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Your Newburgh Personal Injury Attorney
If you or someone in your family was injured in Newburgh, you are probably looking for plain answers about time limits, fault, and what a claim involves. New York sets several of those by statute, so many answers can be checked. You will find the deadlines first, then fault and insurance, then claims against government bodies, the courts, and the most common claim types, citing the statute each time. Talking with an attorney who knows Orange County practice can turn these general rules into a plan for your claim.
The Short Answers: Deadlines, Fault, and Insurance
- Deadline for most injury lawsuits: 3 years from the date of the injury (CPLR 214(5)). Wrongful death is shorter: 2 years from the death (EPTL 5-4.1).
- Claims against the State of New York must be filed and served on the Attorney General within 90 days, unless a notice of intention is served in that time (Court of Claims Act 10(3)).
- Fault is shared, not all-or-nothing, outside crash cases: a person 30% at fault can still recover 70% of the damages found (CPLR 1411(a)). Motor vehicle cases have a stricter bar in CPLR 1411(b).
- Car accidents and no-fault: pain and suffering can be recovered only if the injury is a serious injury as the statute defines it (Insurance Law 5102(d), 5104(a)).
- Wrongful death: the action must be commenced within two years after the death (EPTL 5-4.1), and a personal injury claim survives the injured person’s death (EPTL 11-3.2(b)).
The Three-Year Filing Deadline and Its Exceptions
The main deadline is set by CPLR 214(5): an action to recover damages for a personal injury must be commenced within three years. The exceptions listed in that subdivision, in CPLR 214-b, 214-c, 214-i and 215, carry their own periods.
For an injured child, CPLR 208(a) extends the three-year period to three years after the disability of infancy ceases. Outside medical, dental, or podiatric malpractice, the ten-year outer limit in that section is not applied to infancy.
Families should know the wrongful death period is two years from the death (EPTL 5-4.1), shorter than the three-year injury period, and that a personal injury cause of action does not end when the injured person dies (EPTL 11-3.2(b)).
A government defendant changes the calendar. General Municipal Law 50-e(1)(a) requires a notice of claim within ninety days after the claim arises, and General Municipal Law 50-i(1) requires suit within one year and ninety days after the event, with two years for wrongful death.
A court has discretion to extend the time to serve a notice of claim, but the extension cannot exceed the time limited for starting the action (General Municipal Law 50-e(5)), so waiting is risky. Suit also cannot start until thirty days after notice was served (General Municipal Law 50-i(1)).
Where the State of New York is the defendant, ninety days is again the first number to know (Court of Claims Act 10(3)): file and serve the claim, or serve a notice of intention and file within two years after accrual.
The Court of Claims may permit a late claim, but only before an action asserting a like claim against a citizen of the state would be barred under CPLR article 2 (Court of Claims Act 10(6)).
Injuries from medical treatment are a separate category. CPLR 214-a sets two years and six months for medical, dental, or podiatric malpractice, extended by continuous treatment, with one year from discovery when a foreign object is found in the body.
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Shared Fault: How New York Reduces an Award
New York applies comparative fault to injury claims. Under CPLR 1411(a), damages are diminished in the proportion which the claimant’s culpable conduct bears to the culpable conduct which caused the damages, so a shared-fault claimant recovers a reduced amount, subject to the motor vehicle rule described below.
In a case outside the motor vehicle rule, the reduction is proportional. A person found 20% at fault recovers 80% of the damages, a person found 50% at fault recovers half, and a person found 70% at fault recovers 30%. Insurers know this, and arguing about percentages is a common way they try to reduce a claim.
If your case is a car, truck, or motorcycle case under the no-fault law, and the lawsuit is commenced on or after May 26, 2026, CPLR 1411(b) bars recovery when your share of the fault is greater than the defendant’s or the defendants’ combined share. Exactly equal shares are not covered by the words of the statute, which say greater than.
