Kaston & Aberle, LLP

Guide to New York Car accident claims [step-by-step]

2026-04-18T02:02:20Z

New York's auto insurance laws are notoriously complex. Navigating the intersection of state mandates and insurance company tactics requires a clear understanding of your legal rights from the moment of impact, and this guide breaks down exactly what crash victims need to know to secure maximum compensation.

New York’s "no-fault" (PIP) system

New York is one of the few states that utilizes a "no-fault" insurance system, also known as Personal Injury Protection (PIP). Under this framework, your own insurance provider is responsible for paying up to $50,000 for initial medical expenses, a portion of lost wages, and other reasonable and necessary expenses, regardless of who caused the crash.

The serious injury threshold for NY auto accidents

While no-fault coverage handles immediate economic losses, it does not provide compensation for non-economic damages such as pain and suffering. To sue the at-fault driver for these additional damages, victims must prove they have sustained a serious injury. This threshold is met if the victim suffers:

Fractures: Any broken bone, regardless of the severity
Significant disfigurement: Visible scarring or alterations to physical appearance
Permanent limitation: The loss of use of a body organ, member, function, or system

Also, this includes non-permanent injuries that prevent the victim from performing substantially all of their usual and customary daily activities for at least 90 of the 180 days immediately following the accident.

Immediate steps after a car crash

Call 911: Secure a mandatory police report to serve as the official, neutral record of the accident
Get medical attention: Establish a formal medical record that directly links your injuries to the collision
Document the scene: Take photos of all vehicles, property damage, and road conditions

After completing these steps, you must also exchange insurance details and obtain contact info from any witnesses.

How does pure comparative negligence work in New York?

It is important to note that New York also follows a pure comparative negligence rule, which means you can still recover financial damages even if you share partial blame for causing the accident, as your final award will simply be reduced by your percentage of fault.

Critical legal deadlines after an accident

Failing to meet these specific New York filing windows will result in the permanent loss of your right to compensation:

30 days: Deadline to file a no-fault application (NF-2) with your insurer to secure medical and wage benefits.
90 days: Deadline to file a notice of claim if a municipality is involved, such as a collision with an MTA bus or government vehicle.

It is also worth noting that the standard statute of limitations to file a personal injury lawsuit against the at-fault driver is 3 years.

The role of a New York car accident attorney

An experienced legal professional gathers crash evidence, shields you from aggressive adjusters, and meticulously proves your injury meets the state's strict serious injury threshold. Legal representation ensures that technical filing errors do not prevent you from receiving full compensation. If you have been injured in a collision, taking immediate and informed action is the only way to safeguard your physical and financial recovery under New York law.

What damages could you be entitled to after a personal injury?

2024-12-26T19:23:22Z

Victims of personal injuries may be entitled to fair compensation. Compensation can provide financial relief as a result of an accident. There are two types of damages that could be collected with a successful lawsuit: economic and non-economic damages. Here is what you should know about each:

4 types of economic damages

Economic damages can include any actual financial losses caused by a personal injury.

Medical bills: A victim may be charged for their hospital stay, medicine, use of medical equipment, surgery and home care. Medical bills can lead to extreme debt depending on the type of care a victim needs.
Lost wages: A victim may lose wages as they recover from their injuries. A victim may lose the ability to work, affecting their future earning capability.
Property damages: The defendant may have caused damage to a victim’s property, such as their vehicle, electronics or home.
Funeral costs: Surviving family members of the victim may seek to recover burial or cremation costs.

Economic damages are often easy to discover. These types of damages can be collected through bills, receipts and tax returns.

3 types of non-economic damages

Non-economic damages are intangible losses that may affect the victim physically or psychologically. A victim can recover non-economic damages such as:

Pain and suffering: The victim may suffer emotional distress, mental anguish, depression or anxiety as a result of an accident. Furthermore, an injury may have caused a victim to suffer long-term pain and physical discomfort.
Disfigurement: A victim may have suffered extreme injuries that left them disfigured. Their disfigurement may affect their emotional capacity or limit their mobility.
Loss of companionship: An accident may have led to a wrongful death, affecting the victim’s spouse and their surviving family.

Legal guidance can help victims explore their compensation options after a personal injury.

Did an attractive nuisance cause your child’s injury?

