Direct answer
As soon as possible after the accident. Evidence disappears, witnesses move, and New York imposes short deadlines, including a 90-day Notice of Claim for City defendants and a 30-day no-fault application window. An early consultation is free and usually contingency-based, meaning no fee unless the case recovers money.
In more detail
If you remember one thing from this page, remember that time is the single biggest variable in a personal injury case. Surveillance footage at delis, supermarkets, MTA stations, and the corner intersection where you got hit is often overwritten on a 7 to 30 day cycle. Witnesses move apartments. Skid marks wash away in the next rain. The longer you wait to call a lawyer, the less of the original record is preserved.
The deadlines also run quietly in the background while you are still figuring out what hurts. Under NY Insurance Law § 5102 and 11 NYCRR § 65-1.1, the no-fault application (form NF-2) must generally be submitted to your auto insurer within 30 days of the crash to preserve PIP medical and wage benefits. Miss it and you can be on the hook for the bills yourself. If a City vehicle, NYCHA, the MTA, or any other municipal defendant was involved, NY General Municipal Law § 50-e requires a sworn Notice of Claim within 90 days. Workers' compensation claims have a separate 30-day notice rule under NY Workers' Compensation Law § 18.
The general three-year statute under NY CPLR § 214(5) feels long, but it does not protect you from any of the early evidence loss above. A three-year deadline does not help you if the storefront video has been recorded over by week three.
An early call also keeps the at-fault carrier from getting to you first with a quick lowball release before the medical picture is complete. Adjusters move fast on purpose. So should you. Most New York personal injury firms, this one included, work on contingency: no fee unless there is a recovery. The downside of one phone call is essentially zero.
What I see in NYC cases
The clients who do best are the ones who call within the first week. Not because they hire fast, but because we can start preserving evidence the same day. I have written preservation letters to bodegas the morning after a fall and pulled video that would have been gone by Friday. I have filed Notices of Claim with the Comptroller on day 89. The work is the same; the leverage is completely different.
The clients who hurt themselves are the ones who wait six months thinking the back pain will resolve. By then, the gap in treatment becomes the defense's whole case under the no-fault threshold, and we are working uphill from the first deposition.
Related questions
- Do I need a lawyer for a minor accident in NYC?
- What is the statute of limitations for personal injury in New York?
- Should I give a recorded statement to the insurance company?
Talk to Nick
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Compliance
This page is general legal information about New York personal injury law. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Outcomes depend on the specific facts of each case. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Attorney advertising.