New York changed the rules for car accident injury claims through reforms that took effect in May 2026. For lawsuits filed on or after May 26, 2026, three major changes apply: the 90/180-day injury category no longer qualifies as a serious injury, a new fault rule can bar recovery in some cases, and a $100,000 cap now applies to certain at-fault drivers. Insurance adjusters are already applying the new standards, and your claim may turn on details that mattered less before May 26, 2026.
If you are unsure how any of this affects your claim, a New York car accident lawyer at Frekhtman & Associates can review it with you directly. Call (866) 288-9529 for a free case review or request a consultation online.
| What Changed | The New Rule |
|---|---|
| Serious injury threshold | The 90/180-day category is gone. Eight categories remain under Insurance Law Section 5102(d). |
| Fault and recovery | 51% or more at fault bars recovery entirely under the new modified comparative negligence rule. |
| Damages cap | A $100,000 cap applies to pain and suffering for uninsured, impaired, or fleeing-felony drivers found at fault. |
| Effective date | The new rules apply to lawsuits filed on or after May 26, 2026. |
| Scope of these changes | Applies to personal injury lawsuits. Does not apply to wrongful death claims or property-damage-only claims. |
| What has not changed | The 3-year injury deadline, the 2-year wrongful death deadline, and the 30-day no-fault notice deadline. |
If you are unsure how any of this affects your claim, a New York car accident lawyer at Frekhtman & Associates can review it with you directly. Call (866) 288-9529 for a free case review or request a consultation online.
Change 1: The 90/180-Day Injury Category Is Gone
New York removed the 90/180-day injury category from the serious injury threshold, so a temporary injury that once qualified for a lawsuit on its own no longer does. Eight categories remain under Insurance Law Section 5102(d).
To sue for pain and suffering after a car accident, your injury must fall into one of these 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 of a body organ or member
- Significant limitation of the use of a body function or system
Before May 26, 2026, a ninth category would let you sue on its own. It applied if your injury kept you from your normal daily activities for 90 of the first 180 days after the crash, even without meeting any other category. That category is gone.
Soft tissue injuries, sprains, and strains that do not rise to a fracture or a permanent limitation carry less legal weight than they did before May 26, 2026. Medical documentation that ties your injury to one of the eight remaining categories matters more than it ever has.
Our car accident lawyers help determine which of the eight categories your injury falls into. We work with your treating physicians to document it in a way that holds up if the insurance company challenges it. Call (866) 288-9529 to review your medical records with our team before the insurer decides your case does not qualify.
Change 2: Modified Comparative Negligence, and Fault Decided First
New York replaced pure comparative negligence with modified comparative negligence for car accident claims: if a jury finds you 51% or more at fault, you recover nothing. Under the old rule, you recovered a reduced amount no matter how much fault the jury assigned you.
Civil Practice Law and Rules Section 1411(b) sets the new bar at 51% of the combined fault among the parties you sue. A jury now decides fault before it decides whether your injury meets the serious injury threshold. Insurance Law Section 5104(a) ties your right to non-economic damages to both findings: fault first, serious injury second.
The math changes the moment the fault line crosses 51%. A driver found 50% at fault still recovers half of the total award. A driver found 51% at fault recovers nothing. Under the old rule, a driver found 90% at fault still recovered 10% of the award. Under the new rule, the driver recovers zero.
This makes your own evidence more important than it was under the old rule. A police report that assigns you even partial blame no longer just reduces your recovery. Past 51%, it eliminates it.
If an adjuster assigns you 55% of the blame, it no longer just reduces your settlement. It ends your claim. Our car accident lawyers investigate the crash independently, examine the police report, and challenge fault percentages before they escalate. Insurance companies build their initial fault assessments assuming you will not push back with your own evidence. Call (866) 288-9529 before you speak with the adjuster.
Change 3: The $100,000 Cap on Pain and Suffering
New York now caps pain and suffering damages at $100,000 for an at-fault driver who was uninsured, legally impaired and convicted, or fleeing a felony and convicted, at the time of the crash. Insurance Law Section 5104(d) sets the cap.
The cap applies to a driver found at fault, and not already barred from recovery entirely under the 51% rule, who at the time of the crash was:
- Driving without required insurance, unless the policy lapsed less than 30 days before the crash
- Legally impaired by drugs or alcohol and later convicted of that offense
- Committing or fleeing a felony and later convicted of that offense
Wrongful death claims fall outside this specific cap. A family pursuing a wrongful death case after losing a loved one to a driver in one of these three categories is not limited by it. The cap only limits what the at-fault driver personally recovers for their own pain and suffering, not what they owe to someone they injured or killed.
Whether the cap even applies depends on facts you cannot access on your own: the other driver’s insurance status, DWI or DUI conviction status, or pending felony charges. Our team pulls the police report, the insurance verification, and the court record to find out. Call us or submit the consultation form before you assume the cap limits what you can recover.
How These Changes Affect Pedestrians, Cyclists, and Motorcyclists
Pedestrians and cyclists struck by a vehicle receive no-fault medical coverage the same way a passenger would, and they face the same serious injury threshold and fault rules as drivers when suing for pain and suffering.