2024-12-06T17:09:25Z

Children love to explore. They only need their imagination and are off to their next adventure. Because their young brains are still developing, they don’t always recognize when something is dangerous. That’s especially true when they’re having fun.

The attractive nuisance doctrine

Anything on your property that may attract children and pose a risk is considered an attractive nuisance. Swimming pools, construction sites and trampolines are typical examples of something that seems fun and inviting but can also be dangerous. The attractive nuisance doctrine states that property owners are legally responsible for securing their property to protect children from injury. Failure to secure their premises could make the owner liable if a child is hurt. It’s important to note that natural features such as ponds, lakes and hills are not considered to be attractive nuisances. Many landowners believe placing “No Trespassing” signs throughout their property will protect them from liability. However, children are treated differently than adults when it comes to trespassing. Many feel that any child under the age of six shouldn’t be held responsible for trespassing; However, much depends on a child’s mental and emotional maturity. In addition to posting signs, property owners need to take additional steps, including:

Installing barriers such as fences or locked gates
Inspecting the property for new risks and addressing them promptly
Keep structures such as old buildings, vehicles and appliances locked and inaccessible

If your child is injured on another person’s property, the first step is seeking medical attention. Afterward, it’s essential that you take pictures and document the circumstances under which your child was injured. If it was due to the property owner's negligence, you may be eligible for compensation for your child’s injuries.

Tips if you see a dangerous dog

2024-11-19T09:42:50Z

If you encounter a dangerous dog and are afraid of being bitten, it’s important to know how to react. Often, people’s initial instincts are incorrect. For instance, you may think yelling or running away is a good idea, but both of these actions can actually escalate the situation. Remember, dogs have a strong prey drive and a territorial instinct. If you act aggressively, the dog may respond in kind. If you run away, their prey drive may kick in, causing them to chase you. So, what should you do instead?

Stay calm and back away

Nothing guarantees you will not be bitten, but here are some important steps to take to reduce the odds of an attack:

Remain calm: Dogs are sensitive to energy and can sense fear or aggression. Try to stay composed.
Avoid eye contact: Keep the dog in your peripheral vision without making direct eye contact, as this can appear confrontational. Avoid turning your back completely.
Keep a smaller profile: Turn your body to the side to make yourself appear less threatening.
Protect your extremities: Keep your hands close to your sides, as many dog bites target arms and hands. If the dog charges, use an object like a jacket or bag as a barrier for them to bite instead of you – “feeding” the item to the dog.
Back away slowly: If the dog stays in place and barks, begin backing away calmly and slowly without sudden movements. Do not run.
Create a barrier: If possible, put an obstacle between you and the dog, such as stepping behind a parked car or fence.

Even if you follow these precautions, you could still suffer injuries due to a dog owner's negligence. Dog bites can lead to significant injuries, especially if they become infected. If you are bitten, it’s crucial to understand how to seek financial compensation for your medical bills and other related costs.

Who is legally liable when a bus crashes?

2024-11-11T07:39:00Z

When a bus crashes in New York, determining legal liability can be a complex process, partially due to the number of parties potentially involved and the varying factors that could have contributed to the cause(s) of the accident at issue. Liability often depends on the cause of a crash, the specific circumstances surrounding it and the entities or individuals responsible for ensuring passenger safety. This last concern can be particularly challenging involving a publicly-owned bus, like a school bus utilized by a publicly-funded school district. Holding a private bus company accountable for harm is often easier than taking a public agency to task.

Potentially liable parties

Every bus crash unfolds uniquely. With that said, particularly common defendants named in bus accident lawsuits include:

Bus drivers: A bus driver may be held liable if a crash results from negligent or reckless actions, such as speeding, distracted driving, fatigue or failing to follow traffic laws.
Bus companies: In many cases, a bus company that owns and operates a vehicle bears significant responsibility for ensuring safe transportation. This includes hiring qualified drivers, maintaining vehicles and providing proper training. If a bus company fails to uphold safety standards, conduct adequate background checks on drivers, or schedule reasonable working hours, it may be found liable for accidents that result from these oversights.
Maintenance professionals: If a crash is caused by a mechanical failure, liability could fall on those responsible for maintaining and inspecting the bus at issue.
Bus manufacturers: Sometimes, a defect in a bus or its components may cause an accident. If a faulty design or manufacturing defect is found to have contributed to a crash, a bus manufacturer or the manufacturer of the defective part may be held liable.
Other drivers: If another driver’s negligence causes or contributes to a crash, they could be held liable.
Government entities: In cases where a bus is publicly owned, such as a city transit bus, liability may involve a government entity, such as a municipal transportation authority.

