legal bar association

let's talk about what happens if you are injuredin a municipal hospital within the 5 boroughs of new york city. by the way, those municipalhospitals are owned and operated by an organization, an entity known as new york city health andhospitals corporation, otherwise known as n-y-c-h-h-c. anybody know how much time youhave to file a notice of claim with that municipality? shout it out, don't be shy. i said, "don'tbe shy." speaker 1: 90 days.gerry oginski: yes sir. you have 90 days in which to file a notice of claim. then youhave only 1 year and 90 days from the date of the wrongdoing in which to file a lawsuit,very, very different. if any of you've been following the news withinthe past couple of weeks, you will know that

there is a big change underway to try andchange that time limit because of something known as a woman named laverne, who died andwas not able to timely file a lawsuit. as of right now, that date has not changed, butit's underway. there's a lot of pressure to change it.let's talk about what happens if a family member dies in a private hospital. how muchtime does the family have in which to file a lawsuit? anybody? the answer is 2 yearsfrom the date of death if the person dies in a private hospital, or as a result of aprivate doctor. let's transition into the municipal hospital.what if they die at jacobi hospital, at bellevue hospital, elmhurst hospital, queen's general,kings county? how much time does the family

have to file a notice of claim? the answeris 90 days. how much time do they have to file a lawsuit? 1 year and 90 days from thedate of death. they do not get the benefit of the 2 years. this is critical to understand.again, we're talking just about an adult. what happens though, you're chatting up someoneat starbucks. you see a woman with a stroller. you see the baby, beautiful baby. you strikeup a conversation. you learn, by talking to this woman, that she had some difficulty atthe time of birth. as a result of this difficult delivery, her child is now left with an injuryto his arm and shoulder. she tells you it's a condition known as erbs palsy, which isa significant nerve injury that inhibits and limits the baby's use of his arm.you're listening to this story. you learn

that this happened at a private hospital herein new york city. as you're talking to her, you're wondering, "okay, it's not an adultit's a baby. so, i know 2 1/2 years doesn't apply." so, how much time does this motherhave in which to file a lawsuit against a private hospital in new york for an injurythat occurred during the time of birth? anyone want to take a guess? any guess would be fine.no guesses, going once, twice. the answer is 10 years. the mother has 10 years fromthe date of birth in which to file a lawsuit on behalf of the baby.let's say you are at a conference and you're talking to a colleague of yours. they tellyou that they just recently gave birth, but you learn from the mother that the baby wasdiagnosed with a condition known as cerebral

palsy. she tells you tragically that thisbaby is brain-impaired, brain- damaged. this child is going to lead a life of disability.she tells you that there were complications during the course of delivery, but this happenedin bellevue hospital. you look at the date on your watch and now you begin thinking howmuch time do they have in which to file suit? anyone want to take a guess? no, no takers?they have 90 days from the date of the wrongdoing in which to file a notice of claim. they have1 year and 90 days in which to file a lawsuit, wildly different.let's take this other hypothetical example. what happens if this mother is telling youthis story and it's beyond the initial 3 month period that they have to file a notice ofclaim? is there some way that this mother

can still file a claim in a timely fashion,let's say 6 months after her baby was born? the answer is yes, but there's an entire processinvolved with asking a court to give permission to file a late claim.if you try and file a lawsuit without getting permission from the court, you will be dismissed.you will have wasted your time, energy, and tremendous amounts of resources prosecutingsomething that never should have been brought. you must always get permission. is it easyto get permission? the answer is maybe yes, maybe no.it's long, it's involved, and it's difficult because here's what has to happen. we haveto get all of the medical records. we then have to have a medical expert review and confirmthat we have a valid basis for a case. we

then have to ask the court for permissionand explain why this mother was late in filing a notice of claim.we also have to identify whether or not the doctors and the staff involved are still likelyemployed at the hospital. does the hospital still maintain the records? if they don't,it's going to be very challenging to try and get the judge to give us permission to goahead and file a late claim. it's a difficult procedure step-by-step has to go through inorder to get permission. once we get permission, again, we still have to file suit within theappropriate time period. just because you get permission to file that late notice ofclaim doesn't mean it's going to extend the time in which you have to file a lawsuit.