Provides that an action to recover the amount of an overcharge based upon a mistake or billing error made by an electric, gas or telephone corporation must be commenced within ten years.

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S3727-2011 Actions

• Jan 4, 2012: REFERRED TO CODES
• Mar 2, 2011: REFERRED TO CODES

S3727-2011 Memo

BILL NUMBER:S3727

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to statute of
limitations for certain overcharges

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section two hundred twelve of the civil
practice law and rules is amended by adding a new subdivision (e) to
read as follows: Overcharge based on mistake or billing error. An
action to recover the amount of an overcharge based upon a mistake or
billing error made by an electric, gas or telephone corporation must
be commenced within ten years.

JUSTIFICATION:
Utility company billing errors caused by faulty wire
connections, incorrect computer computations, installation mishap or
other mistakes often continue for years without detection. Even when
the utility company in question acknowledges the error and can
account for the amount of the mistake, the liability is for only six
years of the overcharge. This causes an inequitable situation whereby
a customer can prove the overcharge for a longer period of time, but
cannot be compensated for his total loss. This legislation changes
the statute of limitations for these utility company billing errors
to ten years thereby providing a fairer basis to settle these matters.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
03/14/07 REFERRED TO CODES
01/09/08 REFERRED TO CODES
04/07/09 REFERRED TO CODES
01/06/10 REFERRED TO CODES

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply
to all causes of actions occurring on or after such date.

S3727-2011 Text

                      S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
  ________________________________________________________________________

                                    3727

                         2011-2012 Regular Sessions

                              I N  SENATE

                                March 2, 2011
                                 ___________

  Introduced by Sens. OPPENHEIMER, DIAZ, KRUEGER -- read twice and ordered
    printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes

  AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to statute
    of limitations for certain overcharges

    THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
  BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


    Section 1.  Section 212 of the civil practice law and rules is amended
  by adding a new subdivision (e) to read as follows:

    (E) OVERCHARGE BASED ON MISTAKE OR BILLING ERROR. AN ACTION TO RECOVER
  THE AMOUNT OF AN OVERCHARGE BASED UPON A MISTAKE OR BILLING  ERROR  MADE
  BY  AN  ELECTRIC, GAS, OR TELEPHONE CORPORATION MUST BE COMMENCED WITHIN
  TEN YEARS.
    S 2. This act shall take effect immediately and  shall  apply  to  all
  causes of action occurring on or after such date.






   EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                        [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                             LBD05927-01-1