Car Accident Lawyer in New York

Under NY Insurance Law § 5102(d), serious injuries include: bone fractures, significant disfigurement, permanent loss or limitation of a body organ or function, or an injury that stops you from performing your normal daily activities for 90 out of 180 days. A broken bone anywhere qualifies automatically. So does a herniated disc with nerve compression documented on an MRI. Soft tissue injuries without imaging evidence often do not. The critical piece is how your treatment is documented from day one. An attorney can tell you exactly where you stand based on your medical records.

No. Filing a PIP claim doesn't stop you from also pursuing the at-fault driver if your injuries qualify as serious. PIP and a liability lawsuit are separate tracks. PIP gets your bills paid fast regardless of fault. The lawsuit is how you recover pain and suffering, full lost wages, and long-term damages. The 30-day PIP reporting deadline and the 3-year lawsuit deadline run independently of each other.

Three years from the date of the accident under NY C.P.L.R. § 214 — for both personal injury and property damage. If the accident involved a government vehicle — city bus, NYPD car, MTA vehicle — you have only 90 days to file a Notice of Claim under NY General Municipal Law § 50-e. Miss that 90-day window and your right to sue the government is gone regardless of how clear the liability is.

It depends on when the lawsuit is filed. For car crash cases covered by New York's no-fault law and filed on or after May 26, 2026, CPLR 1411(b) bars recovery if your fault is greater than the other side's; at 50% or less, your damages are reduced by your share. Cases filed before that date use pure comparative fault, where a 60% at-fault plaintiff could still recover 40%. Insurance adjusters will argue your fault percentage as high as possible to reduce the payout. The key is having an attorney who documents and presents the case to keep that number as low as the facts support.