§ 1230-t. Actions against the water board and authority. 1. Except in an action for wrongful death, no action or special proceeding shall be prosecuted or maintained against either the water board or the authority or their members, officers or employees for personal injury or damage to real or personal property alleged to have been sustained by reason of the negligence, tort or wrongful act of either the water board or the authority or of any member, officer, agent or employee thereof, unless (a) a notice of claim shall have been made and served upon the water board or the authority, as the case may be, within the time limit prescribed by and in compliance with section fifty-e of the general municipal law, (b) it shall appear by and as an allegation in the complaint or moving papers that at least thirty days have elapsed since the service of such notice and that adjustment or payment thereof has been neglected or refused, and (c) the action or special proceeding shall be commenced within one year and ninety days after the happening of the event upon which the claim is based. An action against the board or authority for wrongful death shall be commenced in accordance with the notice of claim and time limitation provisions of title eleven of article nine of this chapter.

2. Wherever a notice of claim is served upon the water board or the authority, the water board or the authority, as the case may be, shall have the right to demand an examination of the claimant relative to the occurrence and extent of the injuries or damages for which claim is made, in accordance with the provisions of section fifty-h of the general municipal law.

3. The water board or the authority, as the case may be, may require any person presenting for settlement an account or claim for any cause whatever against the water board or the authority, to be sworn before a member, counsel, officer or employee of the water board or the authority designated for such purpose concerning such account or claim and, when so sworn, to answer orally as to any facts relative to such account or claim. The water board or the authority, as the case may be, shall have power to settle or adjust all claims in favor of or against the water board or the authority, as the case may be.

4. Any action or proceeding to which the authority, water board or the people of the state may be parties, in which any question arises as to the validity of this title, shall be preferred over all other civil causes of action or cases, except election causes of action or cases, in all courts of the state and shall be heard and determined in preference to all other civil business pending therein except election causes, irrespective of position on the calendar. The same preference shall be granted upon application of the authority or its counsel in any action or proceeding questioning the validity of this title in which the authority may be allowed to intervene. The venue of any such action or proceeding shall be laid in the supreme court of the county.

5. The rate of interest to be paid by the water board or the authority upon any judgment for which it is liable, other than a judgment on bonds of the authority, shall be the rate prescribed by section five thousand four of the civil practice law and rules. Interest on payments of principal or interest on any bonds in default shall accrue at the rate or rates set forth in such bonds from the due date thereof until paid or otherwise satisfied.