How Long Do You Have to File a Car Accident Lawsuit in New York? (Statute of Limitations Explained)

In New York, you generally have three years from the date of a car crash to file a personal injury lawsuit. That rule comes from CPLR 214(5). But several situations cut that window down to 90 days or less, and a law that took effect on May 26, 2026 means the day you file now also decides which version of New York law applies to your case.

That last part is new, and it is the piece almost nobody is talking about yet.

If you are reading this because you have been putting off a call, we understand. Most people who reach out to the Law Offices of Norman Gershon are not stalling. They were in treatment, dealing with an insurance adjuster, or waiting to see how their back felt in six months. It can feel uncertain when you do not know what the rules are. This article lays out every clock that can apply, where the deadlines come from, and what changed this year. If your situation involves a government vehicle or a fatality, please speak with a car accident lawyer in Westchester quickly, because those timelines are much shorter than three years.

A quick note before we go further: this is general information, not legal advice about your case. The 2026 reforms are still very new, and courts have not yet interpreted several parts of them.

The Short Answer, and the Part That Changed This Year

Three years is the standard deadline for a car accident injury lawsuit against a private driver in New York. The clock starts on the date of the crash, not the date you learned how bad the injury was.

“Statute of limitations” refers to the outside deadline for starting a lawsuit in court. “Accrual” is the legal term for the day that clock starts running. In most New York car accident cases, accrual is the crash date itself.

Here is what is different in 2026. Under Part EE of Chapter 58 of the Laws of 2026, several core rules for motor vehicle injury cases were rewritten. According to New York State Department of Financial Services Insurance Circular Letter No. 3 (2026), issued July 1, 2026, those amendments took effect on May 26, 2026 and apply to all actions and proceedings commenced on or after that date.

Read that carefully. The trigger is when the lawsuit is commenced, not when the accident happened.

Every Deadline That Can Apply to a New York Car Accident Claim

Different defendants come with different clocks. This is the single biggest reason people lose otherwise strong cases.

Your situation	Deadline	Legal authority
Injury lawsuit against a private driver	3 years from the crash date	CPLR 214(5)
Wrongful death lawsuit	2 years from the date of death, not the crash	EPTL 5-4.1
Written notice to your no-fault insurer	No more than 30 days after the accident	11 NYCRR 65-1.1(b)
No-fault medical bills	45 days from the date services are provided	11 NYCRR Part 65
No-fault lost earnings claim	90 days from when the work loss happens	11 NYCRR Part 65
MV-104 crash report to the DMV	10 days, if anyone was hurt or killed, or property damage to any one person tops $1,000	VTL 605
Notice of Claim against New York City, Westchester County, a village, or a school district	90 days from the incident	General Municipal Law 50-e
Lawsuit against a municipality after that notice	1 year and 90 days from the accident	General Municipal Law 50-i
MTA, New York City Transit, MTA Bus, or Westchester’s Bee-Line	Notice of Claim in 90 days, lawsuit within 1 year and 90 days	GML 50-e and Public Authorities Law
Crash with a State of New York vehicle, State Police, NYSDOT, or the Thruway Authority	Claim filed and served in 90 days, or serve a notice of intention in 90 days and file within 2 years	Court of Claims Act 10(3)
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey	Written notice within 60 days	NY Unconsolidated Laws 7107
Hit-and-run by an unidentified driver (MVAIC)	Police report within 24 hours, Notice of Intention within 90 days	Insurance Law 5208
Identified but uninsured driver (MVAIC)	Notice of Intention within 180 days	Insurance Law 5208
Child injured in a crash, lawsuit only	Clock generally paused until age 18, then 3 years, so usually until age 21	CPLR 208
Case dismissed on a procedural ground, not the merits	6 months from termination to refile, with service inside that window	CPLR 205(a)

Notice how many of those are measured in days.

Why the Date You File Now Decides Which Law Applies to Your Case

This is the newest and least understood point in New York car accident law right now.

