Injured on the Staten Island Ferry or at St. George Terminal: How to File a Claim Against the City

The Staten Island Ferry is free, it runs around the clock, and for many Staten Islanders it is simply the way to get to work. That familiarity makes it easy to forget that the boats, the gangways and both terminals are government property. When someone is hurt on a wet deck, a crowded ramp or a terminal escalator, the claim runs against the City of New York, and the City plays by its own set of rules.

Those rules are strict and unforgiving. A missed 90-day deadline can end a valid case before anyone looks at the facts. And because the ferry is a vessel on navigable water, federal maritime law can enter the picture in ways that do not apply to a fall on a sidewalk. This guide explains how a ferry or terminal injury claim works, step by step, so you can protect your rights from the first week.

Quick Answer

To claim against the City for an injury on the Staten Island Ferry or at the St. George or Whitehall terminals, you must serve a sworn notice of claim within 90 days of the accident under General Municipal Law 50-e. The City may then examine you under oath at a 50-h hearing. If the claim is not resolved, you generally must file the lawsuit within one year and 90 days of the accident. Injuries aboard the boat can also raise federal maritime law issues, so the shortest deadline should always drive your planning.

Key Takeaways

• NYC DOT operates the Staten Island Ferry, so a ferry or terminal injury claim is a claim against the City of New York.
• A sworn notice of claim must be served on the City within 90 days of the accident.
• The City can demand a 50-h examination, and you cannot sue until you comply.
• The lawsuit deadline is generally one year and 90 days from the accident, or two years for a wrongful death claim.
• Injuries on the water can fall under federal admiralty law, and the City can ask a federal court to cap its liability at the value of the vessel.

Who Operates the Ferry and Why It Changes Your Claim

According to NYC DOT’s own ferry page, “NYC DOT operates the Staten Island Ferry,” providing free service between Staten Island and Lower Manhattan every day of the year. The department’s ferry facts note that the City has run the ferry since 1905, that the 5.2-mile trip connects the St. George Terminal on Staten Island with the Whitehall Terminal in Lower Manhattan, and that the ferry carries more than 16 million passengers a year.

That ownership matters more than any other single fact in your case. A fall in a privately owned store or office lobby is a private negligence claim with a three-year filing window. A fall on the ferry or in its terminals is a claim against a municipality, and New York’s General Municipal Law adds three requirements that private defendants never get:

• A sworn notice of claim within 90 days
• The City’s right to question you under oath before you sue
• A shortened deadline of one year and 90 days to file the lawsuit

Not every injury at St. George is a City claim

St. George is a transportation hub, not just a ferry terminal. MTA buses serve the terminal, and the Staten Island Railway runs between St. George and Tottenville, with train times coordinated to meet the boats. If you fell on a railway staircase or boarding a bus, the responsible agency may be part of the MTA rather than NYC DOT, with its own notice rules. Our article on falls on MTA transit property covers those claims. Getting the defendant right at the start matters, because a notice of claim served on the wrong agency does not protect you against the right one.

The 90-Day Notice of Claim Under General Municipal Law 50-e

Under General Municipal Law 50-e, a notice of claim against a public corporation must be served “within ninety days after the claim arises.” For a ferry injury, the claim arises on the day you were hurt. The clock does not wait for you to finish medical treatment, find a lawyer or learn how serious the injury is.

The statute spells out what the notice must contain. It must be in writing and sworn to by or on behalf of the claimant, and it must set forth:

1. The name and post office address of each claimant and of the claimant’s attorney, if any
2. The nature of the claim
3. The time when, the place where and the manner in which the claim arose
4. The items of damage or injuries claimed

The “place where” requirement deserves special care in ferry cases. A notice that says only “on the Staten Island Ferry” invites a later argument that the City could not investigate. A strong notice identifies the trip (direction and approximate departure time), the boat if known, the deck and location on board, or the exact spot in the terminal, such as a particular escalator, ramp or waiting room entrance.

Where and how to file

Claims against the City are filed with the Comptroller, not with NYC DOT. The Comptroller’s claims office states that personal injury notices of claim must be properly served within 90 days from the date of occurrence, and it accepts them through its eClaim system, by personal delivery, or by registered or certified mail.

What if 90 days have already passed?

Section 50-e(5) allows a court, in its discretion, to permit a late notice. The court considers whether the City acquired actual knowledge of the essential facts within the 90 days or shortly after, whether the claimant was an infant or incapacitated, and other circumstances. A late notice application is never guaranteed, and it cannot be granted after the time to sue has run. If you are close to or past the 90th day, talk to a lawyer immediately.

