A personal injury claim is a lawsuit filed against a person who is held negligently responsible for an injury to the victim’s body or property. In New York, a personal injury victim can ask for compensation for his or her loss and even hire a attorney to represent his or her case.
Statute of Limitations
As with all other states, New York has set statute of limitation for filing a personal injury claim in the court. This time should always be kept in mind when claiming your damages in the case. The statute of limitation rules are as follows for the state of New York:
- The time for filing a personal injury claim in New York is THREE YEARS.
- The time starts from the day when the injury is happened.
- If the injured fails to file a case within three years, he or she is no longer eligible to file a personal injury case in front of the court.
Motor Vehicle Insurance Policies
When it comes to motor vehicle insurance, New York follows a ‘no-fault’ rule. This rule basically limits the number of options for an injured party to recover compensation for his or her injuries. Regardless of who is at fault in the accident, the rule makes the injured party seek compensation from his or her own insurance company for personal injury cases involving road accidents.
Comparative Fault Rules
If you share fault in your accident, you might end up losing the compensation amount that you were eligible for in the case. This is called a ‘comparative negligence rule’. Under this rule, the amount of compensation entitled to the victim of personal injury case get reduced by an amount that is equal to the percentage of the fault shared by him or her.
For example, imagine you are driving a car and another car hits after running through a stop sign. Later on it is discovered that you were driving over the speed limit, therefore the court deems that you share 20% of the fault. Consequently, your compensation amount that could have been $20,000 gets reduced to $16,000 as per your own partial fault in the accident.
Damage Caps in Personal Injury Cases of New York
New York does not cap damages for medical malpractice. Also, there are no damage caps on personal injury cases involving wage loss and property damages; once it is proved that they are caused by defendant negligence. New York is one of the 15 states that do not impose any limitations on damages to be received in personal injury cases.
