Direct answer
New York's general personal injury deadline is three years from the date of the accident under CPLR § 214(5). Medical malpractice is two years and six months. Wrongful death is two years from death. Claims against the City require a 90-day Notice of Claim and a one-year-and-90-day filing window.
In more detail
The statute of limitations is the legal deadline to file a lawsuit. Miss it and the case is over no matter how strong the underlying facts are.
The general rule for personal injury in New York is three years from the date of the injury, set by NY CPLR § 214(5). The clock starts on the date of accrual, which for almost every car accident, slip-and-fall, or premises case is the date the accident happened. Not the date you saw a doctor. Not the date you hired a lawyer. The date of the event.
Different claim types run on different clocks.
Medical malpractice is shorter. NY CPLR § 214-a sets the deadline at two years and six months. The continuous-treatment doctrine can extend the start date if the same provider kept treating you for the same condition, but you cannot count on that without legal review.
Toxic-exposure claims (asbestos, environmental) run from the date you discovered or reasonably should have discovered the injury, not from the date of exposure, under NY CPLR § 214-c.
Wrongful death is governed by NY EPTL § 5-4.1 and runs two years from the date of death (which is often after the underlying injury date).
Minors get tolling. Under NY CPLR § 208, the clock generally pauses while the injured person is under 18, then starts running once they turn 18. Important caveat: this tolling does not always apply to municipal Notice of Claim deadlines, which run on their own track.
Claims against the City of New York, NYCHA, the MTA, or other municipal defendants are tighter. NY General Municipal Law § 50-e requires service of a sworn Notice of Claim within 90 days of the accident. NY General Municipal Law § 50-i then requires the lawsuit to be filed within one year and 90 days. The 90-day Notice of Claim is the deadline that catches people most often.
Plain English: most personal injury cases get three years, malpractice gets two and a half, City cases get 90 days for the notice and then a year and 90 days to file, and the underlying clock does not care that you were busy or unsure.
What I see in NYC cases
The deadlines that bite are the City ones, not the three-year general rule. People assume they have years and only call after a year goes by. If the at-fault vehicle was an MTA bus, an FDNY truck, a Sanitation truck, an NYPD vehicle, or an unmarked City car, that 90-day Notice of Claim window is what matters. I have had clients walk in at day 85 with a serious case and a notice ready to go by morning. I have also had to turn away strong cases that came in at day 110 because § 50-e late-filing relief is discretionary and not a sure thing. Always assume you are on a 90-day clock until a lawyer tells you otherwise.
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