Palmer v. City of New York

Full title: WINSTON PALMER, Appellant, v. CITY OF NEW YORK, Respondent

Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department

Date published: Apr 4, 1996

226 A.D.2d 149 (N.Y. App. Div. 1996)

640 N.Y.S.2d 92

Opinion

April 4, 1996

Appeal from the Supreme Court, Bronx County (Douglas E. McKeon, J.).

Petitioner's claims for false arrest and false imprisonment accrued when he was released from custody ( Matter of Ragland v New York City Hous. Auth., 201 A.D.2d 7, 9) at the end of February 1994, some two weeks after his arrest. Thus, the instant application, which was made in the middle of December 1994, was some six and one-half months late ( see, General Municipal Law § 50-e [a]).

We agree with the IAS Court that petitioner's brief incarceration and claimed "preoccupation" with a related forfeiture action that terminated at the end of May 1994 are not acceptable excuses for this delay. No explanation was offered why petitioner, who had retained counsel for purposes of forfeiture proceedings, waited until November 1994 to retain an attorney to represent him in this matter, and then delayed another month before making the instant application by show cause order ( Matter of McAllister v. County of Nassau, 202 A.D.2d 670).

Concur — Milonas, J.P., Ellerin, Wallach, Nardelli and Mazzarelli, JJ.