Motorcyclists are an exception, since they are excluded from New York’s no-fault system entirely. Motorcyclists and their passengers are ineligible for no-fault benefits under Insurance Law Article 51 and have never been required to meet the serious injury threshold to sue for pain and suffering. Whether the new 51% fault bar extends to motorcycle accident lawsuits is currently an open legal question. The new fault restrictions are explicitly tied to the no-fault statute, and it is unclear how courts will treat a rider who sits outside that system.
New Anti-Fraud Rules Insurers Must Now Follow
Effective May 27, 2026, New York added staged-accident schemes to the legal definition of insurance fraud. While this gives insurers more leverage to investigate suspicious claims, it does not change the valuation of legitimate injury cases.
Chapter 55, Part F of the Laws of 2026 amended Penal Law Section 176.05 to include the intentional causing or staging of a motor vehicle accident within the definition of a fraudulent insurance act. While insurers already scrutinize claims, this update provides a firmer legal foundation for their investigations. Claims backed by police reports, contemporaneous medical records, and consistent accounts move through this scrutiny more effectively than unsubstantiated ones.
By providing insurers with a clear framework to challenge staged accidents, this change encourages more focused scrutiny rather than blanket suspicion of all claims.
What Has Not Changed: Your Deadline to File a Claim
The 2026 reform did not change existing filing deadlines. A personal injury lawsuit still has 3 years from the crash date. A wrongful death claim still has 2 years from the date of death. Neither deadline moved when the fault and serious injury rules changed.
The no-fault notice runs on a separate, earlier schedule. Missing it can jeopardize no-fault medical and wage benefits regardless of how strong the underlying lawsuit is. Understanding how no-fault insurance works in New York helps manage both deadlines, since they run independently.
Missing any deadline, even by a few days, ends a valid claim before it reaches court. Our team verifies which timeline applies to a specific claim at no cost.
What to Do Immediately After a Crash to Protect Your Claim
Protecting a car accident injury claim under the new rules starts at the scene: get medical care, document the scene, and avoid admitting fault before anyone knows how the fault percentages will be assigned.
- Call 911 immediately. Seek medical attention even if you feel uninjured, as symptoms of internal or traumatic brain injuries can be delayed.
- Document the scene. Take photos of all vehicles involved, the surrounding environment, and any visible physical injuries.
- Exchange information. Collect the other driver’s name, license plate, and insurance details, along with contact info for witnesses.
- Keep comments brief. Do not discuss fault at the scene. Under the new 51% rule, offhand remarks can be used to bar your recovery entirely.
- Observe deadlines. File your no-fault notice within 30 days. Review our car accident checklist for a full list of required forms.
- Consult counsel first. Speak with a car accident attorney at our firm before providing any recorded statements to insurance adjusters. Call (866) 288-9529 for a free case review.
How to Strengthen Your Insurance Before You Need It
The new 51% fault rule can reduce a recovery from an at-fault driver to zero. Raising your own Supplementary Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (SUM) coverage protects against that gap by creating a source of recovery outside the other driver’s policy, one that does not depend on their fault percentage or the size of their coverage.
New York requires only $25,000 per person in uninsured motorist coverage, an amount that a serious injury claim can exceed within the first few months of treatment. Optional Basic Economic Loss and Additional Personal Injury Protection coverage extends no-fault benefits past the standard $50,000 cap, which matters more now that a temporary injury has fewer paths to a lawsuit. A five-minute call to an insurance agent covers all three.
A coverage review during a free consultation shows whether current limits leave a gap before a driver needs to rely on them.
FAQs About the 2026 New York Car Accident Law Changes
Does the New Law Affect a Claim I Already Filed?
No. A claim already filed before May 26, 2026, proceeds under the rules in effect at filing. The new fault bar, the revised serious injury definition, and the $100,000 cap apply only to lawsuits commenced on or after that date. A crash that happened earlier but has no lawsuit yet filed falls under the new rules once filed.
Does the $100,000 Cap Apply to a Wrongful Death Claim?
No. Insurance Law Section 5104(d) excludes wrongful death claims from the $100,000 non-economic damages cap. The cap limits only what an at-fault, uninsured, impaired, or fleeing-felony driver personally recovers for their own pain and suffering. A family pursuing a wrongful death claim against that same driver faces no cap on the compensation it can recover.
Does It Cost Anything to Find Out If My Claim Is Affected?
No. A case review at Frekhtman & Associates costs nothing regardless of outcome. The firm works on contingency, so payment comes only from a recovery, never from a client’s own funds upfront. A free case review determines which set of 2026 fault and injury rules governs a specific claim within one phone call.
Find Out How the New Law Affects Your Case
Every fault percentage a jury assigns now decides whether a claim recovers anything. Call (866) 288-9529 and tell our team what happened. We review your claim under the current law at no cost, and there is no fee unless we recover compensation for you.
Frekhtman & Associates has recovered more than $900 million for injured New Yorkers since 1999, including a $69,225,000 auto accident jury verdict. Founder Arkady Frekhtman, NY Bar #2931723, has spent his career on exactly these kinds of fault and injury-threshold disputes.