AVOID Act Limits Time Period to Initiate Third-Party Complaints

On December 19, 2025, Governor Hochul signed the Avoiding Vexatious Overuse of Impleading to Delay (AVOID) Act into law. The law amends CPLR Section 1007 to impose strict time limits on the commencement of third-party complaints and is set to take effect on April 18, 2026 (120 days after enactment). There have been Chapter Amendments introduced on January 7, 2026, which are now in Committee Assembly. These Chapter Amendments are contained in Assembly Bill A 9502 and are reflected in this bulletin below.

The AVOID Act

The AVOID Act states that a defendant may not file a third-party summons and complaint more than 90 days after serving its answer without an Order of the Court. Further, no third-party summons and complaint may be filed after the filing of a note of issue unless good cause can be shown or in the interests of justice. Any action filed in violation of this shall be severed or dismissed without prejudice.

Notwithstanding the above, a defendant or third-party defendant may file a third-party summons and complaint against an employer of the plaintiff without an order of the court within 90 days after the later of: 1) the date the identity of the employer of the plaintiff becomes known to the defendant or third-party defendant or 2) the date the defendant or third-party defendant knows or should know the plaintiff sustained a grave injury, as the term is defined in Section 11 of the Workers’ Compensation.

In the event a third-party action is severed from the initial action in this regard, and a third-party plaintiff initiates a new action by the filing of a summons and complaint against a severed third-party defendant, any motion to consolidate such actions shall not be permitted.

The Act will take effect on April 18 and apply to all cases commenced on or after this date.

Impact on you and your practice

The Act places onerous burdens on claim representatives, risk managers, and inside and outside litigation counsel, particularly in Labor Law and premises liability settings with multiple contractors, subcontractors, etc. While the Act purports to streamline litigation and prevent delays, we believe there will be significant delay and motion practice over several of these provisions. This includes what does “good cause” or “interests of justice” mean in the context of filing a third-party action post note of issue? As it relates to actions against employers, when is the measuring point for when the defendant “knew or should have known” the plaintiff sustained a “grave injury?”[1] Moreover, increased delays will be likely given that parties may be added to lawsuits that they would not have otherwise been impleaded to prior to the statute.

Rather than permitting sufficient time to investigate these issues, we now have a rather short amount of time to vet claims/parties. Unfortunately, the Act compels practitioners to place this restrained procedural mandate over what are otherwise well-established and much longer statutes of limitations (6 years for indemnity, contribution, and breach of contract). In practice, this will likely result in the need to commence third-party actions close to or simultaneously with tender correspondences.

[1] See also “AVOID Act Upends Third-Party Practice-Delays Guaranteed,” Dan Kohane, Joseph Rava & David Adams, January 12, 2026.