What to do after a crash in New York
If you are reading this in the days after a collision, the useful things are simple. Get examined, even if you think you are fine — adrenaline hides injuries, and a gap between the crash and your first medical visit is the first thing an insurer will point to. Report the accident to your own insurer. Photograph the vehicles, the road and your injuries. And before you give anyone a recorded statement, talk to a lawyer.
That last one matters more than people expect. An adjuster who calls three days after a crash is not calling to help you understand your rights. They are building a record while you are sore, medicated and unsure how badly you are hurt.
No-fault pays your bills. It does not pay for what happened to you.
New York is a no-fault state. Under Article 51 of the Insurance Law, your own insurer pays basic economic loss regardless of who caused the crash — generally up to $50,000 covering medical treatment and 80% of lost earnings up to $2,000 a month.
Two things surprise people about that:
- There is a deadline, and it is short. The no-fault application (form NF-2) generally has to reach the insurer within 30 days of the accident. Miss it and the carrier can deny benefits outright.
- No-fault pays nothing for pain and suffering. It covers bills and some lost wages. It does not compensate you for the injury itself, for a permanent limitation, or for the months of your life the crash took.
To recover that, you have to bring a claim against the driver who caused it — and to do that in New York, you first have to clear a threshold.
The “serious injury” threshold
Insurance Law §5102(d) allows a claim for pain and suffering only where the injury is serious as the statute defines it. That includes death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, a fracture, loss of a fetus, permanent loss of use of a body organ or member, a permanent consequential limitation, a significant limitation of use, or an injury that prevents you from performing substantially all of your usual daily activities for at least 90 of the 180 days following the accident.
This is where car accident cases are won and lost. Insurers litigate the threshold aggressively, and a claim that is medically real can still fail if the treatment record does not document it properly. That is an argument about evidence, not about how much pain you are in — which is exactly why the record you build in the first months matters so much.
When the other driver has no insurance, or not enough
It happens more than you would think. If the at-fault driver is uninsured, underinsured or fled the scene, the claim may run through your own policy instead, under uninsured (UM) or supplementary underinsured motorist (SUM) coverage. These claims have their own notice requirements and their own deadlines, and they are frequently missed because people assume that having no one to sue means having no claim.
How long you have
- Three years from the date of the accident for most negligence claims (CPLR §214).
- Two years for wrongful death (EPTL §5-4.1).
- 90 days to serve a notice of claim if a city, county, transit authority or other public body is involved — for example a municipal bus or a sanitation truck (General Municipal Law §50-e), with suit generally within one year and 90 days.
The 90-day rule is the one that quietly ends otherwise strong cases. If a government vehicle was involved in your crash, the clock is far shorter than three years.
Being partly at fault does not end your claim
New York uses pure comparative negligence (CPLR §1411). If you are found partly responsible, your recovery is reduced by your share — but it is not barred. Being told at the scene that the crash was partly your fault is not a reason to walk away from a claim.
What a claim is actually worth
Anyone who quotes you a number before reviewing your medical records is guessing. What genuinely drives value is the nature and permanence of the injury, the treatment required, earnings lost now and in future, the effect on daily life, and the coverage available to pay it. We will tell you what we think and why, and we will tell you when a case is not worth bringing.
How we handle these cases
We investigate the crash rather than accepting the police report as the last word — that means the scene, the vehicles, available video, and the other driver’s record where relevant. We deal with the insurers so you do not have to. We build the medical record with the threshold in mind from day one. And we prepare the file as though it will be tried, because that is what makes a fair settlement possible.
Most claims resolve without a trial. When one should not, we are prepared to try it and to argue it on appeal.
Common questions
Do I have a case if I was not taken to hospital by ambulance?
Often yes. Plenty of serious injuries — disc herniations, tears, concussions — present days later. What matters is that you were examined and that the record connects the injury to the crash.
The insurer offered me a settlement already. Should I take it?
Not before someone independent has looked at it. An early offer is made before the full extent of an injury is known, and accepting it closes the claim permanently.
What does it cost?
Nothing up front. Car accident cases are handled on contingency — there is no fee unless we win, and the consultation is free.
