§ 20. Actions by and against the corporation. 1. In every action
against the corporation for damages for injuries to real or personal
property, or for the destruction thereof, or for personal injuries or
death, the complaint shall contain an allegation that at least thirty
days have elapsed since the demand, claim or claims upon which such
action is founded were presented to a director or officer of the
corporation and that the corporation has neglected or refused to make an
adjustment or payment thereof for thirty days after such presentment, or
if the demand, claim or claims upon which such action is founded was
presented to a director or officer of the corporation by service upon
the secretary of state pursuant to section fifty-three of the general
municipal law, that at least forty days have elapsed since such service
was made, and that the corporation has neglected or refused to make an
adjustment or payment thereof for forty days after such presentment.

2. Except in an action for wrongful death, an action against the
corporation for damages for injuries to real or personal property, or
for the destruction thereof, or for personal injuries, alleged to have
been sustained, shall not be commenced more than one year and ninety
days after the cause of action thereof shall have accrued, nor unless a
notice of intention to commence such action and of the time when and the
place where the tort occurred and the injuries or damage, were
sustained, together with a verified statement showing in detail the
property alleged to have been damaged or destroyed and the value
thereof, or the personal injuries alleged to have been sustained and by
whom, shall have been filed with a director or officer of the
corporation within ninety days after such cause of action shall have
accrued. All the provisions of section fifty-e of the general municipal
law shall apply to such notice. The corporation may require any claimant
hereunder to be examined as provided in section fifty-h of the general
municipal law, and all the provisions of such section shall apply to
such examinations. An action against the corporation for wrongful death
shall be commenced in accordance with the notice of claim and time
limitation provisions of title eleven of article nine of the public
authorities law.

3. All actions against the corporation of whatever nature shall be
brought in the city of New York, in the county within the city in which
the cause of action arose, or if it arose outside of the city, in the
county of New York.

4. The corporation may require any person presenting for settlement an
account or claim for any cause against the corporation, except as to
examination on claims as set forth in subdivision two of this section,
to be sworn before an officer, counsel or an attorney of the
corporation, touching such account or claim, and when so sworn, to
answer orally as to any facts relative to the adjustment of such account
or claim. The corporation may settle or adjust all claims in favor of or
against the corporation, and all accounts in which the corporation is
concerned as debtor or creditor; but in adjusting and settling such
claims, it shall, as far as practicable, be governed by the rules of law
and principles of equity which prevail in courts of justice.

5. Except as hereinafter provided in this subdivision, the rate of
interest to be paid by the corporation upon any judgment or accrued
claim against the corporation shall not exceed three per centum per
annum. The rate of interest to be paid upon any judgment or accrued
claim against the corporation arising out of an action to recover
damages for wrongful death shall not exceed six per centum per annum.

6. The corporation shall be an "agency" for the purposes of section
fifty-k of the general municipal law and its officers and employees
shall be entitled to legal representation and indemnification pursuant
to the provisions of and subject to the conditions, procedures and
limitations contained in such section, except that any judgment or
settlement pursuant to this section shall be payable from the monies of
the corporation.