North Dakota Motorcycle Accident Settlements

A motorcycle settlement in North Dakota is built from the same parts as any injury claim: your medical bills, your lost income, the lasting effects of the injury, and how state law lets you recover for them. What changes the math here is one thing most riders don't expect. North Dakota runs a no-fault insurance system, but that system was written for cars, and it leaves motorcycles out.

That single fact cuts two ways, and both affect the size of a settlement. Here's how North Dakota law actually treats a motorcycle claim.

Motorcycles sit outside North Dakota's no-fault system

North Dakota's Auto Accident Reparations Act (chapter 26.1-41 of the Century Code) requires drivers to carry no-fault, or personal injury protection (PIP), coverage that pays medical bills and lost wages regardless of who caused the crash. The catch is in the definitions. The Act defines a "motor vehicle" as one "having more than three load-bearing wheels."¹ A motorcycle has two. It isn't a motor vehicle under the no-fault law, so the whole framework passes it by.

Two consequences follow, and they pull in opposite directions.

First, the downside. A person hurt inside a car can collect up to $30,000 per person in basic no-fault benefits for medical costs and lost income, paid by their own insurer no matter who was at fault.¹ A motorcyclist hurt on the bike does not get those benefits, because the law pays them only to people occupying a covered motor vehicle or to pedestrians.² Riders usually lean on their health insurance and their own coverage to carry the bills while a claim plays out.

Now the upside, and it's a real one. In a car case, North Dakota bars an injured person from suing the at-fault driver for pain and suffering unless the injury is "serious," meaning death, dismemberment, permanent disfigurement, a disability lasting more than 60 days, or medical expenses over $2,500.¹ That bar, the "secured person exemption," applies only to someone who could qualify for no-fault benefits in the first place.³ A motorcyclist can't, so the threshold doesn't apply. A rider can pursue full compensation for pain, suffering, and every other noneconomic loss from the first dollar, without clearing any statutory hurdle. That's a meaningful difference in what a claim can be worth.

There's no cap on what your injuries are worth

North Dakota doesn't cap compensatory damages in an ordinary injury case. There's no ceiling on medical expenses, lost earnings, or pain and suffering. Awards for economic loss above $250,000 can be reviewed by a court for reasonableness, but that review doesn't function as a hard ceiling.⁴

Punitive damages (called exemplary damages in North Dakota) are separate. A court can allow them only on clear and convincing evidence that the at-fault driver acted with oppression, fraud, or malice, and they're capped at twice the compensatory award or $250,000, whichever is greater.⁵ The bar drops when a drunk or drugged driver caused the crash. If the driver had a blood alcohol concentration of at least .08, was under the influence of a controlled substance, or refused chemical testing, exemplary damages are on the table without the usual showing.⁵ And if a bar or a host knowingly served alcohol to someone underage or already obviously drunk who then hit you, North Dakota's dram shop law can open a claim against them too.⁶

Comparative fault can pull the number down

North Dakota follows a modified comparative fault rule with a 50 percent bar. You can recover only if your share of fault is less than the combined fault of everyone else involved, and whatever you're awarded drops by your own percentage.⁷ Thirty percent at fault on a $200,000 claim leaves you $140,000. Reach 50 percent and you recover nothing.

This is where an insurer's defense usually lives, and for riders it often circles back to gear. North Dakota requires helmets only for operators and passengers under 18, so adults can legally ride without one.⁸ A motorcycle is entitled to full use of a lane, and splitting lanes between rows of traffic is illegal.⁸ Skipping a helmet is legal for an adult, but expect the other side to argue that a missing helmet made head injuries worse and that some of the blame belongs to you. State safety officials list a lack of protective gear among the top risk factors in fatal motorcycle crashes.⁹

Insurance limits often set the real ceiling

A settlement can't exceed what's available to pay it. North Dakota's minimum liability limits are $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for injuries, plus $25,000 for property damage.¹⁰ Plenty of drivers carry exactly that, so the at-fault driver's policy is frequently the practical cap, even when your injuries are worth more.

Two things help. Every North Dakota auto policy has to include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage at limits matching the 25/50 minimum, and there's no blanket way for a policyholder to waive it.¹¹ If the driver who hit you had no insurance or not enough, your own UM/UIM coverage can step in. For serious motorcycle injuries, which routinely run past a minimum policy, that coverage is often what makes a settlement whole. It's worth checking every policy in your household, since coverage can sometimes stack in ways that aren't obvious.

Deadlines, evidence, and vehicle damage

North Dakota gives you six years from the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit, one of the longer windows in the country.¹² A wrongful death claim after a fatal crash is shorter, two years.¹² Six years is generous, but memories fade and physical evidence disappears, so the practical advice is to move well before then.

The official crash report is a core piece of evidence, and North Dakota's Department of Transportation charges $7 to pull one.¹³ If your bike was totaled or lost resale value, that's a separate property claim; our guide to diminished value in North Dakota covers how that side works.

What actually moves the number

No two settlements match, because the value tracks the harm. Severity is the biggest driver, and motorcycle crashes skew severe. Of the 89 people killed on North Dakota roads in 2024, 17 were motorcyclists, and there were 225 reported motorcycle crashes that year, 86 percent of which ended in injury or death.¹⁴ The medical record, the permanence of the injury, lost and future earnings, and clear liability all push a number up; disputed fault and thin insurance pull it down.

Because so much rides on how these statutes get applied to your specific facts, this is the kind of claim where the details decide the value. If you want help pricing a claim or dealing with an insurer, you can find a North Dakota attorney through our directory.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

North Dakota Century Code § 26.1-41-01 (Auto Accident Reparations Act definitions of "motor vehicle," "basic no-fault benefits," and "serious injury"). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t26-1c41.pdf
North Dakota Century Code § 26.1-41-06 (persons entitled to basic no-fault benefits). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t26-1c41.pdf
North Dakota Century Code § 26.1-41-08 (secured person exemption; the tort threshold applies only to a person who may qualify for no-fault benefits). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t26-1c41.pdf
North Dakota Century Code § 32-03.2-08 (reasonableness review of damage awards over $250,000). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t32c03-2.pdf
North Dakota Century Code § 32-03.2-11 (exemplary damages standard and cap, and the lower threshold for impaired drivers). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t32c03-2.pdf
North Dakota Century Code § 5-01-06.1 (claim for relief for fault resulting from intoxication; dram shop and social host liability). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t05c01.pdf
North Dakota Century Code § 32-03.2-02 (modified comparative fault). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t32c03-2.pdf
North Dakota Century Code §§ 39-10.2-06 and 39-10.2-03 (helmet requirement for riders under 18; full lane use and prohibition on lane splitting). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t39c10-2.pdf
North Dakota Vision Zero (NDDOT), Motorcycle Safety. https://www.visionzero.nd.gov/reaching-zero/road-users/motorcycle
North Dakota Century Code § 39-16.1-11 (minimum motor vehicle liability limits). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t39c16-1.pdf
North Dakota Century Code §§ 26.1-40-15.2 and 26.1-40-15.3 (mandatory uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t26-1c40.pdf
North Dakota Century Code §§ 28-01-16 and 28-01-18 (six-year limit for personal injury; two-year limit for wrongful death). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t28c01.pdf
North Dakota Department of Transportation, Purchase a Crash Report. https://www.dot.nd.gov/travel-and-safety/safety/purchase-crash-report
North Dakota Department of Transportation, 2024 Crash Summary. https://www.visionzero.nd.gov/sites/default/files/documents/statistics/NDDOT-Crash-Summary-2024.pdf

Motorcycle accident settlement amounts in North Dakota