Massachusetts logged 128,769 reported crashes in 2025,1 and the volume holds steady month to month. Boston alone recorded 451 crashes in April 2026.2 If you were hurt in one of them, the path to a lawsuit here runs through rules that don't work the way they do in most states.
Massachusetts is a no-fault state with a compulsory injury benefit and a dollar threshold you have to clear before you can sue for pain and suffering. It also has a fault rule that can zero out your case if you're found more than half responsible. Here is how each piece works.
Your own insurer pays first
The state runs a no-fault system built around Personal Injury Protection, or PIP. Every auto policy issued in Massachusetts must carry PIP, and it pays up to $8,000 per person for medical bills and lost wages after a crash, regardless of who caused it.3 You file that claim with your own insurer rather than the other driver's.
The statute puts a clock on the insurer. Once a treating physician sends notice of your disability, the company has ten days to start paying or to send you written notice that it won't.3 For time missed at work, PIP covers 75 percent of lost wages inside that same $8,000 combined limit. Keep every bill and every note from your doctor. PIP is the first money that moves, and the paperwork feeds everything that follows.
When you can actually sue the other driver
PIP is the trade-off for a limit on lawsuits. You cannot sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering unless your case clears the tort threshold in M.G.L. c. 231, section 6D. That means your reasonable medical expenses have to exceed $2,000.4
There are exceptions that let you sue no matter what your bills total. Under the same section, the $2,000 threshold does not apply if the injury caused death, a fracture, permanent and serious disfigurement, substantial loss of sight or hearing, or loss of a body member.4 A broken bone is the one people run into most. A single fracture opens the door to a pain-and-suffering claim even when the treatment cost less than $2,000. Economic losses above the $8,000 PIP cap, meaning extra medical bills and further lost wages, can be pursued against the at-fault driver separately.
You have three years
The deadline to file a car accident lawsuit in Massachusetts is three years from the date of the crash, set by M.G.L. c. 260, section 2A, which governs tort claims for personal injury.5 The same three-year clock covers property damage to your vehicle.5 Miss it and the court will almost certainly throw the case out, no matter how strong it is.
Three years feels like a lot right after a crash. It goes fast once you're dealing with treatment, insurers, and repairs, so it's worth talking to a lawyer well before the deadline gets close.
Fault is shared, but 51 percent ends it
Massachusetts uses modified comparative negligence. Your damages get reduced by your share of the blame, and you're barred completely once your share passes the halfway point. The statute lets you recover only if your negligence "was not greater than" the combined negligence of the drivers you're suing.6 In practice that's a 51 percent bar. At 50 percent fault you still collect half your damages; at 51 percent you collect nothing.
This matters more than it sounds. Insurers push fault onto injured drivers precisely because a few percentage points can swing a recovery, and shoving you over 50 wipes it out. Winter sharpens the argument. Boston averages about 49 inches of snow a year,7 and "you were going too fast for the conditions" is a standard move on icy roads. Documenting the road, the weather, and the other driver's conduct early is how you hold your percentage down.
What the other driver is required to carry
For the first time since 1988, Massachusetts raised its minimum auto coverage. Under Chapter 275 of the Acts of 2024, policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2025 must carry at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident in bodily injury liability, plus $30,000 in property damage.8 The old floor was 20/40/5, so the property damage minimum jumped sixfold. PIP stays at $8,000 on top of those numbers.38
Even the new minimums run out fast in a serious crash, which is where your own uninsured and underinsured coverage matters. Massachusetts requires uninsured motorist (UM) coverage on every policy at the same limits as your bodily injury liability, so at least 25/50.9 Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage is different. Insurers have to offer it, but you can decline it in writing.9 If you never opted in and the at-fault driver carries only the state minimum, you can be left with nothing to reach beyond that thin policy. Check your own declarations page.
What you can recover, and the caps that don't exist here
Massachusetts puts no cap on compensatory damages in an ordinary car accident case. There is no statutory ceiling on your medical bills, lost wages, or pain and suffering; the evidence sets the number. The $500,000 cap people sometimes hear about lives in M.G.L. c. 231, section 60H, and it applies to malpractice claims against health care providers, not to car crashes.10
Punitive damages are the real limit. In a straight negligence case, Massachusetts doesn't allow them at all. The one route to punitive damages from a crash is a death case. The wrongful death statute, M.G.L. c. 229, section 2, allows punitive damages of at least $5,000 when the death was caused by gross negligence or by malicious, willful, wanton, or reckless conduct.11 If a family member was killed by a driver who was drunk or driving recklessly, that provision is where punitive damages come from.
Distracted and drunk driving evidence
Two kinds of driver conduct come up constantly and are worth documenting. Since February 2020, Massachusetts has banned holding a phone behind the wheel. Drivers can use a device only in hands-free mode, and it's a primary offense, so police can stop a driver for that alone. Fines run $100 for a first offense, $250 for a second, and $500 for a third.12 A citation issued to the other driver is useful evidence of negligence.
Drunk driving can widen who is responsible. Massachusetts recognizes dram shop liability under common law. A bar or restaurant that serves a visibly intoxicated patron who then causes a crash can be held liable, a rule the Supreme Judicial Court laid out in Cimino v. Milford Keg, Inc.13 That extra defendant can matter when the drunk driver's own policy is too small to cover the harm.
Getting the paperwork and getting help
The police crash report and your medical records anchor most claims. Official Massachusetts crash reports are available through the state, and your PIP file gives you the early medical picture. If your vehicle lost resale value even after a clean repair, that's a separate diminished value claim you can bring on top of the injury case.
A no-fault case with a tort threshold, a fault percentage that can end the claim, and a hard three-year deadline is not something most people should handle alone once real injuries are involved. If you're weighing a lawsuit, you can find a Massachusetts attorney through the legal directory and get a read on whether your case clears section 6D and what it's realistically worth.
This article is general information about Massachusetts law, not legal advice. For guidance on your specific situation, talk to a licensed Massachusetts attorney.
Sources
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thatcarhitme.com, Massachusetts statewide year-over-year crash report, 2025. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/statewide/2025-annual-report
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thatcarhitme.com, Boston, MA crash report, April 2026. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/boston/april-2026-report
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Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, section 34M (PIP mandate and 10-day payment rule). https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXIV/Chapter90/Section34M
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Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 231, section 6D (motor vehicle tort threshold and exceptions). https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleII/Chapter231/Section6D
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Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 260, section 2A (three-year statute of limitations for tort actions). https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleV/Chapter260/Section2A
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Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 231, section 85 (comparative negligence). https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleII/Chapter231/Section85
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National Weather Service, Boston/Norton, MA climate normals (1991-2020, 49.2 in. annual snowfall). https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=NWS&product=CLM&issuedby=BOS
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Acts of 2024, ch. 275 (amending Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, section 34A; new minimum liability limits effective July 1, 2025). https://malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2024/Chapter275
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Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, section 113L (uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage). https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXXII/Chapter175/Section113L
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Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 231, section 60H ($500,000 noneconomic cap on claims against health care providers). https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleII/Chapter231/Section60H
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Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 229, section 2 (wrongful death; punitive damages). https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleII/Chapter229/Section2
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Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, section 13B (handheld device ban and fines). https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXIV/Chapter90/Section13B
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Cimino v. Milford Keg, Inc., 385 Mass. 323 (1982). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2038751/cimino-v-milford-keg-inc/