BILL NUMBER: S1243
SPONSOR: KRUEGER
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to statute
of limitations for certain overcharges
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section two hundred twelve of the civil practice law and rules is
amended by adding a new subdivision (f) to read as follows: Overcharge
based on mistake oòr billing error. An action to recover the amount of
an overcharge based upon a mistake or billing error made by an electric,
gas or telephone corporation must be commenced within ten years.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Utility company billing errors caused by faulty wire connections, incor-
rect computer computations, installation mishap or other mistakes often
continue for years without detection. Even when the utility company in
question acknowledges the error and can account for the amount of the
mistake, the liability is for only six years of the overcharge. This
causes an inequitable situation whereby a customer can prove the over-
charge for a longer period of time, but cannot be compensated for his
total loss. This legislation changes the statute of limitations for
these utility company billing errors to ten years thereby providing a
fairer basis to settle these matters.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-22 S1339/A1157 Seawright - died in committee
2019-20 S2730/A7184 Seawright - died in committee
2017-18 S3323/A8220 Seawright - died in committee
2015-16 S3433-A No Same as
2013-14 S5941/A7236 Otis - died in committee
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all causes of
actions occurring on or after such date.

Statutes affected:
S1243: 212 civil practice law