If you are injured in a motor vehicle accident, you will be able to recover a portion of your lost earnings, your medical bills, and other out-of-pocket expenses such as prescription drugs and home-health care and medical appliances. These benefits are payable under the mandatory "No-Fault" provisions of New York. No-Fault does not apply to the operator of a motorcycle. You may also be able to recover for your pain and suffering, but only if the accident was due to another's negligence, and if you have suffered a "serious injury."

     The New York No-Fault law was designed to provide prompt payment to auto accident victims for "basic economic losses" such as wages and medical bills, without having to prove whose fault caused the accident. The law was also designed to eliminate smaller injuries from the courts, so that victims whose injuries are not considered "serious" cannot recover for pain and suffering.

     If you are injured in an auto accident, your claim for damages is divided into two parts: "basic economic loss" and "pain and suffering." "Basic economic loss" includes 80% of lost wages up to $2,000 per month for no more than 36 months, and 100% of medical expenses, up to a combined maximum total of $50,000. You may buy extra coverage (before the accident, of course) for an extra premium. The second part of your claim is for economic losses over the "basic economic loss;" and pain and suffering for your injury, if you have a "serious injury."

     You collect the first part, the "basic economic loss" from the insurance company of the auto you occupied in the accident, either as driver or passenger, or if you were a pedestrian, the vehicle that struck you. If you were on a bus, your own auto policy covers you (or a relative's auto policy if you live with the relative). Otherwise the bus' policy covers you. This "No-Fault" is an insurance benefit that usually does not require a lawsuit or a lawyer if the insurance company does not dispute your claim. But you must file an application for these benefits promptly with the correct insurance company. The exact time limit was originally 90 days, but the Insurance Department reduced that to 30 days. This reduction is being fought by a trial lawyers association and is currently on hold until the appeal is decided. It would be prudent to file the application within 30 days. The forms are mailed to you by the insurance company at your request.

     If you are injured in a motor vehicle accident while in the course of your employment, workers' compensation benefits are paid first, and No-Fault benefits are paid only to the extent that they exceed the compensation benefits.
To collect pain and suffering damages and excess economic loss (the second part of the claim) you must look to one or more negligent parties. For this you should have an attorney because you must prove negligence as well as "serious injury" for the pain and suffering claim. If your injury does not meet the legal definition of "serious" you cannot recover for your pain and suffering. The law defines "serious injury" as:

"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; significant limitation of use of a body function or system; or a medically determined injury or impairment of a non-permanent nature which prevents the injured person from performing substantially all of the material acts which constitute such person's usual and customary daily activities for not less than ninety days during the one hundred eighty days immediately following the occurrence of the injury or impairment."