Personal Injury Counsel Built for Real Recovery

It depends on the type of claim and the defendant. General negligence — three years under CPLR § 214. Medical malpractice — two and a half years under CPLR § 214-a from the act or the end of continuous treatment. Wrongful death — two years from death under EPTL § 5-4.1. Claims against the City of New York, the MTA, NYC Transit, or any other municipal defendant — Notice of Claim within ninety days and lawsuit within one year and ninety days, under General Municipal Law §§ 50-e and 50-i. Missing the statute of limitations is fatal — the case is dismissed regardless of the merits.

No-fault is the New York scheme codified at Insurance Law § 5102 under which your own auto insurance carrier pays the first $50,000 of medical bills, lost wages (up to $2,000 per month), and related expenses after an auto accident — regardless of whose fault the accident was. The trade-off is that to sue the at-fault driver beyond the no-fault PIP benefits, the injured party must establish a "serious injury" under § 5102(d). No-fault applies to drivers, passengers, and pedestrians struck by motor vehicles.

Insurance Law § 5102(d) defines serious injury as a personal injury that results in death; dismemberment; significant disfigurement; fracture; loss of a fetus; permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function, or system; permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member; significant limitation of use of a body function or system; or a medically determined injury or impairment that prevents the injured person from performing substantially all of the material acts that constitute his or her usual and customary daily activities for not less than ninety days during the one hundred eighty days immediately following the accident. The threshold is the central battleground in most NYC auto cases.

New York is a pure comparative fault state under CPLR § 1411. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault, but it is never barred. If a jury finds you 30% at fault, you recover 70% of your damages. If a jury finds you 70% at fault, you still recover 30% of your damages. Comparative fault is one of the most important reasons New York remains a viable forum for catastrophic-injury litigation — many other states bar recovery once the plaintiff's fault crosses 50% or 51%.

Case value depends on the liability picture (clear liability versus comparative fault), the nature and permanence of the injuries, past and future medical expenses, past and future lost earnings, the impact on activities of daily living, and the venue and judge. Two cases with the same injury can produce very different recoveries based on liability and venue. We do not quote a number until we have the medical records, the wage records, and the liability discovery in hand — but we will tell you honestly what the case is worth once we do.

Most personal injury cases settle without trial. The questions are when and for how much. Some settle pre-suit on a demand letter and negotiation. Most settle at the end of discovery, on the eve of trial, or during trial itself. A small number go to verdict. We prepare every case as if it will be tried, because the cases that settle for full value are the ones the carrier believes we will actually try.

New York Labor Law § 240(1) — known as the Scaffold Law — imposes absolute liability on the owner and general contractor of a construction project for elevation-related injuries to workers (falls from heights, falling objects). Unlike ordinary negligence, comparative fault is not a defense to a Section 240(1) claim. The narrow exceptions are recalcitrant worker (the worker affirmatively refused a safety device that was readily available) and sole proximate cause (the worker's own action was the only cause of the injury). The statute is one of the most worker-protective in the country.

Yes — but the procedure is unforgiving. A Notice of Claim must be served on the City Comptroller within ninety days of the accident under General Municipal Law § 50-e. The lawsuit must be commenced within one year and ninety days of the accident under § 50-i. A 50-h hearing (a transcribed pre-suit examination of the claimant) is typically required before the lawsuit can proceed. The City of New York, NYC Transit, the MTA, the NYPD, the FDNY, the DOE, and the Health & Hospitals Corporation are all subject to the same regime.

Most cases do not. The vast majority of New York personal injury cases settle at some point — pre-suit, during discovery, at the eve of trial, or during trial. The cases that go to verdict are typically those with a fundamental liability dispute or a damages valuation gap that neither side will close. When the case must be tried, it must be tried — and we try them.

Nothing out of pocket. Personal injury cases are handled on a contingency fee — the firm advances costs and disbursements (medical record retrieval, expert fees, court filing fees, deposition transcripts) and is paid a percentage of the recovery only if and when there is a recovery. The standard New York contingency fee is one-third of the net recovery (after disbursements). No recovery, no fee. The engagement letter spells out the percentages, the cost-advance structure, and the lien priority in detail.