Section 2041-N. Actions against authority

1.  Except  in an action for
  wrongful death, no action or special proceeding shall be  prosecuted  or
  maintained  against  the  authority, its 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
  the  authority  or  of  any  member, officer, agent or employee thereof,
  unless (i) a notice of claim shall have been made and  served  upon  the
  authority  within  the  time  limit  by  and  in compliance with section
  fifty-e of the general municipal law, (ii) 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 (iii) 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 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.  Except  that  actions  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 shall be governed by section  two  hundred  fourteen-c  of  the
  civil practice law and rules.
    2.  Whenever  a notice of claim is served upon the authority, it shall
  have the right to demand an examination of the claimant 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  authority may require any person presenting for settlement an
  account or claim for any cause whatever  against  the  authority  to  be
  sworn  before  a  member, counsel or an attorney, officer or employee of
  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 authority  shall  have  power  to  settle  or
  adjust all claims in favor of or against the authority.
    4.  Any  action  or proceeding to which the authority 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 in which the
  principal office of the authority is located.
    5.  The rate of interest to be paid by the authority upon any judgment
  for which it is liable, other than a judgment on its bonds, 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 borne by such bonds from the due date
  thereof until paid or otherwise satisfied.