Opinion
January 10, 1995
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Bronx County (Barry Salman, J.).
Unlike Frazier v. Liberty Lines Tr. ( 170 A.D.2d 304), where the plaintiffs failed to return no-fault claim forms forwarded to them by defendant, a self-insurer, in the instant case the accident report filed by the bus driver and sent to Liberty Lines' general counsel, which included all the pertinent information regarding the accident, and the no-fault application signed by plaintiff and received by defendants within 90 days of the accident, coupled with the fact that Liberty Lines' general counsel is regularly engaged in representing Westchester County in actions arising out of accidents occurring on buses operated by Liberty Lines, constituted in the aggregate a sufficient notice of claim within the meaning of General Municipal Law § 50-e (see, Losada v. Liberty Lines Tr., 155 A.D.2d 337). The attempt by the general counsel to distinguish this case from Losada (supra), on the ground that in Losada he personally handled the claim while here he first became personally aware of plaintiff's claim almost six months after the accident when defendants were served with the summons and complaint in this action, is unpersuasive. The purpose of the notice of claim requirement of section 50-e is not to present a trap to the unwary; its purpose is to protect public corporations from spurious claims.
Concur — Ellerin, J.P., Kupferman, Williams and Tom, JJ.