New York Personal Injury Lawyers — Felicetti Law Firm

New York runs two systems at once. A no-fault scheme pays for treatment quickly and without argument, and a tort system sits behind it for people hurt badly enough to qualify. Understanding which one a case is in — and how to get from the first into the second — is most of what a New York injury claim involves.

No-Fault Covers the First Fifty Thousand Dollars

Basic economic loss under New York’s no-fault scheme provides up to $50,000 per person for medical treatment, a portion of lost earnings and certain other expenses, paid by the insurer of the vehicle involved regardless of fault.

No-fault has a deadline of its own that has nothing to do with the deadline to sue: the application for benefits generally must reach the insurer within thirty days of the accident, and medical bills within forty-five days of treatment. Miss those and benefits can be denied even where liability is not in dispute.

The Serious Injury Threshold Decides Whether You Can Sue

In a New York motor vehicle case, a claim for pain and suffering requires a serious injury as Insurance Law § 5102(d) defines it. The section lists nine categories, among them death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, fracture, loss of a fetus, permanent loss of use of a body organ or member, permanent consequential limitation of use, significant limitation of use of a body function or system, and the so-called 90/180 category — a medically determined injury preventing substantially all usual activities for at least ninety of the first hundred and eighty days.

Threshold motions are where New York cases are won and lost, and they turn on objective medical proof and the consistency of the treatment record. Gaps in care are the defense’s favourite exhibit.

Suing the City Is a Ninety-Day Proposition

Claims against New York City and its agencies — the MTA, NYC Transit, the Department of Sanitation, the Health and Hospitals Corporation, the school system — require a notice of claim within ninety days, followed by suit within one year and ninety days. A statutory hearing may be demanded in between.

Compared with the three years available against a private defendant, that is a dramatically shorter runway, and it applies to a very large share of collisions in the five boroughs.

Three Years to File, and Partial Fault Never Bars Recovery

The general deadline for a New York personal injury action is three years (CPLR 214(5)) — longer than most neighbouring states. Wrongful death runs on a shorter, separate period from the date of death.

New York applies pure comparative negligence under CPLR 1411. A claimant’s own culpable conduct reduces the award in proportion to the fault attributed to them, and does not bar the claim at any percentage. The statute is a single undivided provision: there is no motor-vehicle carve-out and no threshold at which fault extinguishes a New York claim.

Where the Firm Works in New York

The firm handles claims across the five boroughs and the surrounding counties — Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester — and takes New York matters upstate. Case types include car accidents, truck collisions, motorcycle claims, pedestrian and cyclist injuries, rideshare and livery crashes, trip and fall cases, construction accidents, workers’ compensation and wrongful death.

Local information for Queens is on the Queens car accident lawyer page.

Free New York Case Review

If a city or transit vehicle was involved, ninety days is the number that matters. If it was a private driver, the question is whether the injury meets the threshold — and that is answerable. Call (800) 333-1988 or get in touch online. The review is free and the fee is contingent.

Call (800) 333-1988 — Free New York Case Review

Other areas served by the firm: New Jersey · Washington, DC · Maryland · Florida

New York deadlines, no-fault rules and the serious injury threshold are summarised generally and carry exceptions. Not legal advice; no attorney-client relationship is formed here. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. New York matters are handled by attorneys licensed in New York.