When more than one defendant is responsible, a defendant found 50 percent or less at fault is liable for non-economic loss only for its equitable share, in proportion to the relative culpability of each person causing or contributing to the total liability (CPLR 1601(1)). The exceptions are in CPLR 1602, so who is sued and who is left out can change how a judgment is collected.
Basic Economic Loss, Serious Injury, and Crash Lawsuits
After a crash, the first source of payment is usually no-fault. Under Insurance Law 5102(a), basic economic loss is covered up to fifty thousand dollars per person, and includes necessary medical and rehabilitation expenses, lost earnings, and other reasonable and necessary expenses.
Inside the fifty-thousand-dollar limit, lost earnings are capped at two thousand dollars per month for up to three years, and other reasonable and necessary expenses at twenty-five dollars a day for up to one year (Insurance Law 5102(a)). Additional optional coverage of twenty-five thousand dollars can be bought for lost earnings, psychiatric, physical therapy, or occupational therapy after the base amount is exhausted.
Insurance Law 5104(a) bars recovery of non-economic loss unless the injury is a serious injury, and Insurance Law 5102(d) sets out categories that include a fracture, significant disfigurement, permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system, and significant limitation of use of a body function or system.
The regulation on mandatory no-fault coverage (11 NYCRR 65-1.1) calls for written notice of the accident within 30 days at most and written proof of claim within 45 days after services, so paperwork should start early.
Two changes from Chapter 58 of the Laws of 2026 apply to actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026: the 90/180-day category no longer appears in the serious injury definition, and the trier of fact must determine fault first and then the existence of a serious injury before liability for non-economic loss is fixed (Insurance Law 5104(a)).
Suing a Government Body in New York
Local governments must receive a notice of claim first. General Municipal Law 50-e(1)(a) sets ninety days after the claim arises, and General Municipal Law 50-i(1) adds the thirty-day wait before suit and the one year and ninety days period to commence the action.
Defective sidewalks and streets have a further requirement in many places. Under Town Law 65-a(2), no action can be maintained against a town for injury from a defect in its sidewalks, or from snow or ice on them, unless written notice specifying the particular place was actually given to the town clerk or the town superintendent of highways and the defect was not remedied within a reasonable time. Village Law 6-628 sets a similar written notice rule for villages.
The State of New York cannot be sued in the same way as a private party. The Court of Claims Act, section 10(3), sets a ninety-day filing rule (or a notice of intention followed by a two-year filing period), with late claims allowed only by the court’s permission (section 10(6)).
Any injury on public property, or involving a public vehicle, deserves prompt review because of the notice periods that begin at the injury.
The Courts That Hear Injury Cases From Orange County
Most serious injury lawsuits are filed in the Supreme Court, the state’s court of general jurisdiction. Local courts hear smaller claims within their limits, the Civil Court of the City of New York is limited to $50,000 (New York City Civil Court Act 202), and the Court of Claims hears actions for money damages against the State of New York.
The judicial districts are set by Judiciary Law 140, and a Newburgh injury lawsuit filed in the Supreme Court is heard in the Supreme Court in Orange County, part of the Ninth Judicial District. The county seat of Orange County is Goshen.
The Injuries Behind Most Claims From Newburgh
Collisions and Crash Injuries
A vehicle crash can involve the at-fault driver, the injured person’s own no-fault coverage, and sometimes a government body if the road or a public vehicle was involved (General Municipal Law 50-e). Each layer has its own rules and deadlines.
If a defendant’s liability is 50 percent or less, its share of non-economic loss is limited to its equitable share (CPLR 1601(1)).
Falls and Unsafe Property Conditions
A slip and fall claim is a negligence claim, so the same three-year deadline (CPLR 214(5)) and comparative fault rule (CPLR 1411) apply as in other injury cases.
Property owned by the State of New York is handled in the Court of Claims, with a ninety-day filing or notice of intention requirement (Court of Claims Act 10(3)).
