The law that applies to your claim
Where riders go down here
Central Park Avenue, where continuous curb cuts and retail entrances produce constant left-turn conflicts. The Bronx River and Hutchinson River Parkways, whose 1930s curve radii, short merges and stone-faced overpasses leave no run-off room. The Tarrytown Road and Westchester Avenue corridors at commuter hours. And the downtown one-way grid, where drivers change lanes without looking twice.
The no-fault problem is immediate
New York excludes motorcyclists from no-fault, so there is no carrier automatically paying your medical bills. Treatment at White Plains Hospital or Westchester Medical Center bills to health insurance, which then asserts a lien on any recovery. Managing that is part of the case from day one — the mechanics are on our New York motorcycle accident page.
The assumption you are up against
Riders arrive at the claim already blamed. Adjusters assume speed, jurors assume risk-taking, and a police report written at a scene where the rider is unconscious captures only the driver’s account.
It is answered with evidence, not indignation: scene geometry and sight lines, the damage pattern on both vehicles, the point of impact against the driver’s claimed position, and any camera on the retail frontage. On Central Park Avenue there is almost always a camera.
Injuries here are disproportionate
Because riders are excluded from no-fault, they are also not required to clear the serious injury threshold before suing for pain and suffering. That matters, because these injuries are rarely marginal — degloving, open fractures, orthopedic reconstruction and long rehabilitation, frequently through Burke.
The gap between what health insurance pays and what the injury actually costs is the claim.
Preserve the bike
Do not repair or dispose of the motorcycle, and do not let an insurer take it before it has been examined and photographed. Its damage pattern is often the clearest evidence of the direction and speed of impact, and it directly contradicts the version in which the rider came from nowhere.
How long you have to act
- 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 where a city, county, school district, transit authority or other public body is involved (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 public entity may be involved, that is the first thing to check — not the last.
What it costs
Nothing up front. These cases are handled on contingency: there is no fee unless we win, and the consultation is free. You will be told the percentage and how expenses are handled, in writing, before you sign anything.
Common questions
I was not wearing a helmet.
It does not bar the claim. It may reduce damages attributable to head injury, and it has no bearing on fractures or internal injuries.
Who pays my hospital bill?
Usually your health insurer, which will assert a lien. Identifying every coverage source and negotiating those liens down is part of what we do.
The driver said I came out of nowhere.
That is an admission of a failure to keep a proper lookout. The physical evidence usually settles it.
