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Estate of Karen A. Adkins v. County of Nassau

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jun 13, 1988
141 A.D.2d 603 (N.Y. App. Div. 1988)

Opinion

June 13, 1988

Appeal from the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Roncallo, J.).


Ordered that the order is reversed, on the law, with costs, and the motion is denied.

The instant action, commenced against the defendant County of Nassau, was based on the allegation that the county's medical examiner had wrongfully performed an autopsy on the decedent Karen Adkins. In granting the defendant's motion to dismiss the complaint as time barred, the Supreme Court was of the view that a medical examiner and a coroner are "one and the same" and that the one year Statute of Limitations provided for in CPLR 215 (1) governed the instant action. That statute provides in relevant part, as follows:

"The following actions shall be commenced within one year:

"1. an action against a * * * coroner * * * upon a liability incurred by him by doing an act in his official capacity".

We disagree with the holding of the Supreme Court. Indeed, the issue of whether the offices of medical examiner and a coroner are one and the same is irrelevant for the disposition of this appeal. The action here was brought against the County of Nassau, and not the medical examiner. Accordingly, the applicable period of limitations is one year and 90 days as provided in General Municipal Law § 50-i. That period of limitations, which is expressly applicable to the county, takes precedence over the one-year period of limitations provided for in CPLR 215 (see, Szerlip v Finnegan, 77 Misc.2d 655, affd 47 A.D.2d 603; see also, Tharps v City of New York, 59 N.Y.2d 1023, revg 92 A.D.2d 892). To the extent that Lederer v Nassau County Dept. of Corrections ( 122 A.D.2d 251) holds to the contrary, it is overruled. Mangano, J.P., Bracken, Eiber and Spatt, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

Estate of Karen A. Adkins v. County of Nassau

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jun 13, 1988
141 A.D.2d 603 (N.Y. App. Div. 1988)
Case details for

Estate of Karen A. Adkins v. County of Nassau

Case Details

Full title:ESTATE OF KAREN A. ADKINS, Deceased, et al., Appellants, v. COUNTY OF…

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

Date published: Jun 13, 1988

Citations

141 A.D.2d 603 (N.Y. App. Div. 1988)

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