DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the order is reversed, on the law, with costs, the motion is denied, and the complaint is reinstated.
While leave to amend a pleading should be freely given (see, CPLR 3025 N.Y.CPLR[b]), the decision whether to grant such leave is within the court's discretion (see, Edenwald Contr. Co. v. City of New York, 60 N.Y.2d 957, 959; Mayers v. D'Agostino, 58 N.Y.2d 696). However, where the proposed amendment is palpably insufficient as a matter of law or is totally devoid of merit, leave should be denied (see, Tarantini v. Russo Realty Corp., 259 A.D.2d 484; Alejandro v. Riportella, 250 A.D.2d 556; Sentry Ins. Co. v. Kero-Sun, Inc., 122 A.D.2d 204). Contrary to the defendants' contention, the Statute of Limitations was tolled for the applicable period of infancy even though the infant plaintiff timely filed a notice of claim pursuant to General Municipal Law § 50-e Gen. Mun. (see, Henry v. City of New York, N.Y.2d [Dec. 20, 1999]; CPLR 208 N.Y.CPLR).
MANGANO, P.J., SANTUCCI, KRAUSMAN, FLORIO, and SCHMIDT, JJ., concur.