Keeping up to date is one way to avoid legal malpractice problems.  Here is a case from the Court of Appeals.  Notice the "immediately"

"We have recognized only two exceptions to prior written notice laws — "where the locality created the defect or hazard through an affirmative act of negligence and where a ‘special use’ confers a special benefit upon the locality" (Amabile v City of Buffalo, 93 NY2d 471, 474 [1999][citations omitted]). Further, "the affirmative negligence exception . . . [is] limited to work by the City that immediately results in the existence of a dangerous condition" (Bielecki v City of New York, 14 AD3d 301 [1st Dept 2005][emphasis added]). Here, plaintiff presented no evidence of who last repaved this section of the roadway before the accident, when any such work may have been carried out, or the condition of the asphalt abutting the manhole cover immediately after any such resurfacing. Next, even assuming that the special use doctrine applies to a manhole situated in a City public street, plaintiffs presented no proof of any special benefit conferred on the City. Finally, we note that the expert’s opinion was not inadmissible merely because nearly four years elapsed between the accident and the expert’s inspection of the site. Because the expert could not supply any reliable evidence as to the elements of the exceptions to the prior written notice law, however, whether the trial court erred in precluding the expert’s testimony is a question that does not affect the outcome of this case. "