After a 50-h hearing in New York, you sign the transcript, sit for a municipality-ordered physical exam if your claim involves injuries, and wait for the city, town, or county to settle or deny. If no resolution comes, or you receive a denial, you have to file a lawsuit within one year and ninety days of the original incident under General Municipal Law §50-i. That deadline runs from the date of the injury, not the date of the hearing, which is why what happens after a 50-h hearing has to move on a clock you set yourself.
Reviewing and Signing the Transcript
A court reporter transcribes everything said at the hearing, and GML §50-h requires the municipality to send that transcript to you for review.{1New York State Senate. New York General Municipal Law GMU 50-H – Examination of Claims} This becomes the official record of your testimony, so read every line.
Transcription mistakes are common, from misspelled medical terms to answers paired with the wrong question. Corrections go on an errata sheet, a separate page listing each change by page and line number. Fixing typos is routine. Changing a substantive answer is not: the municipality’s attorneys will see it, and it can undercut your credibility or trigger a demand for a second examination.
Once the transcript is accurate or your corrections are documented, sign it and return it. If you don’t, the municipality can argue that the pre-litigation examination requirement isn’t complete, which creates problems if you later need to sue.
The Municipality’s Physical Examination
If your claim involves bodily injury, GML §50-h gives the municipality the right to require a physical examination by a physician of its choosing, at the municipality’s expense.{1New York State Senate. New York General Municipal Law GMU 50-H – Examination of Claims} The doctor reviews your medical records, examines you, and writes a report covering your current condition, prognosis, and any permanent limitations. That report becomes central to how the municipality values your claim.
The statute gives you some protections. You can bring your own personal physician to the exam, along with a relative or another person of your choice.{1New York State Senate. New York General Municipal Law GMU 50-H – Examination of Claims} If the exam is scheduled outside the municipality, you have ten days to demand that it be moved to a location inside the municipality’s boundaries.
Skipping the exam is risky. The municipality can argue you failed to comply with the statutory requirements, which could bar you from filing suit. Attend, bring your doctor if you can, and cooperate.
Settlement, Denial, or Silence
With the transcript and any medical report in hand, the municipality’s legal department or comptroller’s office reviews the file. Attorneys and adjusters weigh the evidence, estimate your damages across medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering, and decide whether settling makes more sense than defending a lawsuit.
If the evidence favors you, a written settlement offer may follow. Offers often come in below what a court might award, but they bring certainty and avoid years of litigation.
If the municipality thinks it isn’t responsible, or believes your injuries are overstated, it issues a formal written denial. That denial pushes the decision back to you: accept the outcome or sue.
Expect this phase to take months. Municipal claims move through layers of review, and no statutory deadline forces a quick answer. Many claimants hear nothing for weeks or months after finishing the hearing and the exam.
If the Municipality Missed Its Own Window
GML §50-h cuts the other way too. If the examination is not conducted within ninety days after the municipality serves its demand, you can commence your lawsuit without completing the hearing.{1New York State Senate. New York General Municipal Law GMU 50-H – Examination of Claims} The municipality effectively waives its right to examine you by waiting too long.
Some law departments are overwhelmed and slow to schedule. If ninety days have passed since the demand with no hearing on the calendar, your obligation to appear falls away. Track those dates carefully; miscounting and filing too early can get the case dismissed.
Filing a Lawsuit Under GML §50-i
If the municipality denies the claim, goes silent, or offers something you can’t accept, the next step is filing a summons and complaint in New York Supreme Court.
The One-Year-and-Ninety-Day Deadline
GML §50-i requires the lawsuit to be commenced within one year and ninety days of the event that caused the injury.{2New York State Senate. New York General Municipal Law GMU 50-I – Presentation of Tort Claims; Commencement of Actions} Not from the denial. Not from the hearing. From the incident itself. That is shorter than the usual three-year window for personal injury suits against private parties in New York, and it catches people off guard.
Missing it almost always means losing the right to sue. Courts extend this deadline only in extraordinary circumstances. Count backward from the incident date and remember that the hearing and settlement talks can eat months of the window.
What the Complaint Must Allege
Under GML §50-i, the complaint must allege that at least thirty days have passed since the Notice of Claim was served and that the municipality has neglected or refused to make an adjustment or payment.{2New York State Senate. New York General Municipal Law GMU 50-I – Presentation of Tort Claims; Commencement of Actions} It should also confirm compliance with the 50-h hearing and any physical examination. Leaving these allegations out invites a motion to dismiss.
Filing Fees
Obtaining an index number in New York Supreme Court costs $210.{3N.Y. State Courts. Filing Fees – N.Y. State Courts} A Request for Judicial Intervention runs $95 when the case needs court attention, with additional fees for motions, the note of issue, and a jury demand as the case moves forward.{4NYCOURTS.GOV. Supreme Court Forms and Filing Fees} Budget for process service costs as well.
After the Complaint Is Served
Once the summons and complaint are filed and served on the municipality, formal litigation begins. Under CPLR §320, the municipality generally has thirty days to appear after service on an authorized government official.{5New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law R320 – Defendants Appearance} The answer is due within twenty days after service of the complaint.{6New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law 3012 – Service of Pleadings and Demand for Complaint} The administrative Notice of Claim procedures fall away, and the standard rules of civil practice take over.
Taxes on a Settlement or Judgment
If the case ends in a payout, the tax treatment depends on what the money compensates. Under IRC §104(a)(2), damages received on account of personal physical injuries or physical sickness are excluded from federal gross income, whether paid as a lump sum or in installments.{7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 104 – Compensation for Injuries or Sickness} That exclusion covers compensatory damages like medical expenses and lost wages tied to a physical injury claim.
Punitive damages are taxable as ordinary income regardless of the underlying claim.{8Internal Revenue Service. Tax Implications of Settlements and Judgments} Emotional distress damages are also taxable unless they flow directly from a physical injury. If the settlement agreement doesn’t clearly allocate the payment among categories, the IRS may treat the whole amount as taxable, so push for specific allocation language in the agreement.
Interest earned on a settlement between judgment and payment is taxable even when the underlying damages are not. In a case that takes years to resolve with a meaningful interest component, plan for the tax bill.