Section 1226-S. Actions against water board and authority

1. Except in an
  action for wrongful death, no action  or  special  proceeding  shall  be
  prosecuted or maintained against either the water board or the authority
  or their members, officers or employees for personal injury or damage to
  real  or  personal  property alleged to have been sustained by reason of
  the negligence, tort or wrongful act of either the water  board  or  the
  authority  or  of any member, officer, agent or employee thereof, unless
  (a) a notice of claim shall have been made and  served  upon  the  water
  board  or  the  authority,  as  the  case  may be, within the time limit
  prescribed by and in compliance with  section  fifty-e  of  the  general
  municipal  law,  (b)  it  shall  appear  by  and as an allegation in the
  complaint or moving papers that at least thirty days have elapsed  since
  the  service  of  such notice and that adjustment or payment thereof has
  been neglected or refused, and (c)  the  action  or  special  proceeding
  shall  be  commenced within one year and ninety days after the happening
  of the event upon which the claim is based. An action against the  board
  or  authority  for  wrongful death shall be commenced in accordance with
  the notice of claim and time limitation provisions of  title  eleven  of
  article nine of this chapter.
    2.  Wherever  a  notice of claim is served upon the water board or the
  authority, the water board or the authority, as the case may  be,  shall
  have  the  right  to  demand an examination of the claim relative to the
  occurrence and extent of the injuries or  damages  for  which  claim  is
  made,  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  section fifty-h of the
  general municipal law.
    3. The water board or the authority, as the case may be,  may  require
  any  person  presenting for settlement an account or claim for any cause
  whatever against the water board or the authority, to be sworn before  a
  member, counsel, officer or employee of the water board or the authority
  designated  for  such purpose concerning such account or claim and, when
  so sworn, to answer orally as to any facts relative to such  account  or
  claim.  The water board or the authority, as the case may be, shall have
  power to settle or adjust all claims in favor of or  against  the  water
  board or the authority, as the case may be.
    4. Any action or proceeding to which the authority, water board or the
  people  of  the state may be parties, in which any question arises as to
  the validity of this title, shall be  preferred  over  all  other  civil
  causes of action or cases, except election causes of action or cases, in
  all  courts of the state and shall be heard and determined in preference
  to all other civil business  pending  therein  except  election  causes,
  irrespective  of  position on the calendar. The same preference shall be
  granted upon application of the authority or its counsel in  any  action
  or  proceeding  questioning  the  validity  of  this  title in which the
  authority may be allowed to intervene. The venue of any such  action  or
  proceeding shall be laid in the supreme court of the county.
    5. The rate of interest to be paid by the water board or the authority
  upon any judgment for which it is liable, other than a judgment on bonds
  of  the authority, shall be the rate prescribed by section five thousand
  four of the civil practice  law  and  rules.  Interest  on  payments  of
  principal  or  interest on any bonds in default shall accrue at the rate
  or rates set forth in such bonds from the due date thereof until paid or
  otherwise satisfied.