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Your Yonkers Personal Injury Attorney
A personal injury claim in Yonkers 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 Westchester County can explain what to expect there.
Deadlines and Fault Rules: The Short Version
- Personal injury lawsuits must generally be filed within 3 years (CPLR 214(5)), unless a specific rule such as infancy (CPLR 208) changes the count.
- Government defendants have their own clock: a notice of claim within 90 days and a lawsuit within one year and 90 days (General Municipal Law 50-e and 50-i).
- Two fault rules exist: proportional reduction in most injury cases (CPLR 1411(a)), and a bar for a claimant found more at fault than the defendant in motor vehicle cases commenced on or after May 26, 2026 (CPLR 1411(b)).
- After a crash, notice to the insurer matters. Written notice of the accident is due as soon as reasonably practicable and no more than 30 days after the accident (11 NYCRR 65-1.1).
- Fatal accidents have two kinds of claims: wrongful death for the family (EPTL 5-4.1) and the survival of the decedent’s own injury claim (EPTL 11-3.2(b)).
Filing Deadlines for Injury and Wrongful Death Claims in New York
For most injury claims the clock is three years. CPLR 214(5) applies it to actions to recover damages for a personal injury, subject to the exceptions in sections 214-b, 214-c, 214-i and 215.
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.
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)).
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)).
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)).
For the State itself, the ninety-day rule appears in Court of Claims Act 10(3). A written notice of intention served on the Attorney General within ninety days extends the time to file the claim to 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)).
The general three-year rule does not govern a malpractice claim. CPLR 214-a provides two years and six months, adjusted by continuous treatment for the same illness, injury, or condition, and one year from discovery of a foreign object.
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Shared Fault: How New York Reduces an Award
The general rule is in CPLR 1411(a): damages are diminished in proportion to the claimant’s share of the culpable conduct that caused them. A claimant who is partly at fault still recovers in most injury cases, reduced by that share.
The numbers work like this in a fall or premises case: at 30% fault, an award of $100,000 becomes $70,000, and at 60% fault it becomes $40,000. Because every percentage point moves the number, how fault is proven matters as much as how much was lost.
For crashes, there is now a bar. CPLR 1411(b) says a claimant in an action subject to Insurance Law article 51 recovers nothing if the claimant’s culpable conduct is greater than the defendant’s, or greater than the defendants’ combined conduct. The law took effect May 26, 2026 and applies to actions commenced on or after that date, not to accidents on or after it.
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.
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.
Those benefits have caps: earnings up to two thousand dollars a month for as long as three years, and other expenses up to twenty-five dollars a day for one year (Insurance Law 5102(a)). Optional additional coverage of twenty-five thousand dollars exists for lost earnings or therapy after the first fifty thousand dollars.
Whether an injury is a serious injury is often disputed. The statute lists categories, among them death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, a fracture, permanent loss of use, permanent consequential limitation, and significant limitation of use of a body function or system (Insurance Law 5102(d)), and Insurance Law 5104(a) ties non-economic damages to it.
Do not overlook the no-fault paperwork. The regulation at 11 NYCRR 65-1.1 requires written notice of the accident within 30 days at the latest, and written proof of claim no later than 45 days after services are rendered.
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.
Notice of the defect itself can be a separate hurdle. Under Town Law 65-a(2), written notice specifying the particular place must have been given to the town clerk or the superintendent of highways, and Village Law 6-628 applies a similar rule to villages, including snow and ice conditions.
For state defendants the timing is in Court of Claims Act 10(3): a claim filed and served on the Attorney General within ninety days after accrual, or a written notice of intention within that time followed by a claim within two years.
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.
Where an Injury Case From Yonkers Is Filed
The Supreme Court is the trial court of general jurisdiction in New York and hears civil cases for damages above the local courts’ limits. In New York City, the Civil Court has jurisdiction of money actions up to $50,000 (New York City Civil Court Act 202), and the Court of Claims is the forum for actions against the State.
Under Judiciary Law 140, the counties are grouped into thirteen judicial districts. The trial court for a case from Yonkers is the Supreme Court in Westchester County, in the Ninth Judicial District. The county seat of Westchester County is White Plains.
The Injuries Behind Most Claims From Yonkers
Car, Truck, and Motorcycle Accidents
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.
Written notice of the accident goes to the no-fault insurer within 30 days at most (11 NYCRR 65-1.1).
Falls and Unsafe Property Conditions
When someone is hurt on another’s property, the case centers on what the owner knew or should have known and what was done about it, and on how much of the fault the injured person shares under CPLR 1411.
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)).
Fatal Accident Claims
The family’s claim is the wrongful death action in EPTL 5-4.1, brought by the personal representative within two years after the death. The injured person’s own claim survives the death under EPTL 11-3.2(b).
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
A worker hurt on the job generally looks to workers’ compensation against the employer (Workers’ Compensation Law 11), while a claim against someone not in the same employ, such as an equipment owner or another contractor, can proceed separately (Workers’ Compensation Law 29(1)).
The three-year deadline in CPLR 214(5) applies to the third-party lawsuit, and the workers’ compensation claim has its own separate filing requirements.
Not sure which deadline applies to your injury? Get matched with an attorney.
A Note on Yonkers and the Local Courts
Deadlines and fault rules are the same across New York, and the courthouse is not. An injury in Yonkers is handled in Westchester County, and getting the timeline for that court from an attorney who practices there is a sound first step.
You can browse every New York city we cover in our New York personal injury attorney directory. Our coverage in this part of New York also includes Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, and White Plains. If the matter involves a patent, trademark, copyright, or trade secret, our Yonkers intellectual property attorney page is the better fit.
Hospitals Serving Yonkers
Hospitals in Yonkers include St. John’s Riverside Hospital at 967 North Broadway and Saint Joseph’s Medical Center at 127 South Broadway.
Records from the hospital or hospitals that treated an injury, including dates, diagnoses, and bills, are the basis for the medical side of a claim. This section describes where facilities are located and says nothing about any provider’s care.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to file a personal injury lawsuit in New York?
Three years is the general rule. An action to recover damages for a personal injury must be commenced within three years (CPLR 214(5)), with different periods for the exceptions listed there and for other kinds of claims.
What is a notice of claim in New York?
It is the written notice required by General Municipal Law 50-e before an action against a local public body. It must be served within ninety days after the claim arises, and it is a condition of bringing the lawsuit (General Municipal Law 50-i(1)).
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 new car accident rule apply to accidents before May 2026?
The rule applies to actions and proceedings commenced on or after May 26, 2026 (Department of Financial Services Circular Letter No. 3 (2026)), so it turns on the date the lawsuit is commenced.
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).
Is the wrongful death deadline shorter than the injury deadline?
Yes. A wrongful death action must be commenced within two years after the death (EPTL 5-4.1), while an ordinary personal injury action has three years (CPLR 214(5)).
Which court hears a personal injury case from Yonkers?
A lawsuit is typically filed in the Supreme Court, here the Supreme Court in Westchester County, which is New York’s trial court of general jurisdiction. A claim against the State goes to the Court of Claims.
What if someone other than my employer caused my work injury?
Then you may have a third-party claim against that party, separate from workers’ compensation against the employer (Workers’ Compensation Law 29(1)).
What if the injured person was a minor?
The time to sue is extended to three years after the disability of infancy ceases (CPLR 208(a)).
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