New York is a no-fault state, so most people hurt in a crash have two separate claims. The first is the no-fault claim, which pays medical bills and part of your lost earnings no matter who caused the accident. The second is the injury claim against the driver who caused it, which covers what no-fault leaves out: pain and suffering, lost earnings above the no-fault limits, and the cost of care you will need later.
Each claim has its own rules and its own deadlines. We open both at the start, so neither one lapses while you are focused on getting better.
What no-fault pays
No-fault coverage, also called personal injury protection or PIP, comes from Insurance Law §5102. It pays up to $50,000 per person in what the law calls basic economic loss:
- Reasonable and necessary medical care, including hospital bills, doctor visits, physical therapy, prescriptions and tests
- 80 percent of your lost earnings, up to $2,000 a month for up to three years
- Up to $25 a day for other reasonable expenses, such as help at home or travel to treatment, for up to one year
In New York, No Fault benefits generally come from the insurer of the vehicle you were driving or occupying when the accident happened. Different rules can apply in special situations, including accidents involving buses, uninsured vehicles, or vehicles that cannot be identified. Pedestrians and cyclists are covered too, which we explain on our pedestrian and bicycle accident page.
The no-fault deadline is 30 days. The written application, form NF-2, has to reach the insurer within 30 days of the accident, and your doctors have 45 days from each visit to submit their bills. Insurers can deny late filings, so we send the application in the first days of the case.
When you can sue for pain and suffering
No-fault pays for economic loss only. To recover for pain and suffering from the driver at fault, New York requires a “serious injury” as defined in Insurance Law §5102(d). The categories include:
- A fracture
- Significant disfigurement, or dismemberment
- Permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system
- Permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member
- Significant limitation of use of a body function or system
- Death, or the loss of a fetus
Herniated discs, torn ligaments and other soft-tissue injuries can meet the threshold, and insurers often contest them. The proof comes from your medical records: MRI results, range-of-motion measurements, and a doctor who connects the injury to the crash. The defense looks first for gaps in treatment, so keep your appointments and tell your doctors about every symptom, including the ones that seem minor.
What an injury claim can cover
Once the serious injury threshold is met, the claim against the driver at fault can include:
- Pain and suffering, past and future
- Lost earnings above what no-fault paid, including the effect of a lasting injury on the work you can do
- Future medical care, such as surgery, injections or physical therapy your doctors expect you to need
- Loss of the ability to do the things you did before the crash
If you are married, your spouse may have a claim of their own for the loss of your companionship and help at home. That claim rides alongside yours in the same case.
No one can tell you what a case is worth on the first call. The number depends on the medical proof, the insurance available, and how clearly the evidence shows who caused the crash. We tell you what we see as the case develops, and you decide whether to accept any offer.
Truck crashes involve more parties and more records
A crash with a box truck, tractor-trailer or delivery van is a different kind of case. Interstate trucking companies must follow the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, which limit how many hours a driver can be on duty and require electronic logging devices that record driving time. Those logs, the driver’s qualification file, the maintenance records and the truck’s event data recorder often decide who was at fault.
Carriers only have to keep a driver’s hours-of-service records for six months (49 CFR 395.8), so we send a preservation letter to the trucking company at the start of the case.
A truck case can also have several defendants, each with its own insurance: the driver, the company that employed the driver, the owner of the truck or trailer, the company that loaded the cargo, and the shop that last serviced the brakes. We look for all of them at the start, because a claim limited to one policy can run out before your injuries are paid for.
Rideshare, taxi and livery crashes
Uber and Lyft drivers in New York City are licensed by the Taxi and Limousine Commission and carry commercial insurance, as do yellow and green cab drivers. If you were a passenger, no-fault usually comes from the policy on the car you were in. If a rideshare or cab driver hit you, your injury claim goes against the driver’s commercial policy. We get the trip record, the vehicle’s TLC license and the insurer’s name in the first days of the case.
Hit-and-run and uninsured drivers
If the other driver fled or had no insurance, the claim usually runs through your own policy. New York requires every auto policy to include uninsured motorist coverage. Many people also carry supplementary uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, known as SUM, which pays when the other driver’s policy limits are too low for your injuries.
If no one in your household has an auto policy, the Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation, or MVAIC, may cover you. Both paths have strict notice rules. A hit-and-run has to be reported to the police within 24 hours, and MVAIC generally requires written notice of your claim within 90 days of the accident.
Crashes with City vehicles and MTA buses
A crash with a sanitation truck, a police car or an MTA bus follows different rules. Before you can sue the City of New York or the MTA, you must serve a notice of claim within 90 days (General Municipal Law §50-e), and the lawsuit has to be filed within one year and 90 days. The City can also question you under oath at a hearing before the case goes further.
If the 90 days pass, you have to ask a court for permission to file late, and the court does not have to grant it.
What to do in the first days after a crash
- Get medical care the same day, even if you feel fine. Adrenaline masks pain, and a same-day record ties your injuries to the crash.
- Call 911 from the scene. If anyone was hurt, each driver also has to file a report with the DMV, form MV-104, within 10 days.
- Photograph the cars, the road, the traffic signals, any skid marks and your injuries. Get the other driver’s license, plate number and insurance card.
- Take down the names and phone numbers of witnesses before they leave.
- File your no-fault application within 30 days.
- Keep receipts and pay stubs, and write a short daily note about your pain and what you could not do.
- Turn down any request for a recorded statement from the other driver’s insurer until you have talked to a lawyer.
What we collect while you recover
Cars get repaired, witnesses move on, and businesses record over their video. While you focus on treatment, we gather the evidence: the police report, video from nearby buildings and buses, the 911 call, photographs of both vehicles before repair, and statements from the people who saw the crash. Every call and letter from the insurance companies comes to us instead of you.
You have direct access to your attorney and our team throughout your case. Our office is at 63-52 Woodhaven Boulevard in Rego Park, a few blocks from Queens Boulevard, and we take cases from across Queens and the rest of New York City. If a crash took the life of someone in your family, see our page on wrongful death claims. You can talk to our office in English, Spanish or Russian, and you pay no fee unless we recover money for you.