The law that applies to your claim
Where injuries happen in Yonkers
The city is built on hills and crossed by four parkways. The Saw Mill River Parkway and Cross County Parkway interchange is one of the busiest and most confusing merges in the county. Central Park Avenue carries dense retail traffic the length of the city. Getty Square and the downtown grid mix buses, deliveries and pedestrians in tight streets, and the waterfront redevelopment has put construction alongside all of it.
Where a Yonkers case is heard
Civil injury claims for Yonkers accidents are generally brought in Westchester County Supreme Court in White Plains — the same courthouse where our other Westchester cases are heard, and a few minutes from our office.
The topography matters more than people expect
Yonkers is steep. Streets climb sharply from the Hudson, and many older blocks are served by public stairways and steep sidewalks with retaining walls. In winter those become genuinely hazardous, and the freeze-thaw pattern here produces clear ice on inclines where there is nothing to hold.
That geography also affects collisions: limited sight distance at crests, driveways entering at steep angles, and heavy braking on descents into the downtown.
Public entities are everywhere here
Yonkers is New York’s fourth-largest city, with its own school district, housing authority and municipal fleet, and it is served by county Bee-Line buses. If a city or county vehicle, a school bus, a public sidewalk or housing authority property was involved, a notice of claim is generally required within 90 days rather than the ordinary three years.
That is the single most common way a Yonkers claim is lost, and it is the first thing we establish.
Treatment locally
Most people are treated at Saint Joseph’s Medical Center or St. John’s Riverside in Yonkers, with major trauma going to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla. Those records are the backbone of the claim, and a delay in seeking care is the first thing an insurer will use.
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
Do you have a Yonkers office?
No. Our offices are in White Plains, Nyack, Nanuet and Brooklyn. We are in White Plains, minutes from Yonkers and from the courthouse where your case would be heard, and we can meet you at home or at the hospital.
My accident involved a Bee-Line bus.
Then a 90-day notice of claim almost certainly applies. Contact someone immediately rather than after treatment finishes.
I fell on a Yonkers sidewalk.
Sidewalk responsibility may sit with the city or with the adjoining owner, depending on local ordinance. Both may need addressing, and the 90-day rule may apply to one of them.
