Unspecified claim

An unspecified claim is a tort claim "where the amount to be awarded is left to the Court to determine."¹

Examples of unspecified claims are unspecified damages for personal injuries, such as from a motor vehicle accident (MVA) or medical malpractice.

Unspecified claim was previously known in the common law, especially in England and Wales and Pakistan, as an unliquidated claim.¹²³

In United Kingdom tax law, an unspecified claim is also any unspecified tax liability.⁴

Under New York civil practice, "stating a specific sum in (a) personal injury complaint" is normally barred.⁵ Technically, it is not strictly prohibited, but it prevents adding additional damages to jury instructions.⁶ However, under a recent New York Court of Appeals case, stating a specific sum is mandatory in Court of claims practice, so an unspecified claim "can lead to the loss of the claimant's whole case".⁷ Federal judge Walter Rivera used this reasoning when ruling in a parallel case in court filing found on nycourts.gov; “The failure to bring a late claim application before the expiration of the relevant statute of limitations would preclude the Court from considering the application because the failure to file a late claim application within the proscribed time period is a jurisdictional defect and the Court is without discretionary power to grant nunc pro tunc relief".