Common Ferry and Terminal Injuries: Wet Decks, Gangways, Ramps and Escalators

Ferry injuries tend to follow the rhythm of the trip. Most happen while people are boarding, moving between decks, or crowding toward the exit as the boat approaches the slip. The hazards we see most often include:

• Wet decks and stairs. Rain and spray blow onto outdoor decks, and riders track water onto interior stairs and floors. Without mats, drainage or prompt mopping, painted steel and tile become slick.
• Gangways and boarding ramps. The transition between the terminal and the boat involves moving equipment, slopes and seams. Uneven joints, gaps and worn surfaces cause trips, especially in a rushing crowd.
• Terminal escalators and elevators. NYC DOT reports that both terminals are equipped with escalators and elevators. Sudden stops, speed changes, missing comb teeth and crowd surges at the top or bottom can throw riders off balance.
• Crowd crush at departure doors. Riders often bunch at the doors before they open. Poor crowd management can cause falls and crush injuries.
• Hard dockings and allisions. A boat that strikes the slip or a pier can throw standing passengers into rails, benches and each other.
• Broken seats, rails and fixtures. Loose benches, damaged handrails and failing doors are maintenance issues the operator is expected to find and fix.

The injuries that follow

These accidents produce wrist and hip fractures, knee and ankle injuries, herniated discs, concussions, and in serious collisions, catastrophic and fatal injuries. Many of the same proof problems arise as in other public property falls, which we discuss in our guide to suing the City over a sidewalk crack. The core question is always whether the operator knew or should have known about the hazard and failed to correct it in a reasonable time.

Does Federal Maritime Law Apply to a Ferry Injury?

Sometimes, and it can change the case. Under 28 U.S.C. 1333, federal district courts have original jurisdiction over “any civil case of admiralty or maritime jurisdiction, saving to suitors in all cases all other remedies to which they are otherwise entitled.” That saving clause is why many maritime injury claims are still litigated in state court.

Whether a particular injury is maritime depends on a two-part test the U.S. Supreme Court described in Jerome B. Grubart, Inc. v. Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. (1995). The tort must satisfy a location test (it happened on navigable water, or a vessel on navigable water caused an injury on land) and a connection test (the incident could disrupt maritime commerce and the activity bears a substantial relationship to traditional maritime activity). An injury on board a moving ferry in New York Harbor will often meet both. A slip in the terminal waiting room generally will not, and New York law governs it.

The standard of care on board

Maritime law does not use New York’s categories of trespasser, licensee and invitee. In Kermarec v. Compagnie Generale Transatlantique (1959), the Supreme Court held that the owner of a ship in navigable waters owes those lawfully aboard the duty of exercising reasonable care under the circumstances of each case. For a ferry passenger, that means the question is whether the City acted reasonably in operating and maintaining the boat.

The Limitation of Liability Act and the Barberi crash

Federal law allows a vessel owner to limit its liability to “the value of the vessel and pending freight” for losses incurred without the owner’s privity or knowledge (46 U.S.C. 30523). The owner must bring a limitation action in federal court within six months after a claimant gives written notice of a claim, and once the owner files and deposits the required fund, other claims and proceedings against it stop and move into that federal case (46 U.S.C. 30529).

The City has used this law. On October 15, 2003, the ferry Andrew J. Barberi crashed into a maintenance pier near the St. George terminal, killing ten passengers instantly and fatally injuring another. The City argued its liability should be limited to the vessel’s assessed value of $14.4 million. In a February 26, 2007 decision of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Chief Judge Edward Korman found that the City’s director of ferry operations was negligent for failing to enforce a rule requiring two pilots in the pilothouse, and he denied the City’s request to limit its liability.

The lesson for an injured rider is practical. In a serious onboard incident, expect the case may move to federal court and that the City may contest liability on maritime grounds. We plan for both tracks from the start, much as we do in cruise ship injury claims, where maritime rules also control.

Evidence to Request Before It Disappears: Incident Reports and Video

The City controls most of the evidence in a ferry case: the boat, the terminal, the staff, the logs and the cameras. Much of it can be overwritten, repaired or forgotten while you are still recovering. These are the records we move to secure:

• The incident or accident report prepared by ferry or terminal staff
• Video footage from terminal and onboard cameras, if it exists
• Maintenance and inspection records for the escalator, ramp, deck area or fixture involved
• Prior complaints about the same condition
• Vessel logs and docking records if the boat struck the slip or another structure
• Names of crew members and witnesses who saw the accident or the condition

FOIL requests and preservation letters

New York’s Freedom of Information Law gives the public a right to request agency records. Under Public Officers Law 89, an agency must respond to a written request within five business days, by granting or denying it or acknowledging it with an approximate date. NYC DOT’s FOIL page asks that requests be submitted through the City’s OpenRecords portal and lists a mailing address for its Records Access Officer.

