New York

Personal Injury Lawyers

When someone is hurt in an accident, the questions that come up can be just as stressful as the injury. What rights do you have in New York? What are the deadlines? Who might be responsible, and how is that figured out? New York has its own set of rules for personal injury claims that differ from those in other states. This page gives a clear overview of how personal injury law works in New York, what you can expect, and how our team can help.

Personal injury law allows people to seek help if they are injured because someone else was careless or negligent. In New York, these claims can arise from many situations: a car accident on the Long Island Expressway, a slip and fall in a Queens building, a crash with a delivery truck on the Cross Bronx Expressway, or an injury at a Manhattan office building. The main idea is that someone else did not act carefully enough, resulting in the injury.

New York personal injury law is mostly based on state laws and court decisions. The rules for determining who is at fault, how losses are measured, and how cases are initiated are unique to New York and may differ from those in other states. Understanding these rules can help injured people make better choices about what to do next.

Pure Comparative Negligence in New York

New York follows the legal doctrine of pure comparative negligence. Under this framework, an injured person may still seek compensation even if they were partially responsible for the accident. Their recoverable damages may be reduced in proportion to their share of fault, but the ability to pursue a claim is not eliminated by shared fault, even when that share is substantial.

This approach differs from the rules in many other states, where a person who bears more than a certain percentage of fault may be barred from recovery entirely. In New York, fault is assessed based on the specific facts and circumstances of each case. Witness accounts, physical evidence, police reports, photographs, and expert analysis can all bear on how fault is ultimately determined.

Who May Be Liable

In a New York personal injury case, one or more people or companies can be responsible, depending on what happened. It could be a careless driver, a property owner who failed to fix a hazard, a company that made a faulty product, a government agency, an employer, or a mix of these. Figuring out who might be responsible is one of the most important first steps in looking at a claim.

How No-Fault Works

New York is a no-fault automobile insurance state. After a motor vehicle accident, injured parties generally seek compensation for medical expenses and certain lost wages through their own personal injury protection (PIP) coverage, regardless of who caused the accident. This system is intended to provide quicker access to basic compensation without requiring a fault determination first.

This means that in many auto accident situations, the initial claim does not involve suing the other driver. Instead, an injured person looks to their own insurer for certain immediate costs, up to the limits of their PIP coverage.

The Threshold for Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit

New York law establishes a threshold for stepping outside the no-fault system and pursuing a civil lawsuit against an at-fault driver. To bring such a claim, an injured person’s injuries generally must meet the definition of a “serious injury” as defined under New York’s Insurance Law. This statutory definition includes categories such as significant disfigurement, fracture, permanent loss of use of a body organ or member, significant limitation of use of a body function or system, and certain defined periods of total disability.

Because this threshold is defined by statute, whether a particular injury qualifies can be a substantive legal question. How an injury is documented by physicians, through diagnostic imaging, and in medical records, can matter considerably in determining whether the threshold is met.

General Statute of Limitations

New York law sets time limits for bringing personal injury claims. Under the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR), the general statute of limitations for most personal injury claims is three years from the date of the injury. For wrongful death claims, where surviving family members seek compensation for the loss of a loved one, the filing deadline is generally two years from the date of death. These are not soft guidelines. A claim filed after the applicable deadline is typically barred, regardless of how serious the injury was or how clear the other party’s responsibility may be.

Claims Against Government Entities

A separate and significantly shorter set of rules applies when an injury involves a government entity. When a claim is brought against the City of New York, a New York City agency, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a state agency, or another governmental body, injured parties are generally required to file a formal Notice of Claim before any lawsuit can be filed. This notice requirement carries its own deadline, considerably shorter than the three-year general limitation, and failure to meet it can affect the ability to pursue the claim entirely.

Given the volume of public infrastructure, transit systems, and government-operated facilities in New York City and across the state, government entity involvement in an accident is not uncommon. Identifying that involvement early and acting within the applicable notice period is one of the most time-sensitive aspects of New York personal injury practice.

