§ 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 a crime formerly 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.

9. Notwithstanding the opening paragraph of this section, an action
that may be brought to recover damages for injury arising from domestic
violence, as defined in section four hundred fifty-nine-a of the social
services law, shall be commenced within two years. Nothing in this
subdivision shall be construed to modify any time limitation contained
in section two hundred fourteen of this article or subdivision eight of
this section.