New York is no-fault: PIP covers up to $50K of economic losses, and you must have a 'serious injury' under Insurance Law §5102(d) to sue for pain and suffering. Downstate settlement values run well above national averages.
Filing deadline
3 years
From the date of the accident, for injury lawsuits.
Fault rule
Pure comparative negligence
New York uses pure comparative negligence: recovery reduced by your fault share, never barred.
Required coverage
$25K / $50K
New York is a no-fault state — your own PIP pays first.
New York is a no-fault state. Every driver carries at least $50,000 in personal injury protection, which pays your medical bills, 80% of lost earnings up to $2,000 a month, and $25 a day in incidental costs — regardless of who caused the crash.
The trade-off is the serious injury threshold under Insurance Law § 5102(d). To sue for pain and suffering you must show a qualifying serious injury: death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, fracture, loss of a fetus, permanent loss of use of a body organ or member, permanent consequential limitation, significant limitation of use, or a 90/180-day disability.
The 90/180 category is the most commonly used and the most commonly misunderstood: it requires a medically determined injury preventing you from performing substantially all of your usual daily activities for at least 90 of the 180 days immediately following the crash.
No-fault benefits require an NF-2 application filed with the insurer within 30 days of the crash. This is a much shorter clock than most claimants expect, and late filing can forfeit benefits.
Fault is allocated under pure comparative negligence, so partial fault reduces but never eliminates recovery.
The 3-year statute of limitations gets the headlines, but it is almost never the deadline people actually miss.
| Deadline | Window | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| No-fault application (NF-2) | 30 days from the crash | Filed with the insurer. Missing it can forfeit PIP benefits entirely. |
| Medical bill submission under no-fault | 45 days from treatment | Providers must bill the no-fault carrier within 45 days of each service. |
| Personal injury lawsuit | 3 years from the crash | CPLR § 214 — a year longer than most states. |
| Claim against a municipality | 90 days notice of claim, then 1 year and 90 days to sue | Applies to the City of New York, the MTA, and other public entities. |
Provisions that are specific to New York and routinely surprise claimants who assumed the national norm applied.
Three years to sue sounds generous, and it is — but no-fault benefits require an application within 30 days. Claimants who take their time seeing a lawyer often lose their PIP benefits before the file is ever opened.
New York defense practice revolves around summary judgment motions arguing the plaintiff does not meet the threshold. Objective proof — imaging, range-of-motion measurements quantified in degrees, and contemporaneous treatment — is what defeats those motions.
Bronx, Kings, and Queens County juries return verdicts well above national norms, and adjusters price that in. The same injury settles for materially different amounts in Manhattan than in an upstate county.
New York requires at least $25K / $50K in bodily injury liability coverage, uninsured motorist coverage is mandatory, and fault is decided under pure comparative negligence.
Bodily injury per person / per accident. This is the ceiling on the at-fault driver's policy, not a valuation of your injury.
Every New York auto policy carries it, so there is almost always a second pot of money when the at-fault driver is uninsured or underinsured.
Your own PIP pays medical bills first regardless of who caused it, and a statutory injury threshold gates the pain-and-suffering claim. Motorcycles are excluded from PIP in most no-fault states — confirm it before you count on that coverage.
New York uses pure comparative negligence: recovery reduced by your fault share, never barred.
Coverage minimums and helmet requirements are set by statute and change. Verified August 2026 against the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety helmet law table and state insurance department filings; confirm the current rule before relying on it.
National ranges adjusted for New York's legal climate. Click an injury for the full New York breakdown.
| Injury | Typical range | Severe cases |
|---|---|---|
| Whiplash | $3K – $30K | up to $125K |
| Back Injury | $13K – $125K | up to $600K |
| Herniated Disc | $48K – $175K | up to $850K |
| Broken Bones | $18K – $125K | up to $425K |
| Concussion / Mild TBI | $25K – $150K | up to $1.2M |
| Shoulder Injury | $18K – $125K | up to $350K |
| Knee Injury | $18K – $125K | up to $475K |
| Neck Injury | $18K – $150K | up to $725K |
| Spinal Cord Injury | $300K – $1.8M | up to $12M |
| Traumatic Brain Injury | $125K – $1.2M | up to $12M |
| Internal Injuries | $60K – $300K | up to $1.2M |
| Burn Injuries | $30K – $250K | up to $6M |
| PTSD / Emotional Distress | $13K – $90K | up to $300K |
| Wrongful Death | $600K – $2.4M | up to $12M |
| Soft Tissue Injuries | $3K – $25K | up to $90K |
| Amputation & Limb Loss | $300K – $2.4M | up to $12M |
| Electrocution & Electrical Injury | $60K – $600K | up to $12M |
| Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) | $30K – $600K | up to $6M |
How the claim is built changes with how you were hurt. Each guide applies NY law to that specific kind of accident.
Car Accident
$4K – $65K
Truck Accident
$30K – $425K
Motorcycle Accident
$25K – $250K
Pedestrian Accident
$30K – $300K
Bicycle Accident
$18K – $175K
Rideshare Accident
$13K – $150K
Slip and Fall
$6K – $73K
Workplace Injury
$6K – $90K
Dog Bite
$18K – $73K
Medical Malpractice
$60K – $600K
Product Liability
$30K – $300K
Nursing Home Abuse
$35K – $350K
Electric Scooter Accident
$13K – $90K
Falling Object Injury
$18K – $175K
These apply to every claim, and each one is a mistake insurers count on.