Filing and Court Structure

Personal injury cases in New York are typically filed in the New York Supreme Court, which functions as the state’s primary trial-level court for civil matters. Each county has its own Supreme Court, and cases are generally filed in the county where the accident occurred or where the defendant resides or does business.

In New York City, this means filing in the Supreme Court for the right borough: Kings County (Brooklyn), Queens County, New York County (Manhattan), Bronx County, or Richmond County (Staten Island). Outside the city, cases may go to Supreme Courts in counties like Westchester, Nassau, Suffolk, Erie, Monroe, and Albany; each handles civil cases on its own but follows the same state rules.

The New York Unified Court System provides a statewide overview of court structure and how civil cases are organized. For procedural questions, the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR) governs civil litigation procedures across the state.

Discovery and Resolution

After a case is filed, both sides share documents, evidence, and witness details. Depositions, which are recorded interviews under oath, are common in New York personal injury cases. Experts, like doctors and accident specialists, often give their opinions in more serious cases.

Many personal injury cases in New York are settled before trial. If there is no settlement, the case may go to a jury trial. What happens depends on how strong the evidence is, who is involved, how serious the injuries are, and other details that come up as the case moves forward.

New York’s highways are home to many big trucks, especially on I-95 in Westchester, I-87 near New York City, and across the state. Accidents involving tractor-trailers, large delivery trucks, and other commercial vehicles often raise more complex legal issues than regular car accidents.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sets federal standards for commercial driver qualification, hours of service, cargo securing, and vehicle maintenance that apply regardless of state lines. When a commercial vehicle is in a New York accident, the applicable regulatory framework and the entities potentially responsible, including drivers, carriers, and maintenance contractors, can be considerably broader than in a standard two-car collision.

Establishing what rules applied, whether they were followed, and how any violations may relate to the accident requires access to regulatory records, driver logs, and maintenance histories. These records are subject to their own preservation timelines, which is one reason why commercial vehicle cases often benefit from early investigation.

Practical takeaway: A slip and fall case is not simply about whether a surface was wet or uneven. It involves a legal question about what the property owner knew, when they knew it, and what they did — or failed to do — in response.

What you do right after an injury can affect how your personal injury claim goes later. Every case is different, and the best steps depend on what happened, but people in New York accidents often find these steps helpful:

• Get medical help right away. Having records of your injuries soon after the accident helps show they were caused by the accident. Waiting to get care can make it harder to prove this.
• Report the accident to the right people. This could mean calling the police, telling a property manager or your boss, or reporting it to a transit authority. Official reports document what happened at the time.
• Keep any evidence you can. Take photos of the accident scene, get contact information for witnesses, and save any reports or paperwork. These can be very helpful later.
• Be careful with recorded statements. Insurance representatives may contact injured parties quickly after an accident. Statements made before consulting an attorney and before the full scope of injuries is understood can sometimes create complications in a claim.
• Be aware of deadlines. As mentioned earlier, New York has different deadlines depending on the type of claim and who is involved. Acting before these deadlines, especially if the government is involved, is important.

These are general informational steps, not legal advice. The appropriate course of action in any specific situation depends on the facts of that situation.

Vaksman Khalfin helps people who have been hurt in accidents across New York and need clear guidance through the legal process. We focus on understanding everything about what happened, how the accident occurred, the injuries, and the applicable rules before giving advice on what to do next.

We help clients at every step of a personal injury case: reviewing the case at the start, sharing information, talking with insurance companies and the other side, and preparing for settlement or trial if needed. Our cases come from car accidents, injuries on someone else’s property, truck accidents, transit injuries, and other accidents in New York City, Long Island, Westchester County, and upstate areas. Our team knows the rules and steps for personal injury cases in New York, how the courts work, the no-fault rules, the shared fault system, and the special notice rules for claims against the government. This knowledge helps us look at each case and explain options to our clients at every step.

To learn more about our legal team in New York, visit our New York lawyers overview. If you are ready to discuss your situation directly, you can schedule a free consultation at any time.