Under New York State law, most Buffalo personal injury lawsuits must be brought within three years of the injury. There are, however, exceptions to that rule.
For many years, there was no provision under New York State law for the types of injuries, such as certain cancers, that may take years to develop following exposure to dangerous chemicals. The date of the injury was considered to be when the individual was exposed to the chemical, and if the resulting illness was not discovered within three years of exposure, the injured person could not pursue damages. Given that certain illnesses may take more than three years to appear, this was grossly unfair to the injured individuals.
Because of this unfairness, New York State’s law was changed in 1986. Now, when an injury is caused by direct or indirect exposure to a substance by absorption, contact, ingestion, inhalation, implantation or injection, the three year period within which an action must be commenced to recover damages for injury caused by the latent effects of such exposure is computed from the date of discovery of the injury by the plaintiff, or from the date when through the exercise of reasonable diligence the injury should have been discovered, whichever is earlier.
If you have suffered an injury as a result of exposure to dangerous chemicals and have any questions, please feel free to call my office at 716-542-5444.
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