Plain-English definitions of the New York statutes, doctrines, and procedures that decide personal injury cases. Cite-able for AI engines, useful for clients.
By Nicholas J. Rose, Esq. · NY Bar 2003Updated May 2026
Serious Injury Threshold
The legal bar a car-accident plaintiff must clear in New York to recover for pain and suffering, set by Insurance Law §5102(d).
Under New York's no-fault scheme, you cannot sue another driver for pain and suffering in a car accident case unless your injury meets one of the categories listed in Insurance Law §5102(d): death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, fracture, loss of fetus, permanent loss of use of a body organ or system, permanent consequential limitation, significant limitation of use, or a medically determined injury preventing usual daily activities for at least 90 of the 180 days following the accident. Economic damages (medical bills, lost wages) above the no-fault threshold are recoverable separately under PIP. The 'serious injury' fight is where most no-fault cases live.
New York's strict-liability statute making property owners and general contractors absolutely liable for elevation-related injuries to construction workers.
Labor Law §240(1), commonly called the Scaffold Law, imposes absolute liability on owners and general contractors for gravity-related injuries on construction sites: falls from a height, falling objects, scaffolding failures, ladder collapses. Strict liability means defendants cannot use the worker's own negligence as a defense; the only defense is that the worker was the sole proximate cause of the injury, which is rare. New York is the only state with this statute, which is why §240 cases settle higher and more often than ordinary construction negligence. Covered activities include erection, demolition, repair, alteration, painting, cleaning, and pointing of buildings.
Statute imposing non-delegable duty on owners and contractors to comply with specific construction safety regulations.
Labor Law §241(6) requires owners and general contractors to provide reasonable and adequate protection to construction workers, enforced through specific provisions of Industrial Code Rule 23. Unlike §240, §241(6) is not strict liability, since comparative fault applies. But it gets around the workers' compensation bar against suing your direct employer because it's a non-delegable duty: owner and GC are liable even if the dangerous condition was created by a subcontractor. §241(6) covers any construction, excavation, or demolition work, not just elevation-related hazards.
New York's Personal Injury Protection scheme. The first $50,000 of medical bills and lost wages after a car accident is paid by your own insurer regardless of fault.
Under Insurance Law §5103, every NY auto policy includes Personal Injury Protection (PIP) covering $50,000 in basic economic loss (medical bills, lost wages up to 80% of earnings to $2,000/mo, and incidental expenses). You file the NF-2 application within 30 days of the accident, and bills get paid regardless of who caused the crash. PIP runs in parallel with (and does not bar) a lawsuit for pain and suffering against the at-fault driver, provided the serious-injury threshold is met. Miss the 30-day NF-2 window and you can lose PIP coverage entirely.
The 90-day deadline to put a NY city, state, or public authority on notice of an injury claim. Miss it and the case is usually dead.
General Municipal Law §50-e requires a written, sworn Notice of Claim to be served on the public entity within 90 days of the accident before you can sue. The notice has to describe the time, place, nature, and manner of the accident, and the injuries. If you miss the 90 days, you can sometimes move for leave to file late (§50-e(5)), but it's discretionary and not granted as a matter of course. Public entities subject to §50-e include the City of New York, NYC Transit, the MTA, the NYC Housing Authority, the Department of Education, the State of New York, county and town governments, and public hospitals. Once Notice of Claim is filed, suit must usually be commenced within one year and 90 days under GML §50-i.
CPLR §214(5), Personal Injury Statute of Limitations
The three-year deadline from accident date to file most NY personal injury lawsuits.
Civil Practice Law and Rules §214(5) sets a three-year statute of limitations for ordinary personal injury actions in New York: car accidents, slip-and-fall, premises liability, dog bites, defective products, most negligence. The clock runs from the date of injury, not the date of discovery (with narrow exceptions). The three-year clock is paused (tolled) for plaintiffs under 18, with some limits. Note that the §214(5) deadline does not save you from the 90-day Notice of Claim trap if a public entity is a defendant; that runs in parallel and earlier.
