where the violation is clear and the provable loss is small. It is not a cap.
Will the City take money out of my settlement?
It can. The Comptroller offsets settlements for public assistance and Medicaid reimbursement, child support arrears and parking judgments. The Comptroller's fiscal 2023 report counts $7.5 million collected that way in the year. Those are City collections from other people's settlements. The liens, taxes and fees page explains each deduction.
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.