Document for In The Matter Of The Claim Of Hilda Altagracia Guzman v. The City Of New York

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                                FILED: QUEENS COUNTY CLERK 11/14/2023 02:18 PM         INDEX NO. 719177/2023
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 38                               RECEIVED NYSCEF: 11/14/2023




                     Exhibit D
FILED: QUEENS COUNTY CLERK 11/14/2023 02:18 PM                                                     INDEX NO. 719177/2023
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 38                                                                       RECEIVED NYSCEF: 11/14/2023




          SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
          COUNTY OF QUEENS
          -------------------------------------------------------------X          Index No. 719177/2023
          In the Matter of the Claim of

          HILDA ALTAGRACIA GUZMAN,
                                                                                  AFFIRMATION OF
                                                    Petitioner,                   ARNOLD BAUM

                  -against-

          THE CITY OFNEWYORK,
                                                    Respondents.
          --------------------------------------------------------------------X

          STATE OFNEWYORK  )
                           ) ss.:
          COUNTY OFNEWYORK )

                  ARNOLD BAUM, being duly sworn, deposes and says:

                  1.      I am the Chief Operating Officer of Subin Associates, LLP ("Subin"). I am
          responsible for, among other things, overseeing pre-litigation activities of the firm.
                  2.      Our established process for handling new cases follows the following steps:
                       a) Intake and signup are conducted.
                       b) Intake documents are scanned to case file.
                       c) A third-party legal services firm enters the data from the intake documents
                          into the case file.
                       d) A member of our Investigations Team is assigned to work on the case file.
                          That person's responsibility, among other things, is to identify potential
                          defendants and confirm that the case type in the file is correct.
                       e) The case management software system we employ automatically creates the
                          statutes of limitations and other critical deadlines (such as Notice of Claim
                          filing date) based on the case type and incident date.
                       f) If a case involves the City of New York, one of its agencies, or another
                          municipal entity, the case type is to be set as Municipal. The case
                          management software then notifies the Managing Attorney of the Notice of
                          Claim filing deadline.

                  3.      In this instance, it appears that neither the third-party legal services firm nor the
          Investigations Team member assigned to review the case designated the case as Municipal. It was
          not so designated until April 14, 2023, the day after Robert J. Eisen, the firm's Managing Attorney,

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FILED: QUEENS COUNTY CLERK 11/14/2023 02:18 PM                                                                                                                                 INDEX NO. 719177/2023
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 38                                                                                                                                                  RECEIVED NYSCEF: 11/14/2023




          was     alerted      to    the     possibility              that   the   premises        in     front           of   which          the        incident      occurred            might       be

          owner      occupied.

                      4.             I subsequently                   conducted         a public        records            search        on     Lexis         Nexis      to try     to     ascertain

          whether       the    owner           of    the        property,      as indicated        in New                 York      City        property            records,       lived        at that

          address.         I was     unable          to    determine          whether       the    property                owner,         Sandra            Austin,      was      a resident           of

          the   property.           Although              the     search     results     showed          Ms.        Austin          to     be       associated          with      that      address,

          the   address       on her         driver's            license     was     an address         in Brooklyn.                Nonetheless,                    to be on the         safe      side,
                                                      "Municipal"
          we marked           the     case      as                             and     prepared         and       filed        a Notice         of        Claim.

          Dated:New            York,           New         York
                      September                12,      2023


                                                                                                                                                    of      Bau        , Esq.




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