Question 1

How long do I have to file a §240 construction injury lawsuit in New York?

Accepted Answer

Under CPLR §214(5), the general statute of limitations for personal injury claims in New York is three years from the date of the accident. A §240(1) Scaffold Law claim is a personal injury action, so the three-year period applies. This means you must file a summons and complaint in Supreme Court within three years of the date you were injured, or your claim will be time-barred. The clock starts running on the date of the accident itself, not on the date you hired a lawyer, not on the date your doctor confirmed the injury, and not on the date you first learned you had legal rights.

Question 2

Does the 3-year clock start from the accident date or discovery date?

Accepted Answer

For most §240 construction accident cases, the clock starts on the date of the accident — not the date you discovered the injury or the extent of its seriousness. New York follows the 'accrual' rule under CPLR §214 for personal injury claims: the cause of action accrues when the injury occurs, which is the date of the fall or the falling-object impact. The discovery rule — which delays the start of the limitations period until the plaintiff knew or should have known of the injury — applies in limited circumstances in New York, primarily for toxic exposure cases under CPLR §214-c. For a traumatic accident like a scaffold fall, the accident date is the accrual date.

Question 3

What is the statute of limitations for a construction accident wrongful death claim?

Accepted Answer

Under EPTL §5-4.1, a wrongful death claim in New York must be filed within two years of the date of death — not the date of the accident. If a construction worker was injured in a fall on January 1 and died from those injuries on March 1, the two-year period for the wrongful death claim runs from March 1. Separately, the decedent's estate may also bring a survival claim for the conscious pain and suffering experienced between the accident and death; that claim is governed by the three-year personal injury statute of limitations from the date of the accident. Both claims are typically brought in the same lawsuit by the estate.

Question 4

What is a Notice of Claim and when is it required?

Accepted Answer

A Notice of Claim is a formal written notice that must be served on a government entity before you can file a lawsuit against it. Under General Municipal Law §50-e, when a construction accident occurs on property owned or managed by a municipality, county, or other government entity, you must serve a Notice of Claim within 90 days of the accident. The notice describes the accident, the nature of the claim, and the damages sought. Failure to serve a timely Notice of Claim typically bars the lawsuit entirely. This 90-day deadline is far shorter than the three-year personal injury statute of limitations, and it catches many injured workers off guard.

Question 5

How long do I have to file a Notice of Claim against New York City?

Accepted Answer

Under General Municipal Law §50-e, you have 90 days from the date of the accident to serve a Notice of Claim on New York City. The City Comptroller's Office is the authorized recipient. The notice must include your name and address, the nature of the claim, the time and place where the accident occurred, and a description of the injuries and property damage. After serving the notice, the City has 30 days to demand an oral examination (a 50-h hearing), and you cannot commence a lawsuit until at least 30 days after serving the notice. Given that New York City owns or controls enormous amounts of infrastructure where construction work occurs — bridges, tunnels, public buildings, parks — this deadline is triggered far more often than people expect.

Question 6

What happens if I miss the Notice of Claim deadline for a government claim?

Accepted Answer

Missing the 90-day Notice of Claim deadline does not automatically end your case — you can apply to the court for leave to file a late notice under General Municipal Law §50-e(5). The court considers several factors: whether the government entity had actual knowledge of the essential facts within 90 days or shortly after, whether the delay was excusable (hospitalization, incapacity, infancy), and whether the late filing will substantially prejudice the government's ability to investigate. Courts in New York have granted late notice applications in construction accident cases where the worker was hospitalized and physically unable to act within 90 days. The application must be made within one year and 90 days of the accident, and success is never guaranteed, making prompt legal consultation essential.

Question 7

Can the deadline be extended if I was a minor at the time of the accident?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Under CPLR §208, the statute of limitations is tolled — paused — for the period of a plaintiff's infancy (under age 18). A minor injured in a construction accident does not need to file suit within three years of the accident; the limitations clock does not begin to run until the minor turns 18. At that point, the minor has three years — until age 21 — to bring the claim. However, even for minors, the Notice of Claim requirement for government defendants is not automatically tolled under the same rules, and parents or guardians should act promptly on behalf of an injured minor. An attorney should be retained quickly to preserve evidence, even if the filing deadline is distant.

Question 8

Does the statute toll (pause) if I was mentally incapacitated by my injuries?

Accepted Answer

Under CPLR §208, the statute of limitations is tolled during a period of insanity — defined as an inability to protect one's legal rights due to a mental condition existing at the time the cause of action accrues. For a construction worker rendered comatose or severely mentally impaired by a traumatic brain injury, the toll can apply from the date of the accident until the incapacity is lifted. The incapacity must have been continuous from the date of the accident, not something that developed afterward. Courts scrutinize these claims carefully, and documentary evidence of the incapacity — hospital records, guardianship orders, psychiatric evaluations — is necessary. If incapacity applies to your case, an attorney needs to assess it promptly because the toll ends when the incapacity ends.