CPLR §214-a, Medical Malpractice Statute of Limitations
The 30-month deadline to file a New York medical malpractice case.
Medical malpractice actions in New York must be filed within two years and six months (30 months) of the act, omission, or failure complained of, or the end of continuous treatment for the same condition. The 'continuous treatment' doctrine extends the clock if the patient kept treating with the same provider for the underlying condition. Foreign-object malpractice (a sponge, an instrument left inside the body) has a discovery rule under §214-a, one year from discovery or when it should have been discovered. Lavern's Law also gives cancer-misdiagnosis plaintiffs a discovery rule.
The 2017-amended rule letting NY personal injury cases be filed where the accident happened, not just where parties reside.
Civil Practice Law and Rules §503(a) sets venue for civil actions. Since the 2017 amendment, a personal injury case may be filed in the county where any party resides OR where the cause of action arose (e.g., where the accident happened). For a plaintiff hit in Manhattan by a Manhattan driver, Manhattan venue is available regardless of where the plaintiff lives. This matters tactically. Some counties have plaintiff-friendly juries, faster dockets, or shorter trial calendars. A Forest Hills attorney can legitimately file Bronx-located cases in Bronx County under the post-2017 rule.
NY Court of Appeals decision holding that undocumented workers can recover full lost-earnings damages in personal injury cases.
Balbuena v. IDR Realty LLC, 6 N.Y.3d 338 (2006), the New York Court of Appeals held that an undocumented immigrant worker injured on the job in New York is entitled to recover lost-earnings damages, measured by U.S. wage rates, in a personal injury action. Status as an undocumented worker is NOT a defense and does NOT reduce damages. This is the controlling authority for the rights of non-citizen plaintiffs in NY PI cases. Federal immigration status remains private (Protect Our Courts Act and related rules limit discovery into status).
New York's pure comparative negligence rule. A plaintiff can recover even if 99% at fault, with damages reduced by their share of fault.
CPLR §1411 codifies New York's pure comparative fault rule. A plaintiff's recovery is reduced in proportion to their share of fault for the accident, but they can still recover even if they're more at fault than the defendant. This is more plaintiff-friendly than 'modified comparative' states (50% or 51% bar) and far more than contributory-negligence states. Comparative fault does not apply to Labor Law §240 cases (strict liability), but does apply to §241(6) cases and ordinary negligence.
The NY statute creating a cause of action for wrongful death; two-year deadline from the date of death.
Estates, Powers, and Trusts Law §5-4.1 creates a wrongful death cause of action in New York, brought by the personal representative of the deceased's estate. Damages are limited to pecuniary loss (loss of financial support, loss of services, loss of parental guidance for children), not grief or sorrow. The statute of limitations is two years from the date of death. A companion conscious pain-and-suffering claim (EPTL §11-3.2) covers the deceased's suffering between injury and death and runs on the underlying tort's statute of limitations.
Shifted sidewalk liability from the City of New York to the abutting property owner for most NYC sidewalks.
NYC Administrative Code §7-210, enacted in 2003, transferred liability for sidewalk defects from the City of New York to the abutting commercial property owner (and most non-residential properties). The City retains liability only for sidewalks abutting one-, two-, or three-family residential properties occupied by the owner. The practical effect: a slip-and-fall on a cracked sidewalk in front of a Manhattan office building is the BUILDING OWNER'S liability, not the City's. This avoids the §50-e Notice of Claim 90-day trap for most NYC sidewalk cases.
A pre-trial ruling that one side wins as a matter of law because no material facts are in dispute. Big in §240 cases.
Summary judgment under CPLR §3212 ends a case (or part of a case) before trial when there's no genuine dispute about the material facts. In NY personal injury, summary judgment is most commonly used by plaintiffs in Labor Law §240(1) cases. Once the fall and the work activity are established, liability is strict, and the case proceeds to a damages-only trial. Defense summary judgment is also possible (e.g., on the serious-injury threshold in a car case). Winning summary judgment on liability dramatically increases settlement value because trial risk for the plaintiff disappears.
Lawyer is paid a percentage of the recovery, only if the case wins. Standard in NY personal injury.