Say two neighbors are hurt in similar crashes in October 2024. Both still have until October 2027 to file. If one filed in March 2026 and the other files next month, they are litigating under two different sets of rules, for the same kind of accident, on the same street.

What the 2026 changes actually did

Per the DFS circular letter, Part EE made four changes:

• The 90/180-day serious injury category was removed. The “serious injury threshold” is the bar you have to clear under Insurance Law 5102(d) before you can sue for pain and suffering after a car crash. One route to clearing it used to be showing a non-permanent injury that kept you from substantially all of your normal daily activities for at least 90 of the first 180 days. That route is gone. Claims now have to fit categories like death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, a fracture, loss of a fetus, permanent loss of use, permanent consequential limitation, or significant limitation of use.
• Fault gets decided first. Insurance Law 5104(a) now requires the jury or judge to decide who was at fault before deciding whether the injury was serious.
• A $100,000 cap on non-economic damages applies to certain at-fault drivers. Under new Insurance Law 5104(d), that cap can apply where the injured person was driving an uninsured vehicle they were responsible for insuring (with an exception for a coverage lapse under 30 days), was driving while impaired and convicted of it, or was driving during a felony or fleeing one and was convicted. It does not apply where the injuries result in death.
• New York moved to modified comparative negligence for auto cases. New CPLR 1411(b) bars recovery if the claimant’s share of fault is greater than the fault, or combined fault, of the people they are suing.

That fourth one is the big one. New York used to follow pure comparative fault, where someone 99 percent at fault could still recover 1 percent.

Attorneys Daniel E. Furshpan and Keith S. Grover of Rivkin Radler LLP, writing on June 5, 2026 for the insurance defense side, described the change this way:

“a monumental shift in the law”

They go on to explain that comparative negligence, which used to only reduce the size of an award, can now end a claim completely. That is the defense bar telling its own insurance clients the ground moved in their favor. Source: rivkinradler.com, “NY’s New Motor Vehicle Accident Amendment a Win for Insurers.”

Does the new law apply if my crash happened before May 2026?

Possibly, and this is unsettled. The statute says the changes apply to actions and proceedings commenced on or after the effective date. It does not say accidents occurring on or after. Read literally, an older crash that has not been filed yet may fall under the new rules once a suit is started.

Defense and plaintiff-side commentators have both flagged that retroactivity and due process challenges are likely, and that no court has resolved this yet. We are not going to tell you how a judge will rule on it, because nobody honestly can. What we will say is that if your crash predates May 2026 and you have not filed, the timing of that filing is a real strategic question and not a formality. That is a conversation to have with an attorney now, not next spring.

If You Are Sitting on an Unfiled Claim, Get a Read on It

You do not need to hire anyone to find out where you stand. A short conversation is usually enough to tell you which clock applies to your crash and whether your filing date is going to matter. Call us at 914-274-4812 and ask.

What Happens If You Miss the Statute of Limitations in New York?

In almost every case, the claim is over. Courts dismiss late-filed cases regardless of how badly someone was hurt or how clearly the other driver was at fault.

There is one narrow safety net. CPLR 205(a) gives a plaintiff six months to refile after a case is terminated for certain procedural reasons rather than on the merits, and service has to be completed inside that same six months. It does not apply to a voluntary discontinuance, a failure to get personal jurisdiction, or a dismissal for neglect to prosecute. It is a repair tool for a case that was already filed on time, not an extension for someone who never filed.

When a Government Vehicle Is Involved, You May Have 90 Days

A Notice of Claim is a formal written notice telling a public entity that you intend to sue. Under General Municipal Law 50-e, it is generally due within 90 days of the incident, and it is a prerequisite. Skip it and the lawsuit goes nowhere.

The New York City Comptroller’s Office, which receives these for the City, states the same 90-day rule on its own claims page.

Buses and public transit

MTA, New York City Transit, MTA Bus, and Westchester County’s Bee-Line all fall under this system. Notice of Claim in 90 days, then the lawsuit within 1 year and 90 days of the accident. There is also an extra step most people have never heard of: under GML 50-h, the entity can demand a sworn examination before any lawsuit is filed. If they request it, you have to appear, and what you say there follows the case.

