At Wade Clark Mulcahy, we often defend cases against public entities. The New Jersey Torts Claims Act requires a claimant to file a notice of claim against a public entity within ninety (90) days of the incident.  The case of Pressley v. Borough of Pine Hill affirms how important it is for defense counsel to request and analyze a copy of any notice of claim filed by a plaintiff to determine whether it meets the requirements of the Torts Claims Act.

In December, 2013, a Borough of Pine Hill vehicle hit Exia Monroe’s car.  At the time, her boyfriend, Gregory Pressley was driving the car. The day after the accident, Monroe contacted the borough, and filled out a notice of claim, listing herself as the claimant.  In the body of the notice, she referenced her boyfriend, but was not listed as a claimant.   Five days after the ninety (90) day deadline, plaintiff sent a second notice solely his behalf, which was rejected by the Borough.

In February, 2015, over one year after the accident, plaintiff filed a motion seeking to file a late notice of Tort Claim. In his motion, plaintiff argued that the Borough had actual notice of the accident, and that the Notice of Claim filed five days late demonstrated substantial compliance with the statute. The Judge denied the motion.

On appeal, the plaintiff again argued that his he substantially complied with the statute by filing his notice five days late.  He also argued, for the first time ever, that the first notice of claim filed by girlfriend was also filed on his behalf.  The Appellate Court upheld the trial court’s decision, finding that 1) the plaintiff’s failure to file a motion for leave to a late notice of claim within one year was fatal to his claim, and 2) plaintiff waived the argument that the first notice of claim filed by Monroe was filed on his behalf, since he failed to raise that point in his original motion papers.

Thanks to Healther Aquino for her contribution to this post.