Opinion
April 11, 1988
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Kings County (Rader, J.).
Ordered that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, and as a matter of discretion, without costs or disbursements, and that branch of the application which was for leave to serve a late notice with respect to Tristan Baird's claim is denied.
Contrary to the finding of the Supreme Court, Kings County, Tristan Baird has failed to adequately explain the approximate five-year delay in seeking leave to serve a late notice of his claim upon the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York. The record indicates that with reasonable diligence the petitioner's counsel could have readily ascertained that the college campus where the accident occurred was owned by the appellant (see, Goudie v. County of Putnam, 95 A.D.2d 823; Fox v. City of New York, 91 A.D.2d 624; Matter of Morris v. County of Suffolk, 88 A.D.2d 956, affd 58 N.Y.2d 767; Marku v. City of New York, 86 A.D.2d 601). Nor has Tristan Baird shown that the appellant had actual or constructive knowledge of the essential facts constituting his claim (see, Braverman v. City of White Plains, 115 A.D.2d 689; Matter of Morris v. County of Suffolk, supra). "Were we to find the delay here excusable, precious little of section 50-e Gen. Mun. of the General Municipal Law would survive in this department" (Matter of Morris v. County of Suffolk, supra, at 957; see also, Matter of Katz v. Rockville Centre Union Free School Dist., 131 A.D.2d 574). Mollen, P.J., Thompson, Lawrence and Weinstein, JJ., concur.