Tripped on a City Street, Park Path, or Boardwalk? New York City's Prior Written Notice Rule

On back-to-back days in October 2026, two New York appeals courts decided City fall cases. In one, a man whose foot became stuck in a damaged board on the Riegelmann Boardwalk in Brooklyn got his case back. In the other, a man who tripped on a bump in an asphalt path in a Bronx park lost his. Both cases turned on the same New York City law, the prior written notice rule.

What the Law Says

Under Administrative Code § 7-201(c)(2), "[n]o civil action shall be maintained against the city" for an injury "sustained in consequence of any street, highway, bridge, wharf, culvert, sidewalk or crosswalk" that is "out of repair, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed, unless it appears that written notice of the defective, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed condition, was actually given to the commissioner of transportation" or to a person or department the commissioner has authorized to receive it.

The law recognizes two other kinds of notice: an earlier injury from the same condition, where "written notice thereof was given to a city agency," or "written acknowledgement from the city" of the condition. In each case, the City must then have failed, "within fifteen days after the receipt of such notice," to repair or remove the defect or otherwise make the place reasonably safe. Our post on Big Apple maps explains how trial lawyers once mapped City sidewalks to give the City that written notice, and why old maps can still count.

The Court of Appeals has explained that the City's law imposes liability "only for those defects or hazardous conditions which its officials have been actually notified exist at a specified location" (Katz v City of New York, 87 NY2d 241, 243 [1995]). As the Court of Appeals has put it, these laws reflect "the reality that municipal officials are not aware of every dangerous condition on its streets and public walkways" (Amabile v City of Buffalo, 93 NY2d 471 [1999], quoting an earlier decision).

When the Rule Comes Up

In New York City, with certain exceptions, the abutting owner, meaning the owner of the building or lot that a sidewalk runs in front of, is responsible for that sidewalk (Administrative Code § 7-210). So the prior written notice rule matters when the claim is against the City itself: for example, a pothole in a street or crosswalk, a sidewalk in front of City property or in front of an owner-occupied one-, two-, or three-family home, a park path, or a boardwalk. Our post on falls on wet leaves explains who is responsible for which sidewalks.

Do not confuse prior written notice with a Notice of Claim. Prior written notice is about what the City knew before the fall. A Notice of Claim is the sworn document an injured person must serve after the fall, generally within 90 days (General Municipal Law § 50-e).

The Exceptions

The Court of Appeals has "recognized only two exceptions to the statutory rule requiring prior written notice": "where the locality created the defect or hazard through an affirmative act of negligence" and "where a 'special use' confers a special benefit upon the locality" (Amabile).

The first exception is narrow. In the park path case, the injured man argued that a bad patch job made the path dangerous, but the court held that "[e]ven if the City cold-patched the pathway prior to plaintiff's fall, that fact by itself does not provide a basis for an inference that the repair immediately resulted in a hazardous condition" (Maldonado v City of New York, 2026 NY Slip Op 06201, *1 [1st Dept Oct. 22, 2026]).

"Written acknowledgement" is narrow too. In Maldonado, City photographs labeled "asphalt cracked, uplifted or deteriorated" showed other defects nearby, but they "do not constitute a written acknowledgement of the specific defect that allegedly caused his injury," and "[n]one of the City's photographs and inspection reports documented or referred to a bump or a hole in the subject pathway" (id., *2). The dismissal of his case was affirmed.

The City Has to Prove Its Search

The rule is not automatic. To get a case dismissed on this ground before trial, the City must show, through a proper search of its records, that it did not receive prior written notice.

In the boardwalk case, Young v City of New York (2d Dept Oct. 21, 2026), a Parks Department employee searched the boardwalk records for the two years before the accident. But "the affidavit did not unequivocally assert that the search failed to reveal any prior written notice of the alleged defect on the boardwalk," and "the searched records apparently were not attached to the affidavit and, under the circumstances, the defendants otherwise failed to show that all of the relevant records were searched" (2026 NY Slip Op 06166, *1 to *2). The court reversed the dismissal, and the case goes on.

In Maldonado, by contrast, the City submitted an affirmation from its assistant records officer for the relevant Parks Department records "showing that the City received no written complaints about the condition" (2026 NY Slip Op 06201, *1). Same rule, different proof.

Getting the Records

In our experience, an injured person rarely knows whether anyone complained in writing beforehand, and often must rely on the very party being sued to obtain the records needed to prove the case. That is one reason to have a lawyer request the City's records for the exact location early. New York's Freedom of Information Law requires an agency, "within five business days of the receipt of a written request for a record reasonably described," to make the record available, deny the request in writing, or acknowledge it in writing with an approximate date for a decision (Public Officers Law § 89(3)(a)).

Outside New York City

Villages and towns have their own prior written notice laws, and theirs also cover snow and ice (Village Law § 6-628; Town Law § 65-a(2)). Our post on slips on snow and ice explains more.

What to Do After a Fall on City Property

1. Get medical care, and follow your doctor's advice.
2. If your medical condition allows, photograph the defect from several angles, close up and from a distance, with something in the picture that shows its size, before it is repaired.
3. Write down the exact location: the address, the nearest corner, and any landmark, such as a lamppost or a bench.
4. Write down the names and phone numbers of anyone who saw the fall.
5. Talk to a lawyer early, because of the 90-day Notice of Claim deadline and the records that need to be requested. The lawsuit generally must be started within one year and 90 days (General Municipal Law § 50-i). In some circumstances, your time to act may be even shorter.

Our post on what to do after a fall on public property has more. If you were hurt in a fall on a City street, sidewalk, park path, or boardwalk, contact The Eskesen Law Firm for a free consultation. Calls are answered live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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