New York law generally requires that those pursuing a claim establish negligence on the part of the responsible party or parties. Seeking personalized legal guidance in the wake of an injurious crash is a good way to get started.

Signs a dog bite is infected

2024-10-28T12:51:14Z

Puncture wounds tend to trap debris under the skin. One example of this is a dog bite. The dog could have physical debris – like dirt, food or grime – on its teeth. It could also have bacteria in its mouth. When you get bitten by a dog, the teeth create a deep puncture wound, and there’s a high chance that this could become infected because the dirt or bacteria get stuck in the wound. If it does become infected, your condition can grow very serious. It is important to know what signs to look for so that you understand when it is time to get more advanced medical treatment. Even if you initially cleaned the wound out and bandaged it, it could still get infected in the future.

What signs should you look for?

The following are a few examples of potential signs you may see when an infection sets in:

The pain and tenderness around the wound increases.
The area becomes red and swollen.
There is drainage from the wound, such as pus.
You have trouble moving the injured part of your body – if you were bitten on the arm, for example, it may become difficult to bend your arm at the elbow.
Your lymph nodes are enlarged, signifying that your body is fighting off an infection.
The bite wound turns into a bump or an abscess.
You develop symptoms of a fever, such as sweating, chills and a high temperature.

It is important to take an infection seriously, as it can spread throughout the body and make you very sick. You may also need extensive medical treatment, and an infected dog bite is more likely to have long-term symptoms. As such, it’s important for you to understand the legal options you have to seek financial compensation from the dog’s owner.

Common examples of aggressive driving

2024-10-16T15:31:51Z

Unfortunately, driving can bring out the worst in some people. They can become uncharacteristically aggressive, meaning that they are a danger to others. Studies suggest that aggressive driving plays a role in over half of all fatal car crashes. To protect yourself, it’s important to recognize the forms that aggressive driving takes. Outlined below are some common examples of aggressive driving.

Excessive speeding

Sometimes, a vehicle may go one or two miles per hour over the speed limit by mistake. This isn’t necessarily done out of aggression. However, when a car excessively speeds, this can be aggression. The driver may be so determined to get to where they need to be that they have stopped considering the safety of others.

Running red lights

Angry people generally do not like to wait around, and this includes at red lights. An aggressive driver may become so frustrated at having to wait, that they choose to ignore the red light and run straight through it. This is especially dangerous because they run the risk of hitting oncoming vehicles at intersections and other stopping points.

Dangerous overtaking

While overtaking is not necessarily illegal, it is a maneuver that has to be performed carefully. Drivers should not overtake other vehicles that are sticking to the speed limit and keeping up with the flow of traffic. Overtaking maneuvers should also not be performed in heavy traffic or in areas where visibility is poor. Aggressive drivers often ignore the hazards and continue to overtake others regardless of the dangers. This type of behavior makes a crash extremely likely. Aggressive driving can constitute negligence. If you were hurt by an aggressive driver, then pursuing personal injury compensation could be an option. To do this, you’ll need to have as much accurate legal information as possible.

Workplace violence and workers’ comp in New York: Know the law

2024-10-01T12:11:54Z

Workplace violence has become a sad fact of life in the U.S. Sometimes it’s at the hands of current or former employees. Sometimes, a customer, visitor or someone whose target is an employee is the perpetrator. Hospital employees, for example, are too often the victims of violence by patients who may be mentally unstable or who react badly to medications or simply to the situation they’re facing – or by those who follow someone into the emergency room to continue an altercation. Those who are injured or whose loved ones are killed in an act of workplace violence may be able to get workers’ compensation benefits. Workers’ comp laws vary throughout the country. Let’s take a look at New York law.

Did the violence arise out of a person’s employment and during the course of it?

