UPDATE: Avoiding Vexatious Overuse of Impleading Delay (“AVOID Act”)
- Apr 6
- 2 min read
Monday, April 6, 2026
By: Karl E. Daniel, Esq. | Partner
Brent C. Seymour, Esq. | Partner
Deadlines on Third-Party Practice
REMINDER AVOID ACT
With the April 18th deadline right around the corner, we wanted to remind everyone of the AVOID Act and the recent changes to the initial law. The major change to the AVOID Act is now it only applies to cases commenced on or after April 18, 2026. The amendment revises the application of the law and will limit the rush to commence third-party actions. Below, we have highlighted some other key provisions in the amendment.
A defendant seeking to enforce any rights against third parties, must commence a third-party action within 90 days after serving an answer. To commence a third-party action outside of the 90-day limitation period, an order from the court is required. (Note, the previous version the deadline was 60 days.)
The Act specifically prohibits the filing of any third-party action after the note of issue has been filed unless good cause is shown or in the interest of justice.
There are limited exceptions to the AVOID Act. One exception exists where the third-party defendant files a third-party complaint against plaintiff’s employer without an order of the court, then it must be 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 law.
Fifteen (15) days before the AVOID Act becomes effective, we want to emphasize the importance for defendants, insurers, and in-house counsel to consider: (1) how new cases should be evaluated, stressing the importance of assessing potential third-parties, especially in labor law actions; (2) ensuring clients update incident response and reporting protocols, specifically with respect to contractors – keeping pertinent information such as contracts, indemnity and insurance provisions quickly available for review following a loss; and (3) being over-inclusive with third-party actions to ensure that the right is not lost due to missing the deadlines.
#Third-PartyActions