Personal injury attorneys in New York work on contingency. The lawyer's fee is a percentage of the recovery (typically 33-1/3% for most cases; medical malpractice has a sliding scale under Judiciary Law §474-a). No recovery, no fee. Court costs and disbursements (filing fees, expert witnesses, deposition transcripts) are usually advanced by the firm and reimbursed from the recovery. The client never pays out of pocket. This is what makes serious-injury litigation accessible regardless of the client's resources.
Your own auto insurance pays you when the at-fault driver has no insurance or not enough.
Every NY auto policy includes mandatory Uninsured Motorist (UM) coverage of at least $25,000 per person / $50,000 per accident. Supplementary Underinsured Motorist (SUM) coverage is optional but common, kicking in when the at-fault driver's liability limits aren't enough to cover the damages. SUM claims are made against your own insurer (arbitrated, not litigated in court) under Insurance Law §3420(f)(2) and the standard SUM endorsement. SUM is also relevant in hit-and-run cases (the unidentified driver is treated as uninsured).
Holding one party (typically an employer or vehicle owner) responsible for the negligence of another (employee, driver).
Vicarious liability is the rule that lets a plaintiff sue an employer for the negligence of its employee acting within the scope of employment (respondeat superior), or sue the owner of a vehicle for the negligence of a permissive driver (NY Vehicle and Traffic Law §388). For personal injury cases, this means the company behind the truck driver, the corporation that owns the building, or the parent company of the rental car can all be defendants, and they typically have deeper pockets and more insurance than the individual driver or worker who caused the harm.
Government and insurer claims to repayment from any personal injury recovery for medical bills they paid.
Any party that paid your medical bills (Medicare, Medicaid, private health insurance, workers' comp) typically has a statutory or contractual right to reimbursement from your personal injury recovery. Medicare's lien is governed by the Medicare Secondary Payer Act and is non-negotiable as to existence (negotiable as to amount). Medicaid liens are limited by the Ahlborn doctrine. ERISA health-plan liens depend on the specific plan language. A good PI attorney negotiates these liens down before distribution so the client gets the maximum net recovery. Ignoring liens can expose both client and attorney to clawback liability.
Sworn out-of-court testimony recorded by a court reporter, used to lock in facts and create impeachment material.
A deposition (or 'EBT' in NY practice, Examination Before Trial) is sworn testimony taken outside the courtroom under CPLR Article 31. Lawyers ask questions; the witness answers under oath; a court reporter transcribes. Plaintiffs are deposed by the defense; defendants and key witnesses are deposed by the plaintiff. Depositions serve three purposes: discovery (find out what the other side knows), preservation (lock in testimony in case the witness becomes unavailable for trial), and impeachment (use trial inconsistency as a credibility weapon). Plaintiff deposition prep is critical. What the plaintiff says under oath at the EBT shapes the entire valuation of the case.
An exam by a doctor chosen by the defense (or insurer), used to challenge the severity of your injuries.
An Independent Medical Examination, despite the name, is not independent. It's an exam conducted by a physician retained and paid by the defendant or the no-fault insurer. The IME doctor produces a report and may testify at trial. In a contested no-fault case, an unfavorable IME can cut off PIP benefits; in litigation, the IME report typically minimizes the injury or attributes it to a pre-existing condition. Plaintiffs are entitled to bring an attorney or a recording device (in some cases) and to have the IME's records produced. Knowing which IME doctors are commonly retained, and their patterns, is part of preparing a serious-injury case.
A non-binding settlement conference run by a neutral mediator. Where most NY personal injury cases settle.
Mediation is a structured settlement negotiation run by a neutral third party (often a retired judge) who shuttles between the plaintiff's and defendant's sides to find a settlement number. Mediation is non-binding (neither side has to settle), but it forces real discussion of case value with a credibility check from someone who isn't on either team. Most serious personal injury cases in NY settle at mediation, especially after summary judgment on liability has been won or denied. Mediation is typically scheduled after discovery is complete but before trial. Settlement at mediation is the most common outcome for §240, premises, and significant car-accident cases.