What is the Personal Injury Statute of Limitations in New York?

Whether your potential legal claim stems from a slip and fall, a traffic accident, or any other incident where someone else’s conduct caused you harm, you might be thinking about filing a personal injury lawsuit in New York’s civil courts. If so, it’s crucial that you comply with the statute of limitations for this type of case. (A little background for those who may not be fluent in “legalese”: a statute of limitations is a law that puts a time limit on your right to file a lawsuit in court.)

In this article, we’ll cover the details of New York’s personal injury statute of limitations, explain why the deadline is so important, and summarize a few instances when the filing period might be extended.

Three Years is the Standard Time Limit for New York Personal Injury Lawsuits

The New York personal injury statute of limitations is spelled out at New York Civil Practice Law & Rules section 214, which says that “an action to recover damages for a personal injury” must be “commenced” within three years.

So, after another person’s careless or intentional act causes you injury, and you want to ask New York’s courts for a civil remedy (damages) for your losses, you have three years to get the initial documentation (the “complaint” and other required paperwork) filed in court, and the “clock” typically starts on the date of the underlying accident or incident that caused the injuries.

New York’s three-year deadline applies to almost all conceivable types of personal injury lawsuits, whether the case is driven by the liability principle of “negligence” (which applies to most accidents) or intentional tort (which applies to civil assault and battery and other purposeful conduct).

What If You Miss the Filing Deadline?

If more than three years have passed since the underlying accident, but you try to file your personal injury lawsuit anyway, the defendant (the person you’re trying to sue) will almost certainly file a “motion to dismiss” and point this fact out to the court. And unless a rare exception entitles you to extra time (more details on these exceptions later), the court will summarily dismiss your case. Once that happens, you’ve lost your right to ask a court to award you damages for your injuries, no matter how significant they might be, and no matter how obvious the defendant’s liability.

New York’s personal injury statute of limitations is obviously pivotal if you want to take your injury case to court via a formal lawsuit, but the filing deadline set by this law is also crucial to your position in personal injury settlement negotiations with the defendant and his or her insurance company. If the other side knows that the three-year deadline has passed, you’ll have lost all your negotiating leverage, making “I’ll see you in court” the very definition of an empty threat.

Exceptions to the New York Personal Injury Statute of Limitations

New York has identified a number of different scenarios that might delay the running of the statute of limitations “clock,” or pause the clock after it has started to run, effectively extending the three-year filing deadline. Here are some examples of circumstances that are likely to modify the standard timeline:

• If the injured person is considered under a legal disability at the time of the underlying accident — he or she is a minor under the age of 18, or is considered to be of unsound mind — then the tree-year “clock” for filing the personal injury lawsuit probably won’t begin to run until the legal disability is “lifted”, meaning the person turns 18, or is declared sane. (New York Civil Practice Law & Rules section 208.)
• If the person who allegedly caused the injury (the defendant) leaves the state of New York at some point after the underlying accident, and before the lawsuit can be filed, and is gone for four months or more, the period of absence likely won’t be counted as part of the three years. The deadline will also likely be extended if the defendant resides within the state, but under a “false name.” (New York Civil Practice Law & Rules section 207.)

By David Goguen [Nolo]