PLAYING WITH THIS FIRE DISTRICT GOT THIS VENDOR BURNED …..
After JNS Heating Service sued the Stony Brook Fire District, in Suffolk County Supreme Court, the defendant failed to appear, and a default judgment was issued.
When the Fire District later moved to vacate its default, and sought the case’s dismissal because JNS had failed to timely file a statutorily mandated notice of claim prior to the suit’s commencement, the judge granted the Fire District’s request, and dismissed the case.
On appeal, the Appellate Division, Second Department, noted that Town Law § 180 mandates that a written notice of claim be filed with the “fire district secretary within six months after the cause of action shall have accrued,” or the claim wasn’t maintainable.
Since JNS hadn’t complied with that required “condition precedent,” the AD2 was of the view that the court below had “properly granted” the Fire District’s application and left the dismissal undisturbed.
JNS Heating certainly drew fire there.
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DECISION