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This entry was published on 2020-10-16
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SECTION 619
Civil actions against employees of the corporation
Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law (PML) CHAPTER 47-A, ARTICLE 6
§ 619. Civil actions against employees of the corporation. 1. As used
in this section the following terms shall mean and include:

a. "Corporation counsel." The corporation counsel of the city.

b. "Employee." Any officer, director or employee of the corporation, a
former officer, director or employee of the corporation, his or her
estate or judicially appointed personal representative. The term
employee shall not include an independent contractor.

2. At the request of the employee and upon compliance by the employee
with the provisions of subdivision four of this section, the corporation
shall provide for the defense of an employee in any civil action or
proceeding in any state or federal court including actions under
sections nineteen hundred eighty-one through nineteen hundred
eighty-eight of title forty-two of the United States code arising out of
any alleged act or omission which the corporation counsel finds occurred
while the employee was acting within the scope of his employment and in
the discharge of his duties and was not in violation of any rule or
regulation of the corporation at the time the alleged act or omission
occurred. This duty to provide for a defense shall not arise where such
civil action or proceeding is brought by or on behalf of the
corporation, the city or state or any agency of either.

3. The corporation shall indemnify and save harmless its employees in
the amount of any judgment obtained against such employees in any state
or federal court, or in the amount of any settlement of a claim approved
by the corporation counsel and the comptroller, provided that the act or
omission from which such judgment or settlement arose occurred while the
employee was acting within the scope of his employment and in the
discharge of his duties and was not in violation of any rule or
regulation of the corporation at the time the alleged damages were
sustained, the duty to indemnify and save harmless prescribed by this
subdivision shall not arise where the injury or damage resulted from
intentional wrongdoing or recklessness on the part of the employee. Any
judgment or settlement pursuant to this section shall be a cost of the
corporation's functions and shall be payable from the moneys of the
corporation.

4. The duty to defend or indemnify and save harmless prescribed by
this section shall be conditioned upon:

a. delivery to the corporation counsel at the office of the law
department of the city by the employee of the original or a copy of any
summons, complaint, process, notice, demand or pleading within ten days
after he or she is served with such document, and

b. the full cooperation of the employee in the defense of such action
or proceeding and in defense of any action or proceeding against the
corporation based upon the same act or omission, and in the prosecution
of any appeal. Such delivery shall be deemed a request by the employee
that the corporation provide for his or her defense pursuant to this
section. In the event that the corporation counsel shall assume an
employee's defense and thereafter the employee fails to or refuses to
cooperate in the formation or presentation of his or her defense, the
court shall permit the corporation counsel to withdraw his or her
representation ten days after giving written notice to the employee of
his or her intention to discontinue such representation.

5. In the event that the act or omission upon which the court
proceeding against the employee is based was or is also the basis of a
disciplinary proceeding by the corporation against the employee,
representation and indemnification pursuant to this section may be
withheld:

a. until such disciplinary proceeding has been resolved, and

b. unless the resolution of the disciplinary proceeding exonerated the
employee as to such act or omission.

6. Every action or proceeding instituted against an employee,
including an action brought to enforce a provision of sections nineteen
hundred eighty-one through nineteen hundred eighty-eight of title
forty-two of the United States code, shall be commenced pursuant to the
provisions of section six hundred eighteen of this chapter and within
one year and ninety days. No action or proceeding instituted against an
employee other than one instituted pursuant to sections nineteen hundred
eighty-one through nineteen hundred eighty-eight of title forty-two of
the United States code shall be prosecuted or maintained against the
corporation or an employee unless notice of claim shall have been made
and served upon the corporation in compliance with section six hundred
eighteen of this chapter and within ninety days after the claim arises.

7. The provisions of this section shall not be construed to impair,
alter, limit or modify the rights and obligations of any insurer under
any policy of insurance.

8. The provisions of this section shall apply to all actions and
proceedings pending upon the effective date thereof or thereafter
instituted, except that the provisions of subdivision six of this
section shall apply only to actions and proceedings instituted on or
after the effective date of this section.

9. The provisions of this section shall not be construed in any way to
impair, alter, limit, modify, or abrogate or restrict any immunity
available to or conferred upon the corporation or any employee, or any
right to defense indemnification provided in accordance with, or by
reason of, any other law.

10. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of this section, the
provisions of this section shall not apply to any civil action or
proceeding commenced after the effective date of this subdivision.
Further, the corporation counsel may continue representation in any
action or proceeding brought by or against such corporation prior to
such effective date. The corporation counsel and the corporation shall
be empowered to agree to the transfer of the defense or prosecution of
any such action or proceeding to such other counsel as shall be agreed
upon.