FOIL is useful, but it is not a substitute for a preservation demand. A FOIL response can take weeks, while camera systems may record over footage on a much shorter cycle. A written demand to preserve evidence, sent promptly, puts the City on notice that destroying footage or records could have consequences in the litigation. Our article on preservation letters in personal injury cases explains how they work.

Federal marine casualty reports

Federal regulations require a vessel’s owner or operator to notify the Coast Guard of a marine casualty that includes an injury requiring professional medical treatment beyond first aid (46 CFR 4.05-1), and to file a written report on Form CG-2692 within five days (46 CFR 4.05-10). In a serious onboard incident, that report can be an important independent record of what happened.

Deadlines to Sue the City After the Notice of Claim

Serving the notice of claim does not start a lawsuit. It opens a short window in which the City can investigate, examine you, and decide whether to settle. Here is how the timeline works.

The 50-h hearing

Under General Municipal Law 50-h, the City may demand that you appear for a sworn oral examination about the accident and your injuries, and it may also require a physical examination by a physician. If the City fails to hold the examination within 90 days of its demand, you may commence the action. But no action may be commenced until you have complied with a proper demand. Treat the 50-h hearing like a deposition: your answers are under oath and will be used later.

The one year and 90 day deadline

General Municipal Law 50-i requires the lawsuit to be commenced within one year and 90 days after the event. Federal maritime law has a separate three-year limit for maritime personal injury claims (46 U.S.C. 30106), but a case against the City should never be planned around the longer number. We serve the notice of claim within 90 days and file within one year and 90 days in every ferry case.

Where the case is filed

Under CPLR 504(3), an action against the City is venued in the county within the city where the cause of action arose. An injury at St. George is ordinarily filed in Richmond County. An injury at Whitehall is ordinarily filed in New York County. An onboard injury that becomes maritime may be litigated in federal court, particularly if the City starts a limitation proceeding. Our Staten Island personal injury lawyers handle claims in each of these settings.

Example Scenarios

A slip on wet stairs inside St. George

A commuter slips on a puddle on an interior staircase on a rainy evening and fractures her wrist. This is a land-based premises claim against the City under New York law. She must serve a notice of claim within 90 days that pinpoints the staircase, and the key evidence is the cleaning schedule, any prior complaints and terminal video. New York’s comparative fault rule in CPLR 1411 means that even if the City argues she was hurrying, her own conduct reduces her recovery in proportion but does not bar it.

A hard docking that throws passengers forward

A boat strikes the slip harder than normal, and a standing passenger is thrown into a rail and suffers a shoulder injury. This incident happened on navigable water and involves vessel operation, so maritime law may apply. The notice of claim still goes in within 90 days. Because many passengers may be hurt in the same event, the City could file a limitation action, and the case may proceed in federal court.

A fall on a railway staircase at St. George

A rider transferring from the ferry to the train falls on a broken step on the railway side of the hub. The defendant may be an MTA entity rather than NYC DOT, so the notice and deadline rules must be checked against the correct agency before anything is filed.

A trip on a ramp at Whitehall

A Staten Island resident catches his foot on a raised seam on the Whitehall boarding ramp in Manhattan. He lives on Staten Island, but the claim arose in Manhattan, so a lawsuit against the City would ordinarily be filed in New York County.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I sue if I was hurt on the ferry but it was free?

Yes. The free fare does not change the duty of care. The City still must operate and maintain the boats and terminals with reasonable care.

Do I file the claim with the ferry or with the Comptroller?

Tort notices of claim against the City are filed with the Comptroller. Reporting the accident to ferry staff is important for the record, but it is not a notice of claim.

What if I was a tourist and have already left New York?

The same deadlines apply. A notice of claim can be prepared and served by your lawyer, and much of the process can be handled remotely, though the City may still demand a 50-h examination.

Can I get compensation for pain and suffering?

Yes. A successful claim can include medical expenses, lost earnings, and pain and suffering, reduced by any share of fault assigned to you under CPLR 1411.

Is there a different rule for someone who works on the ferry?

Yes. Crew members and other workers raise employment and maritime worker issues that are outside the scope of this article. A worker should get advice specific to that situation.

Getting Help After a Staten Island Ferry Injury

A ferry claim combines two demanding systems: New York’s notice of claim rules for suing the City, and federal maritime law for incidents on the water. The deadlines are short and the evidence belongs to the defendant, so the first weeks matter most.

Mark E. Seitelman Law Offices has represented injured New Yorkers for more than 30 years, and our founder spent six years at an insurance defense firm before representing injured people. We offer a free consultation, and we work on a contingency fee, so you owe no legal fee unless we recover money for you. If you or a family member were hurt on the Staten Island Ferry or at one of its terminals, reach out to our team and we will review your timeline and your options with you.