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The 50-h Hearing Is Sworn Testimony Taken Before You Can Sue
A 50-h hearing is a sworn examination that the City, NYCHA, a public hospital, or another public body can demand after you file a notice of claim and before you are allowed to sue.
It comes from General Municipal Law § 50-h, and the questions cover how the injury happened and how badly you were hurt.
A lawyer for the public body asks the questions, every answer is taken down, and the transcript can be read at trial.
If you do not appear, a court can dismiss the lawsuit before it begins.
You have the right to have your lawyer with you, and you are entitled to a copy of the transcript.
The hearing never extends your deadline to sue, which stays at one year and 90 days for most claims.
If a 50-h notice has arrived, call (888) 713-6653 and read us the date before it passes. The review is free.
- The City, school districts, NYCHA, and NYC Health + Hospitals can demand one under General Municipal Law § 50-h
- The demand must come within 90 days of filing the notice of claim, and if the hearing isn't held within 90 days of the demand, you can usually sue without it
- Missing a properly demanded hearing can get the lawsuit dismissed
- You can bring your lawyer and get a copy of the transcript, which either side can read at trial
- Nothing in the 50-h process extends the one-year-and-90-day deadline to sue
Which New York Public Bodies Can Demand a 50-h Examination
Cities, counties, towns, villages, fire districts, and school districts have the right directly under § 50-h, so a claim against the City of New York or a public school brings it with it.[1] In New York City, the Comptroller's office has contracted outside law firms to conduct the City's 50-h hearings, and its own guidance tells claimants to comply with the hearing demand before filing suit.
Two other city bodies borrow the statute word for word. NYCHA's law lets it require an examination under § 50-h with all of that section's rules attached,[2] and NYC Health + Hospitals, which runs Bellevue, Elmhurst, Kings County, Jacobi, and the other public hospitals, has the same power under its own act.[3] Our pages on injury claims against NYCHA and on malpractice at a New York City public hospital cover the rest of those claims.
New York City Transit and the MTA are different. Neither law adopts § 50-h, but each gives the agency its own power to have a claimant answer questions under oath about the claim. The Appellate Division's Second Department, which hears appeals from Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island among other counties, held in 2025 that complying with the Transit Authority's examination is required before suing it, while an older First Department decision points the other way.[4] Our page on subway and bus injury claims covers the transit side.
Treat any demand for sworn questioning from a public body as mandatory until a lawyer has read it, because skipping one that turns out to be required can end the case.
The 90-Day Rules That Control When the Hearing Happens
The statute runs on two 90-day windows, and neither one moves the deadline to sue.
| Rule | What It Means for You | Source |
|---|---|---|
| The demand | The public body has to serve its written demand within 90 days of the date your notice of claim was filed, or it is not effective against you. | GML § 50-h(2) |
| The notice | The demand must give reasonable notice and name the examiner, the time, the place, the subject, and whether a physical examination is required. | GML § 50-h(2) |
| The place | If the hearing is set outside the municipality you are suing, you can demand within 10 days that it be moved inside it. | GML § 50-h(2) |
| The hearing window | If the hearing is not held within 90 days of the demand, you can file suit without it, unless you missed the date or asked to postpone past those 90 days. | GML § 50-h(5) |
| Your postponement | If you ask to postpone past the 90 days, the public body has to reschedule for the earliest date available, and you cannot sue until the hearing happens. | GML § 50-h(5) |
| The lawsuit | Suit is due within one year and 90 days of the injury, and nothing in the 50-h process extends it. | GML § 50-i |
A postponement you request costs time against the one-year-and-90-day clock, which keeps running while the hearing is rescheduled.[5] The notice of claim itself, and what it has to say, is covered on our page about the sworn notice that starts a claim against a public body.
What the Examiner Can Ask, and Where the Transcript Goes
The statute limits the examination to how the injury happened and how serious it is, and courts describe it as the public body's early investigation of the claim. The questions are oral and under oath, and every question and answer is recorded unless both sides agree to a summary.
- A physical examination. The demand can require you to see a doctor the public body chooses, and for that exam you may bring your own doctor and a relative or another person.
- Who sits in the room. Your lawyer is guaranteed a seat for the questioning. Others, including a family member who is also making a claim, can be kept out if the public body objects.
- The transcript. You or your lawyer get a copy on request, and it is not open to the public without a court order.
- Its later use. Either side can read the transcript at trial or on a motion, and if the injured person later dies, it can be read in the wrongful death case.
- A deposition still comes later. The 50-h is separate from discovery, so once a lawsuit is filed the defense can question you again under the CPLR.
Refusing to answer on a lawyer's instruction has been treated as failing to comply, so objections at a 50-h hearing have to be handled with care.[6]
Every answer becomes a document the defense can hold up against your later testimony, so matching what you swore to in the notice of claim matters more than answering fast.
Nobody should walk into a room with a court reporter and a City lawyer without knowing what the questions will be. We sit down with clients before the hearing and go through the day the way the examiner will.
What Happens If You Miss a 50-h Hearing in New York
In Colon v. Martin, the Court of Appeals called compliance with a 50-h demand a condition precedent to suing, and a claimant who does not comply generally has the lawsuit dismissed.[7]
- A child must be produced. When parents sue for an injured child, refusing to bring the child to the examination has been treated as non-compliance.[8]
- A pending criminal case. A claimant who properly declines to answer because of a criminal case still has to reschedule the examination once that case ends.
- Serious illness or incapacity. Courts have excused attendance for extreme physical or psychological incapacity, but only on real medical documentation. Uncorroborated excuses for cancelled hearings have led to dismissal.
- A hearing nobody reset. When the hearing is postponed indefinitely past 90 days and the public body never reschedules it, a missed appearance does not justify dismissal, the Second Department held in September 2026 in a NYCHA case.[9] A claimant who caused the delays, though, carries the burden of getting it back on the calendar.
A missed date has to be fixed while the one-year-and-90-day clock is still running, because the hearing never stops that clock.
Preparing for the 50-h With the Notice of Claim in Hand
The notice of claim you already filed was sworn, and it named the place, the time, and the injuries. The examination covers the same ground, so it is the first thing to reread.
Say what you know, and label what you are estimating. Distances, timing, and lighting described loosely now can be quoted back to you years later.
Leave room for the medicine that is not finished. If a diagnosis is still pending or a doctor has ordered more tests, say so rather than guessing at what they will find.
Expect questions about earlier injuries. Prior problems with the same part of the body go to the extent of the injury, which is squarely within what the statute allows.
Know whether a physical exam is part of the demand. The demand has to say so, and you can bring your own doctor and a relative to that part.
That preparation is held to the standard of testimony at trial, and the deadlines in a public claim go on the calendar in the first conversation.