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Your Rochester Personal Injury Attorney
A personal injury claim in Rochester runs on fixed reference points: a three-year limit for most lawsuits, fault that is shared rather than all-or-nothing, and special notice rules for claims against government bodies. Each is explained below with the statute behind it. 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. These rules apply across New York, but where a case is filed depends on the county, and an attorney familiar with the Supreme Court in Monroe County can explain what to expect there.
Your Key New York Rules in One Place
- How long do I have to sue? Usually 3 years (CPLR 214(5)). A wrongful death action has its own two-year clock (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)).
- New York’s comparative fault rule: damages are diminished in proportion to the culpable conduct attributable to you (CPLR 1411(a)), with a bar in motor vehicle cases filed on or after May 26, 2026 when you are more at fault than the defendant (CPLR 1411(b)).
- New York is a no-fault state for crash injuries. Basic economic loss is covered up to $50,000 per person (Insurance Law 5102(a)), and non-economic loss requires a serious injury (Insurance Law 5104(a)).
- If a loved one died: a wrongful death action has a two-year limit (EPTL 5-4.1), and the injured person’s own claim is not lost because of the death (EPTL 11-3.2(b)).
The Three-Year Filing Deadline and Its Exceptions
Start with the three-year limit in CPLR 214(5), which covers actions to recover damages for a personal injury, then check whether a listed exception, such as a claim against a government body, changes the count.
The three-year clock can be extended for a child: under CPLR 208(a), where the person was under a disability because of infancy when the cause of action accrued, the time runs to three years after the disability ceases, without the ten-year cap except in malpractice cases.
When an injury leads to death, EPTL 5-4.1 requires a wrongful death action to be commenced within two years after the death, with an extension when a criminal action is pending, and EPTL 11-3.2(b) keeps the decedent’s own injury claim alive for the personal representative.
Claims against local government start sooner. Before suing a city, county, town, village, fire district, or school district, a notice of claim must be served within ninety days after the claim arises (General Municipal Law 50-e(1)(a)), and the action must be commenced within one year and ninety days after the event, or two years in a wrongful death case (General Municipal Law 50-i(1)).
Two more points from General Municipal Law 50-i(1): the notice of claim is a condition of suing, and the complaint must allege that thirty days have passed since it was served without adjustment or payment. A late notice can be sought from a court, but the extension may not exceed the time limited for commencing the action (General Municipal Law 50-e(5)).
State defendants have their own rule. Court of Claims Act 10(3) requires a claim to be filed and served on the Attorney General within ninety days after accrual, unless a notice of intention is served within that time, and then the claim is due within two years.
A late claim against the State depends on the court’s discretion and on the ordinary CPLR article 2 limit not yet having run (Court of Claims Act 10(6)).
Medical malpractice is a different category. An action for medical, dental, or podiatric malpractice must be commenced within two years and six months, with an extension for continuous treatment for the same illness, injury, or condition, and a one-year period from discovery for a foreign object left in the body (CPLR 214-a).
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What Happens When You Are Partly to Blame
New York does not require the injured person to be blameless. Under CPLR 1411(a), the amount of damages otherwise recoverable is diminished in the proportion which the culpable conduct attributable to the claimant bears to the culpable conduct which caused the damages. In most injury cases culpable conduct on the injured person’s part reduces the award; it does not bar it.
The practical result outside crash cases is a sliding reduction rather than a cutoff: the larger your share of the fault, the smaller the award, and the claim does not end at any percentage under CPLR 1411(a). Evidence about what each party did is what moves the percentages.
Added by Chapter 58 of the Laws of 2026, CPLR 1411(b) applies to personal injury actions subject to Insurance Law article 51, the no-fault law. A claimant whose culpable conduct is greater than the defendant’s, or the combined conduct of the defendants, is barred, and the rule applies to actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026.
Where several parties share the blame, CPLR 1601(1) limits a defendant found 50 percent or less liable to its equitable share of non-economic loss, with the exceptions in CPLR 1602.
Why No-Fault Can Change a Crash Claim
Insurance Law 5102(a) defines basic economic loss as up to fifty thousand dollars per person of medical and related expenses, lost earnings, and other reasonable and necessary expenses, subject to the limits in the article. It applies whoever was at fault for the collision.
The definition sets specific limits inside the $50,000 figure. Loss of earnings is counted up to two thousand dollars a month for a maximum of three years, and other reasonable and necessary expenses are counted up to twenty-five dollars a day for up to one year from the accident (Insurance Law 5102(a)). An optional additional twenty-five thousand dollars of coverage can be purchased for lost earnings or therapy after the first fifty thousand is used.
A lawsuit for pain and suffering after a crash is limited. There is no right of recovery for non-economic loss except in the case of a serious injury, or for basic economic loss (Insurance Law 5104(a)). The statute defines a serious injury as one that results in death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, a fracture, loss of a fetus, permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system, permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member, or significant limitation of use of a body function or system (Insurance Law 5102(d)).
A missed no-fault form can cost benefits even when the lawsuit deadline is far away. 11 NYCRR 65-1.1 sets 30 days from the accident for written notice, and 45 days after services for proof of claim.
The serious injury definition is narrower than it was. For lawsuits commenced on or after May 26, 2026, the category based on 90 days of inability during the 180 days after the accident is gone, and non-economic liability cannot be fixed until a serious injury is found after fault has been determined (Insurance Law 5102(d), 5104(a), as amended in 2026).
Suing a Government Body in New York
Before suing a city, county, town, village, fire district, or school district for negligence, three conditions must be met: a notice of claim made and served in compliance with General Municipal Law 50-e, thirty days passing without adjustment or payment, and commencement of the action within one year and ninety days after the event (General Municipal Law 50-i(1)). A wrongful death action must be commenced within two years after the death.