Get treated within 72 hours, and do not skip visits
Treatment delay and gaps in care are the two most common reasons claims get discounted. If you have to pause treatment for money, work, or childcare, tell the provider so the reason appears in the chart rather than reading as recovery.
Photograph everything while it is fresh
Both vehicles from multiple angles, the scene, road conditions, skid marks, traffic controls, and your visible injuries as they develop. Bruising often looks worse on day three than on day one — photograph it again.
Keep a dated symptom journal
Pain scores, sleep disruption, and specific activities you could not do. Contemporaneous notes carry weight that a recollection twelve months later does not, and they are what make non-economic damages concrete.
Document work impact through your employer
A letter confirming missed shifts, modified duty, or lost overtime turns lost income from an assertion into a provable number.
Decline the early recorded statement
You are not obligated to give a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer. Early statements are taken before symptoms peak and are quoted back for the life of the claim.
Report every symptomatic area at the first visit
Injuries that hurt less at first get mentioned later, and the delay becomes the insurer's causation argument. List everything that hurts, even mildly.
Six phases, and the first is the longest — nothing can be valued until treatment ends or plateaus.
Nothing can be valued until your doctor says you have stopped improving — maximum medical improvement. Settling before that point means paying for your own future care.
Records, bills, wage documentation, and a written demand go to the adjuster. Assembling complete records from every provider is usually what takes the time.
The adjuster reviews the file, often runs it through claims-evaluation software, and sets an authority range. Complex or disputed claims go to a supervisor or a committee.
Offers and counters. Straightforward claims resolve in a handful of exchanges; disputed liability or serious injury can take many rounds, and sometimes a lawsuit filing to move.
You sign a release ending the claim permanently. Read it — a broad release can extinguish claims against parties you did not intend to release.
The check goes to your attorney's trust account. Liens and medical providers are paid first, then fees and case costs, then the balance reaches you. Many states require the insurer to pay within roughly 30 days of the signed release.
The questions people actually search for on this topic, answered in full.
Under Insurance Law § 5102(d) you can only sue for pain and suffering if you sustained death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, a fracture, loss of a fetus, permanent loss of use of a body organ or member, permanent consequential limitation, significant limitation of use, or a medically determined injury preventing your usual activities for 90 of the first 180 days.
Thirty days from the crash to file the NF-2 application with the insurer. That is separate from — and far shorter than — the three-year deadline to file a lawsuit, and it is the deadline claimants miss most often.
The basic policy provides $50,000 in personal injury protection, covering medical expenses, 80% of lost earnings up to $2,000 per month for up to three years, and $25 per day for incidental expenses. Optional Basic Economic Loss coverage adds another $25,000 or more.
Three years from the crash for personal injury against a private driver — longer than most states. Claims against the City, the MTA, or another public entity require a notice of claim within 90 days and suit within one year and 90 days.
It is one route through the serious injury threshold: a medically determined injury that prevents you from performing substantially all of your usual and customary daily activities for at least 90 of the 180 days immediately after the crash. It requires contemporaneous medical documentation of the restriction, not a later recollection of it.
Yes. New York applies pure comparative negligence, so your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault but never barred. Even a driver found 75% at fault recovers 25% of their damages.
New York settlements run above the national average, particularly in the five boroughs where jury verdicts are among the country's highest. The threshold requirement cuts the other way — minor injuries that would settle elsewhere may not be actionable at all here.
Yes — 80% of your lost earnings up to $2,000 per month, for as long as three years, under the basic policy. Wage loss beyond that cap requires either optional additional PIP coverage or a liability claim against the at-fault driver, which in turn requires meeting the serious injury threshold.
The questions people actually search for on this topic, answered in full.
Contingency fees typically run 33% to 40%. The common structure is one third if the case settles before a lawsuit is filed, rising to 40% once litigation begins or the case approaches trial. Case expenses — filing fees, records, expert reports — are usually deducted on top of the fee rather than out of it, so ask specifically which structure the agreement uses.
Compensation for physical injury or physical sickness is generally not taxable federally. Portions allocated to lost wages, punitive damages, and interest generally are, and previously deducted medical expenses can be taxable when reimbursed. How the settlement is allocated among those categories has real consequences, so it is worth addressing before the documents are signed rather than at tax time.
The order of payment is liens and medical providers first, then attorney fees and case expenses, then you. On a $100,000 settlement with a one-third fee, $4,000 in costs, and $15,000 in medical liens, the net is roughly $48,000 — and lien negotiation is frequently where the largest gains are available, because providers often accept substantial reductions.
The insurer typically issues the check within two to four weeks of receiving the signed release, and most states require payment within a reasonable period commonly understood as 30 to 45 days. Disbursement to you then depends on how quickly liens are resolved, which can add several weeks.
Usually not. Industry analysis consistently places first offers at roughly half of a claim's fair value, and adjusters are evaluated in part on savings against reserves. Cases involving a genuine lowball frequently resolve for several times the opening number once the file is properly documented — but the first offer is also final if you accept it, because the release closes the claim permanently.
In most cases yes. Health insurers, Medicare, Medicaid, and hospitals hold subrogation or lien rights against injury recoveries. Those liens are frequently negotiable — sometimes substantially — and reducing them raises your net recovery dollar for dollar without any further negotiation with the insurer.
Answer six questions and your range appears right here — free, no sign-up, no email wall. It is already set to New York, so the pure comparative negligence rule and this state’s settlement climate are built into the number.
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Laws summarized for general education and may change; verify current deadlines and rules with a licensed New York attorney before acting. Not legal advice. InjurySage is not a law firm. Page updated August 2026.