Question 9

What if I didn't discover my injury until months after the accident?

Accepted Answer

For traumatic construction accidents — falls, being struck by objects — the injury typically manifests at the time of the accident, and the discovery rule does not delay the limitations period. But there are cases where a worker sustains an impact that seems minor and is not fully evaluated, only to discover weeks or months later that a vertebrae was fractured, that a traumatic brain injury has caused progressive symptoms, or that an internal injury requires surgery. Courts generally do not apply the discovery rule to these cases — the accident date remains the accrual date. The better argument in late-discovered injury cases is that the injury was continuous, or that the worker seeks to toll the statute based on fraudulent concealment if the defendant hid relevant information. These are complex legal arguments that require prompt legal counsel.

Question 10

Can I file late if the construction company hid evidence of liability?

Accepted Answer

Fraudulent concealment can toll the statute of limitations in New York when the defendant's deception prevented the plaintiff from timely commencing a lawsuit. The doctrine requires the plaintiff to show that the defendant made affirmative misrepresentations or actively concealed facts that the plaintiff could not have discovered through reasonable diligence. In construction cases, this might arise when a general contractor destroys accident reports, removes defective equipment from the site, or makes affirmative statements designed to mislead the worker about the cause of the accident. But courts apply the doctrine narrowly — mere silence or failure to investigate, without affirmative concealment, is generally insufficient to toll the period.

Question 11

What is the difference between the filing deadline and when I need to hire a lawyer?

Accepted Answer

The statute of limitations is the deadline by which a lawsuit must be filed in court — it is not the deadline by which you must hire an attorney. But treating those as the same thing is a serious mistake. Preserving evidence — photographs, surveillance footage, accident reports, witness contact information — requires action in the days and weeks after an accident, not the months before a lawsuit needs to be filed. Expert witnesses need time to inspect the site. Medical records need to be gathered and reviewed. Pleadings need to be drafted and served. Most experienced construction accident attorneys want at least six months before the limitations deadline to properly prepare a case; hiring a lawyer three years after a fall, three weeks before the statute runs, creates unnecessary risk and can compromise case quality.

Question 12

If I filed workers' comp, does that toll the §240 statute of limitations?

Accepted Answer

Filing a workers' compensation claim does not toll the statute of limitations on your §240 civil lawsuit. The two proceedings are legally independent, governed by different statutes and different procedural rules. Workers' comp is an administrative proceeding before the Workers' Compensation Board; a §240 lawsuit is a civil action in New York Supreme Court. Filing one does not pause the clock on the other. Some workers mistakenly believe that pursuing comp gives them extra time to evaluate the civil case — it does not. The three-year period under CPLR §214 continues to run from the date of the accident regardless of what is happening in the comp proceeding.

Question 13

What is the statute of limitations for a crane accident vs. a scaffold fall?

Accepted Answer

The statute of limitations is the same — three years under CPLR §214(5) — regardless of whether the accident involved a crane, a scaffold, a ladder, a hoist, or any other construction equipment or elevation hazard. The nature of the accident does not change the limitations period. What changes is the potential for Notice of Claim requirements (if the accident occurred on government property), the specific Industrial Code sections that may be violated, and the expert witnesses needed to establish liability. A crane accident on a New York City Department of Transportation project would trigger both the §240 three-year period and the 90-day Notice of Claim requirement under General Municipal Law §50-e.

Question 14

How close to the deadline is too close — when should I contact an attorney?

Accepted Answer

Immediately after the accident is the right answer. But if you have not yet contacted an attorney, you should do so the moment you understand you may have a legal claim — regardless of when the accident happened. Attorneys who handle §240 cases regularly receive calls from workers whose accidents happened two and a half years ago. While cases can be filed close to the deadline, the quality of the case suffers. Surveillance footage is overwritten within weeks. Accident reports disappear. Witnesses move and lose contact information. The accident scene changes. Defective equipment is repaired or replaced. Every day that passes before an attorney gets involved is a day that evidence is potentially lost. Do not wait.

Question 15

What happens to my case if the statute of limitations expires before I file?

Accepted Answer

If the statute of limitations expires without a lawsuit being filed, your claim is permanently time-barred — with narrow exceptions for infancy, insanity, fraudulent concealment, or the relation-back doctrine in limited circumstances. The defendant will move to dismiss on timeliness grounds, and courts routinely grant those motions without allowing the case to proceed on the merits. This is a harsh outcome for an otherwise valid claim. The only way to prevent it is to file suit before the deadline or, in the case of government defendants, to serve a timely Notice of Claim. If you are approaching a deadline and have not filed, contact an attorney immediately — an experienced construction accident lawyer can often file a complaint and preserve the case in a matter of days.

Construction Accident Filing Deadlines in New York: 15 Questions Answered

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