HALFMOON, N.Y. (WRGB) — You spend months trying to resolve a dispute with a municipality, only to discover that the clock was ticking on your legal rights the entire time.
That’s exactly the scenario Gary Ganong found himself in– whose story CBS6 brought you last week.
The Halfmoon man says he spent months seeking compensation from Saratoga County after a May 17, 2025, sewage backup in a county-maintained line damaged his home, leaving him with $50,000 worth of clean up and repair costs.
Now, Ganong tells CBS6’s Briana Supardi he’s discovered another roadblock in his fight for compensation: a legal deadline he didn’t know existed.
“I feel I was betrayed by the county,” Ganong said.
He now wants to warn others seeking compensation from the government to be informed about a critical legal step they need to take.
Waiting for the County’s Decision
Rather than immediately pursuing legal action following the sewage backup, Ganong says he was in contact with Saratoga County Sewer District 1 to find out how he could recover his losses.
He says in the weeks following the incident he was in communication with the district’s Executive Director Dan Rourke, who instructed him to gather estimates and documentation of the damage to present to the sewer commission.
Ganong presented his losses to the sewer commission during its July 31 meeting.
He says he left that process believing the county would compensate him.
“I was told that they would review it and then I would be cut a check,” Ganong said. “So at no point did I feel I was going to have to sue the county.”
But on Sept. 23, nearly two months after he presented his damages, Saratoga County sent Ganong a letter denying his claim. The county said it found no negligence on its part and would not compensate him for his losses.
What Ganong says he didn’t realize was that while he waited for the county’s decision, the clock was running on a separate legal deadline.
What is a Notice of Claim?
Under New York law, people seeking to sue a municipality for certain types of damages generally must serve a formal written document known as a notice of claim within 90 days.
The notice identifies the person making the claim, describes what happened and outlines the alleged damages. It must also be properly served on an authorized municipal official.
Attorney Michael Macomber, a partner and chief executive officer at Tully Rinckey, says the requirement is designed to give municipalities prompt notice of potential legal claims and an opportunity to investigate.
“If an individual fails to file a notice of claim within 90 days, that may prevent them from pursuing whatever legal action they may have against the municipality,” Macomber said.
In Ganong’s case, the general 90-day deadline would have been Aug. 15, 2025 — more than a month before the county sent its denial letter.
“What they did was a stall tactic,” Ganong alleged. “So after I met with the commissioner, they stalled for days, weeks, and another month until the 90 days had expired.”
Macomber says pursuing compensation through a municipality’s internal process does not necessarily satisfy the formal notice-of-claim requirement.
Whether documents submitted to a municipal board or commission qualify as legally sufficient notice depends on their contents and how they were submitted.
The notice generally must identify the claimant, describe the incident and damages, and be properly served on an authorized municipal official.
An attorney is not necessarily required to prepare a notice of claim, but Macomber cautions that mistakes in meeting the legal requirements could jeopardize a future lawsuit.