State vehicles are handled in a separate court

If a State Police cruiser, a NYSDOT truck, or a Thruway Authority vehicle was involved, the case does not go to Supreme Court at all. It goes to the New York Court of Claims. Under Court of Claims Act 10(3), the claim has to be filed and served within 90 days, unless a written notice of intention is served in that window, which extends the filing time to two years.

The shortest clock in the state

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey requires written notice within 60 days under NY Unconsolidated Laws 7107. That covers the George Washington Bridge, the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels, PATH, and the airports.

If a city, county, or state vehicle was involved in your car accident case in White Plains or anywhere else in Westchester, the 90-day rule is where your case actually starts, not the three-year rule.

Two Court Decisions That Show How Strictly These Rules Are Applied

We include these because they answer the two things people most often tell themselves after a crash with a government vehicle.

“The city already knows, their driver was right there.” In Matter of Crawford v City of New York, 2025 NY Slip Op 02341 (Second Department), the court held that a City employee’s direct involvement in the motor vehicle accident was not by itself enough to show the City had actual notice of the essential facts of the claim. The court also held that a serious injury accident report filed with the DMV did not put the City on notice.

“I was too hurt to deal with paperwork.” In that same decision, the court found that focusing on medical treatment, without supporting medical documentation, was not a reasonable excuse for the delay.

“My lawyer dropped the ball, so the court will understand.” In Matter of Rosario v New York City Housing Authority, 2026 NY Slip Op 04200 (Second Department), law office failure by the claimant’s own attorneys was not a reasonable excuse for missing the notice deadline.

To be fair about it, a late Notice of Claim is not automatically fatal. Courts weigh whether the entity got actual knowledge of the essential facts within 90 days or a reasonable time after, whether there is a reasonable excuse, and whether the delay would substantially prejudice the defense. Where there is actual knowledge and no prejudice, the lack of a good excuse will not necessarily bar relief. See Matter of Card v Haverstraw-Stony Point Central School District, 2026 NY Slip Op 04765.

The honest takeaway: getting permission to file late is a motion you have to win, not a right you have. All three decisions are published on nycourts.gov if you want to read them.

Why Waiting Hurts Even When You Are Still Inside the Three Years

Here is what typically happens while a claim sits.

The law gives you 1,095 days to file. The deli on the corner keeps its video for a few weeks. Those two numbers are not on the same scale, and only one of them is under your control.

Attorneys who handle evidence preservation report that private surveillance systems commonly retain footage for about 30 to 90 days, and many overwrite on a 24 to 72 hour loop. Transit station and vehicle footage can be gone before an investigation is even finished. A preservation letter, sometimes called a spoliation letter, is a formal demand that a business or agency hold onto video and data. It only works if it arrives before the overwrite.

Delay carries legal weight too. New York courts have inferred prejudice to a defendant from the passage of time alone, on the reasoning that witness memories fade.

So the real question is not whether you are still inside the deadline. It is whether the proof you need still exists.

Deadlines Families and Parents Ask About Most

Wrongful death runs from the date of death

A wrongful death claim in New York must generally be commenced within two years of the date of death under EPTL 5-4.1, not the date of the crash. If someone is hurt in a March collision and passes away the following January, the two-year wrongful death clock starts in January, while the survival claim for what the person went through before dying runs on the ordinary personal injury clock from the crash date. Two clocks, two start dates, one family.

Proposals to extend that deadline to three years and expand recoverable damages have passed the Legislature repeatedly and been vetoed, most recently on December 5, 2025. As of this writing, the two-year pecuniary loss rule is still the law.

Children have more time to sue, but not more time on everything

Under CPLR 208, the three-year clock is generally paused during childhood, so a child injured in a crash usually has until age 21 to file suit.

