Motor Vehicle Accidents
A New York motor vehicle claim moves on two tracks — no-fault administrative recovery, and, where the injury qualifies, a third-party negligence action against the tortfeasor's liability carrier. The firm works both tracks in parallel from the first day of the file.
Article 51 and the first fifty thousand dollars.
Under Article 51 of the Insurance Law, every registered motor vehicle in New York carries mandatory Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage of $50,000 per person. That coverage pays basic economic loss — medical treatment reasonably related to the accident, eighty percent of lost wages up to a monthly cap, and household-services reimbursement — without regard to fault. The firm files the no-fault application (Form NF-2, together with the accompanying medical provider forms) within the thirty-day statutory window from the date of loss, and typically inside seven days of retention. Untimely filing forecloses PIP recovery entirely.
The no-fault regime also imposes its own dispute-resolution mechanism: contested medical bills and denied treatments are adjudicated in no-fault arbitration under 11 NYCRR §65-4, not in Supreme Court. The firm coordinates PIP disputes with the client's treating providers and, where necessary, pursues arbitration on the client's behalf to keep treatment authorized while the third-party matter proceeds.
Insurance Law §5102(d).
Recovery beyond basic economic loss — that is, pain-and-suffering damages, damages for permanent disability, damages for future medical expense — requires a showing that the plaintiff sustained a "serious injury" as that term is defined in Insurance Law §5102(d). The statute enumerates categories: death; dismemberment; significant disfigurement; a fracture; loss of a fetus; permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system; permanent consequential limitation of use; significant limitation of use; and the "90/180" category, defined as a medically-determined injury preventing customary daily activities for at least ninety of the one hundred eighty days following the accident.
Threshold analysis begins at intake. The firm's intake form captures the categorical position from the first client interview and orients the medical work-up toward the objective evidence that will be required at summary judgment. A file that will proceed on the "significant limitation" category requires quantified range-of-motion testing from an examining physician; a file that will proceed on the fracture category requires the diagnostic imaging in the treating file. The firm does not wait for the defense summary judgment motion to build the threshold record.
UM and SUM coverage.
Where the at-fault driver is uninsured, the client's own auto policy is the source of recovery under the mandatory Uninsured Motorist (UM) endorsement. Where the at-fault driver's policy limits are insufficient to compensate the injury, the client's Supplementary Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (SUM) endorsement provides an additional layer of coverage, subject to the offset rules in Insurance Law §3420(f)(2). SUM claims are worked as arbitrations under the standard SUM endorsement rather than as jury trials, which changes the presentation posture materially: the arbitrator is typically a retired judge or senior practitioner, and the case is decided on the papers with limited live testimony.
The firm evaluates UM and SUM coverage at intake by requesting the full declaration page of the client's own auto policy and, where the client is a household member of another policyholder, the declaration pages of every policy that may resident-relative coverage.
The negligence action against the tortfeasor.
The core third-party recovery is the negligence action against the at-fault driver — and, where applicable under respondeat superior, against the driver's employer or vehicle owner. New York applies pure comparative fault under CPLR §1411, meaning the plaintiff's recovery is reduced by the plaintiff's own percentage of fault but not barred by it. The firm's investigation identifies every potentially liable party (the driver, the owner, the employer, a negligent maintenance contractor, a municipal defendant where road conditions contributed) and joins each on the theory the evidence supports.
The statute of limitations for a negligence action arising out of a motor vehicle accident is three years under CPLR §214(5). Where a municipal defendant is implicated, a notice of claim must be filed under General Municipal Law §50-e within ninety days of the date of loss, and the substantive claim commenced within one year and ninety days. These deadlines are calendared to the day at intake.
Injury patterns the firm regularly represents.
- Cervical and lumbar disc injury
- Herniation, bulge, and radiculopathy documented by MRI. Treatment progression typically involves conservative care, epidural steroid injection, and — where indicated — surgical consultation. Threshold generally satisfied under the significant-limitation or permanent-consequential category with the appropriate objective testing.
- Fracture
- Categorically qualifies for threshold under §5102(d) upon confirmation by diagnostic imaging in the treating record. Case value is driven by displacement, healing, hardware, and residual limitation.
- Traumatic brain injury
- Ranges from concussion with post-concussive syndrome to severe TBI. Neuropsychological evaluation is standard. Threshold typically satisfied; damages driven by cognitive and vocational impact.
- Soft-tissue injury with 90/180 profile
- Where objective ROM limitation is absent but the client has been unable to perform substantially all customary activities for the required ninety-day window, the 90/180 category is available. Requires contemporaneous documentation from a treating physician.
- Reflex sympathetic dystrophy / CRPS
- Post-traumatic pain syndromes requiring specialized diagnostic protocol. Litigated with treating pain-medicine physician and, where warranted, a retained expert.
- Wrongful death
- Filed under EPTL §5-4.1 by the personal representative. Pecuniary loss to distributees is the measure of damages. Coordinated with the estate's counsel.