Unspecified claim

Summary

An unspecified claim is a tort claim "where the amount to be awarded is left to the Court to determine."[1]

Examples of unspecified claims are unspecified damages for personal injuries, such as from a motor vehicle accident (MVA) or medical malpractice.[citation needed]

Unspecified claim was previously known in the common law, especially in Britain and Pakistan, as an unliquidated claim.[1][2][3]

In British tax law, an unspecified claim is also any unspecified tax liability.[4]

Under New York civil practice, "stating a specific sum in (a) personal injury complaint" is normally barred.[5]Technically, it is not strictly prohibited, but it prevents adding additional damages to jury instructions.[6] However, under a recent New York Court of Appeals case, stating a specific sum is mandatory in Court of claims practice, so an unspecified claim "can lead to the loss of the claimant's whole case.[7] Federal judge Walter Rivera used this reasoning when ruling in a parallel case in court filing found on nycourts.gov; “The failure to bring a late claim application before the expiration of the relevant statute of limitations would preclude the Court from considering the application because the failure to file a late claim application within the proscribed time period is a jurisdictional defect and the Court is without discretionary power to grant nunc pro tunc relief".

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Her Majesty's Court Service web site". Archived from the original on 10 June 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2008.
  2. ^ Pakistani courts' official web site
  3. ^ Woolf Report, search for "unspecified claim".
  4. ^ Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs web site
  5. ^ David D. Siegel, ed., New York State Law Digest, No. 568, April 2007, at 1.
  6. ^ N.Y. Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR) section 3017 (c).
  7. ^ D. Siegel, ed., New York State Law Digest, No. 568, April 2007, at 1, citing Kolnacki v. State, 8 N.Y.3d 277 (2007), pdf file at [1].

See also edit