When an Injury Is Fatal
The wrongful death period is counted from the date of death, not the date of the injury, and is two years (EPTL 5-4.1). A claim against a local government has the same two-year limit for wrongful death (General Municipal Law 50-i(1)).
Both actions should be reviewed promptly, since the wrongful death period is shorter than the three-year injury period in CPLR 214(5).
On-the-Job Injuries
If a third party such as a property owner, contractor, or equipment maker contributed to a workplace injury, the employee need not choose between compensation and a claim against that party (Workers’ Compensation Law 29(1)).
If a government body was the owner of the work site, the notice of claim rules in General Municipal Law 50-e may apply in addition.
Not sure which deadline applies to your injury? Get matched with an attorney.
Newburgh: Courts, Counties, and Getting Started
An injury in Newburgh belongs to Orange County and its Supreme Court. Local practice, such as how quickly cases are listed and how motions are handled, shapes how the general rules on this page play out, and a local attorney can tell you what that looks like.
Intellectual property questions follow different rules, covered on our Newburgh intellectual property attorney page. Nearby communities we serve include Poughkeepsie, Middletown, and Kingston. For the full list of New York communities we serve, see our New York personal injury page.
Where Injury Care Is Available in Newburgh
Newburgh is home to Montefiore St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital at 70 Dubois Street.
Anyone hurt in Newburgh may be treated at one of these facilities or elsewhere, and either way the treatment records help document the injury. The names are listed for location only.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a deadline to sue after an accident in Newburgh?
Yes. The general limit is three years for a personal injury (CPLR 214(5)), and a claim against a local government needs a notice of claim within ninety days (General Municipal Law 50-e).
Is there a shorter deadline for claims against the government?
Yes: ninety days for the notice of claim (General Municipal Law 50-e(1)(a)) and one year and ninety days to commence the action, or two years for wrongful death (General Municipal Law 50-i(1)), compared with three years in an ordinary injury case.
Can I recover if I was partly at fault for the accident?
Yes in most injury cases. Under CPLR 1411(a), damages are diminished in proportion to the culpable conduct attributable to you. In a motor vehicle case governed by Insurance Law article 51 that was commenced on or after May 26, 2026, a claimant more at fault than the defendant is barred (CPLR 1411(b)).
Can I recover if I was more than 50% at fault in a car accident?
In a motor vehicle case covered by Insurance Law article 51 and commenced on or after May 26, 2026, a claimant whose culpable conduct is greater than the defendant’s, or the defendants’ combined, is barred (CPLR 1411(b)).
What does New York no-fault insurance cover after a crash?
No-fault pays basic economic loss up to $50,000 per person, meaning necessary medical and related expenses, lost earnings, and other reasonable and necessary expenses (Insurance Law 5102(a)).
Why do insurers dispute the serious injury threshold?
Because the definition in Insurance Law 5102(d) controls whether pain and suffering can be recovered (Insurance Law 5104(a)), a lot can turn on it, and medical records and expert opinions carry most of the weight.
Does the injured person’s own claim survive if they die?
Yes. No cause of action for injury to person or property is lost because of the death of the person in whose favor it existed, and the personal representative may bring or continue the action (EPTL 11-3.2(b)).
Where do I file a claim against the State of New York?
Claims against the State are brought in the Court of Claims, and the claim must be filed and served on the Attorney General within ninety days after accrual unless a notice of intention is served in that time (Court of Claims Act 10(3)).
Can I bring an injury claim if I get workers’ compensation?
Possibly, against someone other than your employer. An employee injured by the negligence or wrong of another not in the same employ need not elect between compensation and a claim against that other party (Workers’ Compensation Law 29(1)).
Is the injury deadline different for a person under a disability?
Yes. CPLR 208(a) extends the time for a person under a disability because of infancy or insanity to three years after the disability ceases, subject to the limits stated in that section.
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