NY Claimant Fails to Show That Claim Filing Was Delayed by Hurricane Sandy

An employee’s inability to file a timely notice of claim based on his alleged inability to meet with counsel because of the onslaught and aftermath of Hurricane Sandy was an inadequate excuse where time sheets revealed that he had regularly attended work at a nearby Bronx railway yard during the relevant time and he did not dispute that he had traveled in and around the city by car [see Gonzalez v. City of New York, 2015 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3444 (Apr. 28, 2015)]. Moreover, the employee did not allege that he had been prevented from using alternative methods of public transportation to reach the attorney’s office.

The employee alleged he sustained injury in a fall from the flat bed of a railroad car in the Bronx on August 14, 2012. Hurricane Sandy struck on October 29, 2012. It was conceded that the time to file a timely notice of claim expired on November 12, 2012, and that the employee’s proceeding seeking leave to serve a late notice was not commenced until January 9, 2013. The employee’s affidavit that he could not get gasoline for a vehicle was belied by strong evidence that he indeed had—and utilized on a number of occasions—a means of transportation at an appropriate time to prepare his claim.