Section 215. Actions to be commenced within one year: against sheriff, coroner or constable; for escape of prisoner; for assault, battery, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, libel or slander; for violation of right of privacy; for penalty given to informer; on arbitration award

The following actions shall be commenced within one
  year:
    1. an action against a sheriff, coroner or constable, upon a liability
  incurred by him by doing an act in his official capacity or by  omission
  of  an  official duty, except the non-payment of money collected upon an
  execution;
    2. an action against an officer for the escape of a prisoner  arrested
  or imprisoned by virtue of a civil mandate;
    3.   an   action  to  recover  damages  for  assault,  battery,  false
  imprisonment, malicious prosecution, libel, slander, false words causing
  special damages, or a violation of the right of  privacy  under  section
  fifty-one of the civil rights law;
    4. an action to enforce a penalty or forfeiture created by statute and
  given  wholly  or partly to any person who will prosecute; if the action
  is not commenced within  the  year  by  a  private  person,  it  may  be
  commenced  on  behalf  of  the  state,  within  three  years  after  the
  commission of the offense,  by  the  attorney-general  or  the  district
  attorney of the county where the offense was committed; and
    5. an action upon an arbitration award.
    6.  An  action  to  recover any overcharge of interest or to enforce a
  penalty for such overcharge.
    7. an action by a tenant pursuant to subdivision three of section  two
  hundred twenty-three-b of the real property law.
    8.  (a)  Whenever  it is shown that a criminal action against the same
  defendant has been commenced with respect to  the  event  or  occurrence
  from  which a claim governed by this section arises, the plaintiff shall
  have at least one year from the termination of the  criminal  action  as
  defined  in  section  1.20  of  the  criminal  procedure law in which to
  commence the civil action, notwithstanding that the  time  in  which  to
  commence  such  action  has  already  expired  or  has  less than a year
  remaining.
    (b) Whenever it is shown that  a  criminal  action  against  the  same
  defendant  has  been  commenced  with respect to the event or occurrence
  from which a claim governed by this section arises,  and  such  criminal
  action  is  for rape in the first degree as defined in section 130.35 of
  the penal law, or criminal sexual act in the first degree as defined  in
  section 130.50 of the penal law, or aggravated sexual abuse in the first
  degree  as  defined  in  section  130.70  of the penal law, or course of
  sexual conduct against a child in the first degree as defined in section
  130.75 of the penal law, the plaintiff shall have at  least  five  years
  from  the  termination of the criminal action as defined in section 1.20
  of the criminal procedure law in which to  commence  the  civil  action,
  notwithstanding  that  the  time  in  which  to commence such action has
  already expired or has less than a year remaining.