9. Any person claiming to be aggrieved by an unlawful discriminatory
practice shall have a cause of action in any court of appropriate
jurisdiction for damages, including, in cases of employment
discrimination related to private employers and housing discrimination
only, punitive damages, and such other remedies as may be appropriate,
including any civil fines and penalties provided in subdivision four of
this section, unless such person had filed a complaint hereunder or with
any local commission on human rights, or with the superintendent
pursuant to the provisions of section two hundred ninety-six-a of this
article, provided that, where the division has dismissed such complaint
on the grounds of administrative convenience, on the grounds of
untimeliness, or on the grounds that the election of remedies is
annulled, such person shall maintain all rights to bring suit as if no
complaint had been filed with the division. At any time prior to a
hearing before a hearing examiner, a person who has a complaint pending
at the division may request that the division dismiss the complaint and
annul his or her election of remedies so that the human rights law claim
may be pursued in court, and the division may, upon such request,
dismiss the complaint on the grounds that such person's election of an
administrative remedy is annulled. Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of
section two hundred four of the civil practice law and rules, if a
complaint is so annulled by the division, upon the request of the party
bringing such complaint before the division, such party's rights to
bring such cause of action before a court of appropriate jurisdiction
shall be limited by the statute of limitations in effect in such court
at the time the complaint was initially filed with the division. Any