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Last year, New York City settled 13,397 claims against it for a total cost of $1.94 billion, the most ever for one fiscal year, up from $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2023, the city’s financial monitor has reported.

Police ($309.56 million), corrections ($252.87 million), education ($128.07 million), transportation ($115.27 million), and health and hospitals ($45.77 million) had the highest tort claim settlement and judgment costs among city agencies, according to a new claims dashboard developed by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander.

The new dashboard replaces the comptroller’s annual report. It offers information on claims filed to and settled by the Comptroller’s Office in real-time, including personal injury, property damage, civil rights, and law claims.

Some data from the dashboard reveal:

• In FY 2024, the city paid out $1.04 billion in personal injury and property damage claims including 9,036 claims filed against the Police Department (NYPD), a 30.7% increase from 2023. NYPD settlements totaled $309.51 million, a 14.6% increase but still below the high of $338.3 million in 2017.
• The number of claims filed against the Department of Education (DOE) decreased 7.9% from 2023, but DOE settlement amount was up 22.7%.
• There were 2,040 personal injury claims filed from auto accidents, an increase of 20.4%. These cost $125.68 million, down 33.6%.
• Of the 15 largest individual tort claims against the city in 2024, 13 were for civil rights claims with the Department of Correction (DOC) and NYPD. The largest payout was a $171.52 million DOC claim settlement regarding the city’s failure to promptly release people detained pretrial after people posted bail.
• In terms of law settlements, the city paid out $907.83 million, a 27.8% increase from 2023. Salary settlements accounted for 49% of all law claim settlements, while 46% were for special education tuition and/or services reimbursement.

Lander expressed regret that so much money goes to claim settlements and urged the City tHall o change the way claims costs are budgeted.

“The $2 billion in taxpayer funds we paid last year to settle claims against the City is money we could have spent on building a safer, more affordable city with world-class parks, schools, and neighborhoods — but agencies are not incentivized to save the City from claims,” stated Lander. in announcing the dashboard. “City Hall must stop shielding agencies by under-budgeting settlements in the General Fund and instead hold them accountable through their own budgets.”

He said that with the new data tool, city agencies and the public “can analyze settlements and reduce both harm and costs.”

Lander is a Democratic candidate in city’s mayoral race.

Topics Claims New York