This page summarizes and comments on a published court decision. It is general information, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case depends on its own facts. Unless this page says otherwise, The Eskesen Law Firm did not represent any party in this case.
Bottom line
In New York, an injured person generally has three years to sue, and that time can run out if the lawsuit names the wrong party and the right one is not brought in before the deadline. Here, the First Department affirmed the dismissal of the claim against the companies that owned the property where the plaintiff alleged he was hurt, because he did not seek to add them until almost four years after the accident.
The case
- Court
- Appellate Division, First Department
- Decided
- October 15, 2026
- Case
- Gonzalez v Country Manor Apts.
- Citation
- 2026 NY Slip Op 06002
- Official text
- Read the decision on the New York courts’ official reporter site
The facts
The plaintiff alleged that he was injured on November 3, 2020, at a property in Webster, New York. The property’s owners, two companies, sold it in December 2021. In March 2022 he sued “Country Manor Apartments,” and in April 2022 papers were served on that name at the property. After his motion for a default judgment against Country Manor Apartments was denied in June 2023, he sought in September 2024 to add the owners, who were served in March 2025. The Supreme Court, Bronx County, dismissed the claim against the owners as untimely and denied him more time to serve them. He appealed.
The holding
The First Department unanimously affirmed. The owners showed “that plaintiff’s time to sue them expired before he sought to join them as parties, as plaintiff alleges that the accident occurred on November 3, 2020, but sought to join them only in September 2024, well after expiration of the three-year limitations period” (2026 NY Slip Op 06002, *1). The court found no evidence that the original complaint gave the owners notice of the claim, that the person served for Country Manor Apartments was authorized to accept service for the owners, or that the owners knew about his application for workers’ compensation benefits (id.). There was no good cause for more time, because he did not use “reasonably diligent efforts” to serve the owners, “or even to determine which entity or entities owned the premises at the time of the accident” (id. at *2). The court also agreed with the trial court that his lack of diligence was dispositive against an extension in the interest of justice (id.).
What changed
Nothing new: this applies settled law, including the Court of Appeals’ decision in Leader v Maroney, Ponzini & Spencer (97 NY2d 95).
What it means
- In New York, a lawsuit to recover damages for a personal injury generally must be commenced within three years (CPLR 214[5]). Claims against cities and other public bodies have much shorter deadlines (see our entry on Kopitova v NYCTA).
- The deadline is met only as to the parties actually brought into the case in time. The name a property goes by may not be the name of its owner, and the owner on the day of the accident may not be the owner today.
- Papers generally must be served within 120 days after the action is commenced, though a court may extend that time “upon good cause shown or in the interest of justice” (CPLR 306-b). Here, the court found neither.
Our view
Commentary by Frank N. Eskesen. This section is opinion.
We note that this plaintiff did sue within three years, but he sued a name, not the companies that owned the property, and by the time papers were served there, the owners had sold it. In our experience, apartment complexes often use managing agents, and stores often do business under one name, while a company with a different name owns the property. Two lessons. 1. After an injury on someone else’s property, get legal advice promptly, so there is time to find out who owned it on the day of the accident, because the true owner may not be who you think it is. 2. For lawyers, check the deed and the Department of State records early, and if service may be defective, ask for more time promptly. A deadline met against the wrong party may not be met at all.
Topics
Court: First Department. Year: 2026. Statutes: CPLR 214(5); CPLR 203(f); CPLR 306-b; CPLR 3211(a)(5). Result: affirmed.
Reviewed by Frank N. Eskesen, admitted in New York since 2000. Decided October 15, 2026. Posted October 15, 2026.
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