New York Personal Injury Lawyer

The Basic Structure

New York is one of twelve states with a “true” no-fault automobile insurance system. Under New York Insurance Law Article 51, every registered vehicle owner must carry personal injury protection (PIP) coverage — no-fault insurance — with a mandatory minimum of $50,000 per person.

No-fault coverage pays for:

• Medical expenses: Reasonable and necessary treatment for injuries caused by the accident, up to the policy limit
• Lost wages: 80% of the injured person’s actual monthly lost earnings, up to $2,000 per month, for up to three years from the date of the accident
• Other necessary expenses: Up to $25 per day for reasonable and necessary expenses incurred (non-medical, non-wage) as a result of the accident

No-fault pays these benefits regardless of who caused the accident. The injured person does not need to prove that the other driver was at fault — their own carrier pays no-fault benefits while the liability question is handled separately.

The Limitations of No-Fault

No-fault was designed to provide fast, low-friction compensation for minor injuries — to avoid clogging courts with fender-bender lawsuits. It achieves this goal at the cost of limiting access to full tort recovery for injured victims. Specifically, no-fault does not compensate for:

• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Non-economic damages beyond medical expenses and lost wages
• Economic losses that exceed the no-fault policy limits

These categories of damages — which can represent a large part of a seriously injured victim’s total loss — are only recoverable through a tort lawsuit against the at-fault party. But not every victim who suffers injuries in a New York accident has the right to bring that lawsuit.

The Serious Injury Threshold: The Gate to Tort Recovery

New York Insurance Law § 5102(d) restricts the right to bring a personal injury tort claim arising from a motor vehicle accident to those who have suffered a “serious injury.” The categories of serious injury under the statute are:

1. Death
2. Dismemberment
3. Significant disfigurement — typically scarring or permanent visible disfigurement that would be considered significant by a reasonable person
4. Fracture — any fracture qualifies, including small hairline fractures confirmed by imaging
5. Loss of a fetus
6. Permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function, or system
7. Permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member — not total loss, but a significant, permanent limitation confirmed by objective medical evidence
8. Significant limitation of use of a body function or system — a significant limitation (not merely minor or temporary) supported by objective medical findings
9. A medically determined injury or impairment of a non-permanent nature which prevents the injured person from performing substantially all of the material acts which constitute such person’s usual and customary daily activities for not less than 90 days during the 180 days immediately following the occurrence

The last category — the “90/180 day” rule — provides a path to tort recovery for victims with non-permanent but significantly disabling injuries. Establishing this category requires contemporaneous medical documentation of the disability and clear evidence that the injured person could not perform substantially all of their usual activities for the required period.

What “Objective Medical Evidence” Means

New York courts require that serious injury claims be supported by objective evidence — not just the victim’s subjective complaints. Physician examination findings, MRI and CT imaging reports, nerve conduction studies, range-of-motion measurements taken with instruments (not estimated), and surgical reports all constitute objective evidence. Subjective descriptions of pain alone do not establish serious injury, even if the pain is real and significant.

This is why early, thorough medical documentation is critical in New York personal injury cases. A victim who delays treatment, misses appointments, or is discharged without ongoing documented functional limitations may have difficulty establishing the serious injury threshold even when their injuries are genuinely severe.

General Three-Year Deadline

CPLR § 214(5) provides a three-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims in New York. The three-year period begins on the date of the accident. A claim filed after the three-year deadline is time-barred, regardless of how meritorious it is.

There are exceptions for specific situations — most importantly, the discovery rule for injuries caused by toxic exposure or latent conditions, and the tolling of the limitations period for minors (whose three-year period does not begin until they turn 18). These exceptions require careful legal analysis and should not be relied upon without counsel.

Claims Against Government Entities: Different Deadlines

New York’s deadlines for claims against government entities are much shorter than the general three-year period:

New York State and state agencies: Claims must be filed in the Court of Claims within 90 days of the accident. The Court of Claims has exclusive jurisdiction over actions against the State of New York.

New York City: A Notice of Claim must be filed with the City within 90 days of the incident. The lawsuit must be commenced within one year and 90 days of the incident.

Other municipalities (counties, towns, villages): A Notice of Claim must be filed within 90 days, and the lawsuit must be commenced within one year and 90 days of the incident under General Municipal Law § 50-e.

Failure to file a timely Notice of Claim in government cases is typically fatal — courts rarely grant leave to file late notices, and the failure cannot be cured after the deadline has passed.