Filing a car accident lawsuit in New York

Getting hurt in a crash is disorienting, and New York's rules add a layer most people don't expect. This state runs on a no-fault insurance system, has deadlines that can end a case before it starts, and rewrote two core fault rules in 2026. Here is what actually governs a New York car accident claim, with the statute behind each rule.

To put the volume in perspective, New York City recorded 6,625 reported crashes in April 2026 alone, and 6,773 back in January.¹² Most never turn into lawsuits. The ones that do follow the framework below.

How long you have to file

The basic deadline is three years. New York gives you three years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit (CPLR 214(5)) and the same three years to sue for damage to your vehicle or other property (CPLR 214(4)).³ Miss it and the court will almost certainly dismiss the case, no matter how strong it is.

That window shrinks fast when a government entity is involved, which matters if the other vehicle was a city bus, an MTA vehicle, a sanitation truck, or any municipal vehicle. Before you can sue a public corporation, you have to serve a formal notice of claim within 90 days of the crash (General Municipal Law 50-e), and the lawsuit itself must be filed within one year and ninety days, not three years (General Municipal Law 50-i).⁴⁵ The 90-day notice is the deadline people miss most.

New York is a no-fault state

Before anyone sues, no-fault coverage pays first. Every New York auto policy includes Personal Injury Protection (PIP), which covers your medical bills and basic losses regardless of who caused the crash. Basic economic loss is capped at $50,000 per person and breaks down this way under Insurance Law 5102(a): medical and hospital expenses with no time limit, lost earnings up to $2,000 per month for up to three years, and up to $25 per day for other reasonable expenses for up to a year.⁶

No-fault only works if you meet its deadlines, and they are short. Under Regulation 68 (11 NYCRR 65), you must give your insurer written notice of the claim within 30 days of the accident, submit medical bills within 45 days of treatment, and file lost-wage claims within 90 days.⁷ Late paperwork is a common reason benefits get denied.

When you can step outside no-fault and sue

Because PIP pays first, you generally cannot sue the other driver for pain and suffering unless your injury clears New York's "serious injury" threshold in Insurance Law 5102(d).⁶ Meeting that threshold is the gate to a lawsuit for non-economic damages, and a jury cannot even reach the question until it has decided who was at fault (Insurance Law 5104(a)).⁸

The 2026 tort reform tightened this definition. Chapter 58 of the Laws of 2026 removed the old "90/180" category, the one that let people qualify by showing an injury kept them from their usual daily activities for 90 of the 180 days after the crash.⁹ For actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026, serious injury now means death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, a bone fracture, loss of a fetus, permanent loss of use of a body organ or member, permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member, or significant limitation of use of a body function or system.⁶⁹ Soft-tissue and short-term injuries that once squeaked through the 90/180 door no longer do.

The fault rules changed in 2026

For decades New York followed pure comparative negligence: you could be 90 percent at fault and still recover the remaining 10 percent of your damages (CPLR 1411(a)).¹⁰ That still applies to most cases.

Car crash injury claims are now the exception. The same 2026 reform added CPLR 1411(b), a modified comparative negligence rule for personal injury actions subject to the no-fault law. If your share of the fault is greater than the other side's (more than 50 percent combined), you recover nothing; at 50 percent or less, your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault.¹⁰ It applies to actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026.⁹ Pure comparative negligence still governs wrongful death and property-damage claims from the same crash, so a person barred from an injury award could still recover for a totaled car.

The reform also created a damages cap where none existed. New Insurance Law 5104(d) limits non-economic damages to $100,000 for an at-fault injured claimant who was driving uninsured, was convicted of driving while impaired, or was committing or fleeing a felony at the time of the crash.⁸⁹ It does not touch an ordinary innocent claimant, and New York otherwise has no cap on pain-and-suffering awards.

Insurance minimums and what you can actually collect

New York requires every driver to carry at least $25,000 in bodily injury coverage per person, $50,000 per accident, and $10,000 for property damage, written 25/50/10.¹¹ Those minimums also set the floor for what an at-fault driver's policy will pay you.

When the other driver has too little insurance or none, your own policy fills part of the gap. Uninsured motorist coverage matching the 25/50 minimum is mandatory and cannot be waived (Insurance Law 3420(f)(1)).¹² Supplementary underinsured motorist (SUM) coverage, which covers the difference when the at-fault driver's limits run out, must be offered up to your own liability limit but can be reduced or declined in writing (Insurance Law 3420(f)(2)).¹²¹¹ If a minimally insured driver hurt you badly, SUM is often the difference between a full recovery and a partial one.

Crashes caused by a drunk driver

New York gives crash victims a claim beyond the driver. Under the Dram Shop Act (General Obligations Law 11-101), a person injured by an intoxicated driver can sue whoever unlawfully sold that driver alcohol, and can recover both actual and exemplary (punitive) damages.¹³ That opens a second, often better-insured, source of recovery when a bar or restaurant over-served the person who hit you.

Protecting the claim early

New York law requires you to report a crash to the DMV within 10 days whenever someone is injured or killed, or property damage to any one person tops $1,000 (Vehicle and Traffic Law 605).¹⁴ Getting a copy of the police report early helps; you can start with our guide to New York crash reports. If your car was damaged but not totaled, its resale value may have dropped even after repairs, which is a separate diminished value claim in New York worth pursuing.

With the 2026 changes to the fault and serious-injury rules, how a case is pleaded now matters more than it used to. If you're weighing a lawsuit, talk to a lawyer who handles New York crash cases; you can start with our legal directory.

This is general information about New York law, not legal advice.

Sources

1. thatcarhitme.com, New York crash report, April 2026. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/new-york/new-york/april-2026-report

2. thatcarhitme.com, New York crash report, January 2026. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/new-york/new-york/january-2026-report

3. New York CPLR 214, statute of limitations (three years). https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CVP/214

4. New York General Municipal Law 50-e, notice of claim. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GMU/50-E

5. New York General Municipal Law 50-i, actions against municipalities. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GMU/50-I

6. New York Insurance Law 5102, basic economic loss and serious injury definition. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/ISC/5102

7. New York Department of Financial Services, No-Fault Regulation 68 FAQ. https://www.dfs.ny.gov/apps_and_licensing/property_insurers/nofault_faqs_reg68

8. New York Insurance Law 5104, threshold and $100,000 non-economic cap. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/ISC/5104

9. New York DFS, Insurance Circular Letter No. 3 (2026): Motor Vehicle Insurance Reforms. https://www.dfs.ny.gov/industry-guidance/circular-letters/c32026-01

10. New York CPLR 1411, comparative negligence. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CVP/1411

11. New York DFS, minimum auto insurance requirements FAQ. https://www.dfs.ny.gov/faqs/consumer-auto/how-much-auto-insurance-must-i-carry

12. New York Insurance Law 3420(f), uninsured and SUM coverage. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/ISC/3420

13. New York General Obligations Law 11-101, Dram Shop Act. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/11-101

14. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 605, reports of accidents. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/VAT/605