Section 214-C. Certain actions to be commenced within three years of discovery

1. In this section:   "exposure"  means  direct  or  indirect
  exposure  by absorption, contact, ingestion, inhalation, implantation or
  injection.
    2. Notwithstanding the provisions  of  section  214,  the  three  year
  period  within which an action to recover damages for personal injury or
  injury to property caused by the  latent  effects  of  exposure  to  any
  substance  or combination of substances, in any form, upon or within the
  body or upon or within property must be commenced shall be computed from
  the date of discovery of the injury by the plaintiff or  from  the  date
  when  through  the  exercise  of reasonable diligence such injury should
  have been discovered by the plaintiff, whichever is earlier.
    3. For the purposes of sections fifty-e and  fifty-i  of  the  general
  municipal  law,  section  thirty-eight hundred thirteen of the education
  law and the provisions of any general, special or local law  or  charter
  requiring  as  a  condition  precedent  to  commencement of an action or
  special proceeding that a notice of claim be filed or presented within a
  specified period of time after the claim or action accrued, a  claim  or
  action  for  personal  injury or injury to property caused by the latent
  effects of exposure to any substance or combination  of  substances,  in
  any  form,  upon  or within the body or upon or within property shall be
  deemed to have accrued on the date of discovery of  the  injury  by  the
  plaintiff  or  on  the  date  when  through  the  exercise of reasonable
  diligence the injury should have been discovered, whichever is earlier.
    4. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivisions  two  and  three  of
  this  section, where the discovery of the cause of the injury is alleged
  to have occurred less than five years after discovery of the  injury  or
  when  with reasonable diligence such injury should have been discovered,
  whichever is earlier, an action may be commenced or a claim filed within
  one year of such  discovery  of  the  cause  of  the  injury;  provided,
  however, if any such action is commenced or claim filed after the period
  in which it would otherwise have been authorized pursuant to subdivision
  two or three of this section the plaintiff or claimant shall be required
  to  allege and prove that technical, scientific or medical knowledge and
  information sufficient to ascertain the cause of his injury had not been
  discovered, identified or determined prior  to  the  expiration  of  the
  period  within  which the action or claim would have been authorized and
  that he has otherwise satisfied the requirements of subdivisions two and
  three of this section.
    5. This section shall not be applicable to any action for  medical  or
  dental malpractice.
    6.  This  section  shall  be applicable to acts, omissions or failures
  occurring prior to, on or after July first, nineteen hundred eighty-six,
  except that this section shall not be applicable to any act, omission or
  failure:
    (a) which occurred prior to July first, nineteen  hundred  eighty-six,
  and
    (b)  which  caused  or  contributed  to  an  injury  that  either  was
  discovered or through the exercise of reasonable diligence  should  have
  been discovered prior to such date, and
    (c)  an  action  for  which  was or would have been barred because the
  applicable period of limitation had expired prior to such date.