CITY, NEW YORK v. COTRONEO MARINO'S UN

The subject construction contract provided that all work was to be completed by February 26, 1991, failing which the contractor would owe the City $100 in liquidated damages for each day the project ran beyond that day. It is undisputed that the work was not completed until January 8, 1992. The City's action to recover these liquidated damages was properly dismissed on the ground that the six-year Statute of Limitations began to run, as the contractor urges, on February 27, 1991, at which time the City had a cause of action for $100, and not, as the City urges, from January 8, 1992, when the work was completed. It is well settled that a cause of action for a breach of contract occurs at the time of the breach though no damage, other than nominal, occurs until later (Ely-Cruikshank v. Bank of Montreal, 81 N.Y.2d 399). Cases against contractors fixing accrual upon completion of the work (e.g., City School Dist. v. Stubbins Assocs., 85 N.Y.2d 535) are distinguishable in that they involved claims for defective construction.

While the City's action for liquidated delay damages was properly dismissed as time-barred, it was error, in the contractor's action against the City, to preclude the City from asserting such damages as a setoff against any payments that would otherwise be due the contractor had there been no delay, and to grant the contractor summary judgment in that action. A claim that is time-barred or otherwise precluded may constitute a defense not subject to the bar that precludes assertion of the claim affirmatively (see,e.g., Northfield Eng'g v. Felix Indus., 77 N.Y.2d 332). Here, the City's defense is that the delay was a breach of contract. There being an issue of fact as to whether the delay was caused by the contractor, the note of issue should have been stricken for disclosure on that and any related issues that the contractor might raise in response.

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.