Some municipalities cannot be sued for a defective sidewalk or street unless they received written notice of it first. Town Law 65-a(2) says so for towns, and Village Law 6-628 for villages, with the added requirement that the defect was not remedied within a reasonable time.
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)).
Because these notice rules and the shorter deadlines apply together, an injury involving a public road, a public building, or a public vehicle should be looked at quickly.
Which Court Handles a Claim From Rochester
New York’s trial court of general jurisdiction is the Supreme Court, which handles civil cases seeking money damages above the limits of the local courts. Smaller claims can be brought in lower courts that have their own dollar limits, and in New York City the Civil Court of the City of New York has jurisdiction over money actions where the amount sought does not exceed $50,000 (New York City Civil Court Act 202). Claims against the State itself go to the Court of Claims.
The Supreme Court in Monroe County hears lawsuits arising in Rochester. It falls within the Seventh Judicial District, one of the thirteen judicial districts created by Judiciary Law 140. The county seat of Monroe County is Rochester.
What Kinds of Injury Cases Do We See in Rochester?
Auto Accident Injuries
Crash claims combine several rules at once: the three-year deadline (CPLR 214(5)), the fault rules in CPLR 1411, and the serious injury threshold (Insurance Law 5104(a)). Each can matter, and a police report and prompt medical records help on all three.
Proof of claim for medical services is due no later than 45 days after the services are rendered (11 NYCRR 65-1.1).
Slip, Trip, and Fall Claims
A fall claim asks whether the property owner or occupier was negligent, for example by failing to fix or warn about a hazard. Whatever the location, the fault rule in CPLR 1411 applies, so an argument that the injured person was not watching where they were going can reduce the award, and the three-year deadline in CPLR 214(5) applies.
Claims involving government-owned property carry a ninety-day notice requirement (General Municipal Law 50-e(1)(a)), and snow and ice on a town sidewalk brings in Town Law 65-a(2).
Wrongful Death and Survival Claims
When a person dies, no cause of action for injury to person or property is lost because of the death (EPTL 11-3.2(b)). The personal representative may bring or continue the action, alongside the wrongful death action limited by EPTL 5-4.1.
If the death resulted from medical care, the medical malpractice period of two years and six months applies to the underlying claim (CPLR 214-a), and an attorney should review how it interacts with the death.
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)).
Labor Law 240(1) addresses scaffolding, hoists, stays, and ladders for work such as erecting, demolishing, repairing, altering, or cleaning a building or structure, and it exempts owners of one and two-family dwellings who do not direct or control the work.
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What to Know About Cases in Rochester
Rochester cases are heard in Monroe County. Knowing which court you will be in, and how it schedules cases, matters because deadlines such as the three-year filing limit and the ninety-day government notice run regardless of the court, and an attorney who handles claims from Monroe County can watch those dates for you.
Looking beyond Rochester? Our statewide New York personal injury page lists every city we cover. People in this part of the state also look to our pages for Canandaigua, Geneva, and Auburn. Intellectual property questions follow different rules, covered on our Rochester intellectual property attorney page.
Hospitals Serving Rochester
Rochester is home to Strong Memorial Hospital at 601 Elmwood Avenue and Highland Hospital at 1000 South Avenue.
Anyone hurt in Rochester 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 the deadline the same for every kind of injury claim?
No. Personal injury is three years (CPLR 214(5)), wrongful death is two years after the death (EPTL 5-4.1), medical, dental, or podiatric malpractice is two years and six months (CPLR 214-a), and government claims have their own notice and filing dates.
How soon do I have to act if a city vehicle hit me?
Quickly. The notice of claim deadline is ninety days (General Municipal Law 50-e(1)(a)), much shorter than the three-year deadline for most injury lawsuits (CPLR 214(5)), and a court can extend it on application only within the time to sue (General Municipal Law 50-e(5)).
What if I was 50% at fault?
In an ordinary injury case you can recover half of the damages found (CPLR 1411(a)). In a covered motor vehicle case, CPLR 1411(b) bars recovery only when your culpable conduct is greater than the defendant’s, so exactly 50% is not greater.
Does the 2026 fault change apply to my car accident?
It applies to personal injury actions subject to Insurance Law article 51, the no-fault law, that are commenced on or after May 26, 2026 (CPLR 1411(b)). What matters is when the lawsuit is commenced, not when the accident happened.
What deadlines apply to no-fault claims?
Written notice of the accident within 30 days at most, and written proof of claim for services no later than 45 days after the services are rendered (11 NYCRR 65-1.1).
Did the definition of serious injury change in 2026?
Yes. For actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026, the category based on a medically determined non-permanent injury preventing daily activities for 90 of the 180 days after the accident was removed from Insurance Law 5102(d).
Can a criminal case affect the wrongful death deadline?
It can. Under EPTL 5-4.1, where a criminal action is pending, the personal representative has at least one year from the termination of the criminal action to file, even if the usual two years has passed.
What is the Supreme Court in New York?
It is the state’s trial court of general jurisdiction, and it handles civil cases seeking money damages above the limits of the local courts. Claims from Rochester are filed in the Supreme Court in Monroe County.
Does Labor Law 240(1) apply to ladder falls?
It can. Labor Law 240(1) covers the furnishing and erection of scaffolding, hoists, stays, and ladders for the performance of work such as repair or alteration of a building or structure, so a fall from a ladder on a job site may raise it.
How long does a child have to bring an injury claim in New York?
Where the person was under a disability because of infancy when the claim accrued, the time is extended to three years after the disability ceases (CPLR 208(a)).
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