NY · State Playbook
What the law in New York says about your case — deadlines, fault rules, and what you can actually recover. Built from primary statutes and AskMatlock research.
Statute of limitations
3 years
Three years for negligence (CPLR § 214).
Fault rule
Pure comparative negligence
Pure comparative negligence. No-fault state for personal injury protection threshold.
Diminished value posture
Third-party diminished value allowedDiminished value claims recognized against the at-fault insurer; first-party diminished value restricted by typical policy language.
No-fault state — personal injury protection (your own insurance company's medical coverage) covers initial $50K. Bodily injury claims require crossing the "serious injury" threshold (NY Insurance Law § 5102(d)).
Open Property Damage Toolkit →No-fault state with serious-injury verbal threshold.
Three-year filing deadline — longer than most states.
Pure comparative negligence (very victim-favorable).
NY Judiciary Law § 479 prohibits compensated lawyer-client solicitation.
Per the AskMatlock $15B research, New York accounts for ~$0.74B of the 5-year unrepresented serious-injury gap — smaller in absolute terms because of high (88%) bodily-injury representation.
Every fact in this playbook is sourced from primary statutes, bar opinions, or peer-reviewed research. We do not invent numbers. This is not legal advice; state law changes frequently and case-specific facts matter — when your case warrants it, the Bodily Injury Claim tool lets you browse verified attorneys in New York and pick.