That pause does not carry over cleanly to the no-fault application or a Notice of Claim against a public entity. Courts have treated the interaction between a child’s age and late notice applications as fact-specific, and the outcomes are not uniform. Please do not assume your child has extra time on the government side. If a school bus, a municipal vehicle, or a transit bus was involved, call an attorney right away.

The Gershon Filing-Date Test: Three Questions, In Order

Most people only ask the second one. All three matter now.

1. Who do you have to sue? A private driver, a city, a county, a transit authority, the State, or nobody identifiable at all. This determines whether you are working with three years or 60 days.
2. When did the clock start? The crash date for most injury claims. The date of death for wrongful death. The date services were rendered for no-fault bills.
3. Which version of New York law applies on the day you file? Since May 26, 2026, this is a live question for anyone with an unfiled claim.

Sit With This For One Phone Call, Not Another Six Months

New York City recorded 205 traffic deaths in 2025, the fewest since record keeping began in 1910, according to the New York City Department of Transportation. That is real progress. But the same reporting shows 47,557 traffic injuries in 2025, down from 51,540 the year before. The New York State Department of Health reports that traffic crashes remain the leading cause of injury-related death in New York State, and that on average three New Yorkers die every day in a traffic-related crash.

Tens of thousands of people a year are standing exactly where you are, with the same set of clocks running.

We are not going to tell you what your case is worth or promise you an outcome. Nobody who has not seen your file can do that honestly. What we can do in one conversation is tell you which deadline actually applies to your crash, whether a Notice of Claim is in play, and whether your filing date raises a question under the 2026 changes.

The Law Offices of Norman Gershon has represented injured people across New York City and Westchester County for more than 35 years. Call 914-274-4812 for a free case review. If your crash involved a government vehicle, or if it happened before May 2026 and you have not filed, please call sooner rather than later.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it too late to sue for a car accident that happened two years ago in New York?

Usually not, if a private driver was at fault. The three-year deadline under CPLR 214(5) would still leave roughly a year. But if a city, county, state, or transit vehicle was involved, the 90-day Notice of Claim window closed long ago and you would need a court’s permission to proceed. Have someone look at it now rather than assuming either way.

Does the three-year clock start on the crash date or the date I found out how hurt I was?

The crash date, in most New York car accident cases. Finding out months later that a disc is herniated does not restart it.

Does filing a no-fault claim extend my time to sue?

No. No-fault benefits and a personal injury lawsuit run on separate tracks with separate deadlines. Collecting one does not pause the other, and accepting no-fault benefits does not waive your right to bring a claim if your injuries meet the serious injury threshold.

I only have a few weeks left before my deadline. Will a lawyer still take my case?

It depends on what has to be done before filing and what evidence is still available. Time pressure is a reason to call today, not a reason to skip the call. Some cases can be filed quickly to protect the deadline while the investigation continues.

The driver who hit me was never found. What is my deadline?

For a hit-and-run by an unidentified driver, the Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation route requires a police report within 24 hours and a Notice of Intention within 90 days under Insurance Law 5208. If the driver is identified but uninsured, that notice window is 180 days. These are short and enforced strictly.

Can a New York court give me more time to file a late Notice of Claim?

Sometimes. Under General Municipal Law 50-e(5), a court can extend the time, weighing whether the entity had actual knowledge of the essential facts, whether there is a reasonable excuse, and whether the delay prejudices the defense. It is a motion that has to be made and won. The decisions cited above show how often it fails.

Was I supposed to file something with the DMV after my crash?

Under VTL 605, a driver must file an MV-104 report with the DMV within 10 days if anyone was injured or killed, or if property damage to any one person tops $1,000. That form is signed under penalty of perjury and what you write on it follows your claim, which is a good reason to talk to an attorney before submitting it rather than after.

Does the 2026 law change mean I cannot recover if I was partly at fault?

Not necessarily. Under new CPLR 1411(b), recovery is barred only if your share of fault is greater than the fault, or combined fault, of the people you are suing. If your share is 50 percent or less, the old approach still applies and damages are reduced by your percentage. Insurance adjusters are aware of this change, and how fault gets assigned early can matter a great deal.