Under state law, for a workplace injury to be covered by workers’ comp, it must “arise out of employment” and be suffered “in the course of employment.” The law has what’s called a “rebuttable presumption” that if an injury occurred in the workplace, it was related to the employee’s job. If one employee attacks another or if a robber shoots an employee, these would often both qualify as compensable. But what about that reputable presumption? What if one employee attacked another not because they were fighting not over who would get an overtime shift but over politics or sports? An argument could be made that the assault, and therefore the injury, didn’t arise out of employment even though it occurred during the course of employment.

A case against the employer for negligence could be made

The same argument could be made if, as too often occurs, an angry spouse or partner follows someone to their workplace and attacks them (and sometimes others). Of course, in that case, if an employee is denied workers’ comp, they could potentially file a negligence lawsuit against the employer if the attacker was able to bypass security systems. To use that first example about a fight over politics or sports, if an employee who has exhibited violent and unstable behavior in the past physically attacks someone over something unrelated to work, a victim might be able to bring a negligence case if the employer ignored those complaints. If you believe you’ve been wrongfully denied workers’ comp benefits after a workplace attack, it’s smart to get legal guidance to better understand your rights under the law.

Don’t underestimate how devastating spinal cord injuries can be

2024-09-13T15:09:59Z

Spinal cord injuries can have life-altering consequences, affecting mobility, sensation and overall quality of life. They can also disrupt your lifestyle, earning capacity and personal relationships.

Along with pain and other effects, injuries involving the spine can lead to insurmountable medical care costs. Below is an overview of spine injuries with information victims need to know.

Injury types

Spinal cord injuries (SCI) can be classified as complete or incomplete. A complete injury results in total loss of function below the injury site, while an incomplete injury allows for some degree of function. The severity and location of the injury determine the extent of the impairment it causes.

Associated costs

The financial impact of spinal cord injuries can be severe. In the first year, medical expenses can range from $347,000 for incomplete motor function to over $1 million for high tetraplegia. Ongoing costs can reach $184,000 annually, depending on the need for surgery and long-term care.

Secondary complications

Victims of SCI are at risk for secondary complications such as pressure sores, respiratory issues and urinary tract infections. These complications can further increase medical costs and impact the victim’s quality of life. In some cases, complications may even be life-threatening.

Psychological effects

Unfortunately, catastrophic spine injuries usher in a roller coaster of emotional effects. Depression and anxiety are common in spine injury patients. Professional counseling or therapy may be necessary as you learn to cope with diminished independence and its emotional consequences.

When another person's negligence caused your injuries, you may be eligible for substantial financial compensation. Someone familiar with New York injury laws can help you obtain the restitution necessary to make as complete a recovery as possible.

The unique dangers of tanker truck accidents

2024-08-28T18:54:10Z

Tanker truck accidents pose significant dangers, often surpassing those of other truck crashes. They can result in catastrophic consequences, with victims frequently suffering severe, life-changing injuries. Learning more about the hazards liquid cargo trucks present can keep you safer on the road.

Hazardous materials and slosh dynamics

Tanker trucks frequently carry flammable, toxic, or corrosive substances. In a collision, these materials can leak. This can lead to fires, explosions or toxic chemical exposure. Additionally, slosh dynamics, the movement of fluid in the tank, can cause sudden shifts in weight distribution, potentially destabilizing the truck and increasing accident risks.

Size and weight impact

Tanker trucks can be as long and heavy as an ordinary tractor-trailer. However, liquid cargo can increase its weight significantly, contributing to the severity of accidents. When a tanker truck is involved in a crash, the impact force can be significantly higher compared to the force of collisions with smaller vehicles. This increased force can result in more extensive injuries to those involved.

High rollover risks

The risk of a rollover accident may be greater with tanker trucks due to their high center of gravity and the shifting nature of liquid cargo. That means they may be more prone to tipping over, especially during sharp turns or sudden maneuvers. Rollover accidents are inherently dangerous, typically leading to widespread spills and further complicating rescue operations.

Specialized emergency response

The response to these crashes usually requires specialized training and equipment to ensure safety for all. Unfortunately, this could delay rescue efforts and emergency medical help. Getting legal guidance before filing a claim if you were injured in a tanker truck accident can help you ensure that you have identified all possible sources of compensation under New York accident and injury laws.