What Are the Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury Claims in New York?

In New York, like every state, we have a statute of limitations that applies to personal injury cases. And really what that means is you have a limited amount of time or a set amount of time to file a lawsuit in a personal injury case. And in New York State, typically that is 3 years from the date of the incident. So if you’re in a car accident, it’s 3 years from the date of the car accident. If you tripped on somebody’s property or injured, it’s 3 years from that date.
However, if in your personal injury case, the defendant or say the owner of the car that hit you or the owner of the property where you’re injured is a municipal defendant, meaning a town, a city, a village, something else, the state. In that case, you have a much shorter time period in which to file a lawsuit. And first, you have to file what’s called a notice of claim, meaning you have to file this notice of claim with that municipality within 90 days.
And then you have a year and 90 days, not 3 years, a year and 90 days to file a lawsuit. In other types of personal injury cases, there could be shorter statute of limitations such as medical malpractice cases. In very few instances can that statute of limitations be extended out. So really, it’s important that after you’re injured and after you seek medical treatment that you call an experienced personal injury law firm so you can understand the statute of limitations and they get working on your case right away.