Key New York rules at a glance
| Topic | New York |
|---|---|
| Fault rule | Pure comparative negligence — recovery reduced by your share of fault, with no cutoff (CPLR §1411). |
| Injury lawsuit deadline | 3 years for most negligence suits (CPLR §214); medical malpractice 2½ years; wrongful death 2 years; claims against public entities need a notice of claim within 90 days. |
| Minimum auto liability | 25/50/10 — $25,000 per person / $50,000 per accident bodily injury (double for death), $10,000 property damage. |
| Auto insurance system | No-fault — mandatory PIP pays up to $50,000 per person for medical costs and lost earnings regardless of fault; pain-and-suffering lawsuits require a 'serious injury.' |
| Workers' compensation | Cash benefits pay two-thirds of average weekly wage multiplied by the degree of disability, capped at an annually adjusted statewide maximum; coverage is required for nearly all employers. |
Fault and liability
New York is a pure comparative negligence state by statute (CPLR §1411): your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault and never eliminated by it. Even a plaintiff 80% responsible for an accident can recover 20% of their damages. Juries assign the percentages, and in negotiated claims the adjuster's asserted split is an opening position — context in how shared fault changes a claim.
Filing deadlines
Most negligence lawsuits — car accidents included — carry a three-year filing deadline (CPLR §214), longer than the two-year norm in the other covered states. The exceptions bite hard: medical malpractice runs two and a half years, wrongful death two years, and any claim against a city, county, or state entity generally requires a notice of claim within 90 days before suit. The generous default makes the short exceptions easy to miss.
Auto insurance: the $50,000 no-fault layer
New York is a no-fault state with the richest mandatory first-party coverage of the four states covered here: Personal Injury Protection pays up to $50,000 per person for medical costs, lost earnings (a percentage with its own monthly cap), and related expenses — regardless of fault. Liability minimums are 25/50/10. The trade-off: you can sue an at-fault driver for pain and suffering only if the injury qualifies as "serious" under Insurance Law §5102(d) — fractures, significant disfigurement, permanent limitations, and similar categories. Soft-tissue-only claims usually stay inside the no-fault system entirely.
Workers' compensation notes
New York requires coverage for nearly all employers, including most part-time and family employees. Cash benefits pay two-thirds of your average weekly wage multiplied by your degree of disability, capped at a maximum the Workers' Compensation Board adjusts every July. Medical care for the injury is covered with no time or dollar limit for as long as the condition requires, and comp is the exclusive remedy against your employer in almost all cases.
Using ClaimLedge for a New York claim
Because PIP pays first, value the liability claim net of what no-fault already covered — the Car Accident Settlement Estimator prices the tort layer for injuries that clear the serious-injury threshold. New York's pure comparative rule means the fault slider never zeroes you out, but every point still costs you; the valuation math is walked through in how settlements are calculated.