File a Personal Injury Lawsuit in NYC: Deadlines, Notice of Claim

To file a personal injury lawsuit in NYC, you prepare a summons and complaint, buy an index number from the county clerk in the county where you’re suing, arrange for the defendant to be served under the rules in CPLR § 308, and then file the affidavit of service. You have to do all of this before your statute of limitations runs — three years from the accident for most negligence cases, shorter for others — and if you’re suing the City of New York, you have to file a notice of claim within 90 days of the injury before a lawsuit is even allowed.

The rest of this article walks through those steps in the order they happen, plus the deadlines, court choices, and special requirements that apply to particular kinds of cases.

How Long You Have to File

The clock starts on the date of the injury. Miss the deadline and the case is over before it begins, so this is the first thing to pin down.

General personal injury (negligence, slip and fall, car accidents, product liability): three years from the accident.
Medical malpractice: two years and six months from the malpractice or the end of continuous treatment for the same condition. Cancer misdiagnosis gets two years from discovery, foreign objects left in the body get one year from discovery, and minors can have up to ten years from the malpractice.
Intentional torts (assault, battery, false imprisonment, defamation): one year from the act.
Wrongful death: two years from the date of death.
Claims against New York City or another municipality: one year and 90 days from the incident, with a notice of claim due within the first 90 days.

These deadlines are published on the New York State courts’ statute of limitations timetable.¹ The New York City Bar Association notes separately that claims against government entities follow “strict, separate rules.”²

If the injured person is a minor or legally incapacitated when the injury occurs, CPLR § 208 pauses the clock. For claims with a three-year or longer limitation period, they get three years after the disability ends — usually when a minor turns 18. Medical malpractice caps the extension at ten years from the malpractice.³

If You’re Suing New York City: File a Notice of Claim First

You cannot sue New York City, its agencies, or most other municipalities without first filing a notice of claim. General Municipal Law § 50-e makes this a prerequisite, and the deadline is 90 days from the incident.⁴

The notice must be in writing, sworn to, and include four things: your name and address, the nature of the claim, when, where, and how the incident occurred, and the injuries or damages. Because NYC has a population over one million, the notice also has to state the total dollar amount of damages claimed.⁵ The NYC Comptroller’s office accepts electronic filings through its eClaim system; forms must be completed in Adobe Reader and attachments must stay under 20 MB each.⁶

After the notice is filed, the Comptroller’s office investigates and may require you to appear at a hearing to testify. You have to wait at least 30 days after filing the notice before you can start the lawsuit itself, and the lawsuit has to be filed within one year and 90 days of the incident.⁷

Missing the 90-day notice deadline is not always fatal. A court can grant permission to file late, but that extension can never push past the one-year-and-90-day lawsuit deadline, and permission is not guaranteed.⁸

Preparing and Filing the Summons and Complaint

A New York personal injury lawsuit officially starts when you file a summons and complaint with the court and get the defendant served. The complaint describes the general nature of the claim, including when and where the injury happened. In New York, the complaint does not state a specific dollar amount of damages.⁴

Which Court to File In

Which court gets the case depends on how much money is at stake and who the defendant is.

Cases seeking $50,000 or less go to the Civil Court of the City of New York.
Cases above that threshold go to the New York Supreme Court — which, despite the name, is the state’s trial-level court of general jurisdiction.
Lawsuits against the State of New York itself go to the Court of Claims.
If the plaintiff and defendant live in different states and more than $75,000 is at stake, the defendant can move the case to federal court.⁹

You generally file in the county where the defendant lives or does business, or where you were injured.

Filing Fees in Supreme Court

Starting a case in Supreme Court requires paying several fees set by the CPLR and published by the state court system:¹⁰

Index number: $210 under CPLR § 8018. This is the case’s unique identifier. No court papers can be filed without one.
Request for Judicial Intervention (RJI): $95 under CPLR § 8020. The RJI is the form that triggers assignment of a judge.
Note of issue (to place the case on the trial calendar): $30.
Demand for jury trial: $65.
Motions: $45 each.

Serving the Defendant

Once the summons and complaint are filed, they have to be delivered to the defendant. CPLR § 308 allows several methods for serving an individual:

Personal delivery — handing the papers directly to the defendant.
Substituted service — delivering to a person of suitable age and discretion at the defendant’s home or workplace, then mailing a copy to the defendant’s last known residence or business. The delivery and mailing must happen within 20 days of each other, and the mailing envelope must be marked “personal and confidential” with nothing on it indicating legal action.
Nail-and-mail — only if genuine attempts at personal and substituted service have failed. The papers are affixed to the door of the defendant’s home or workplace and mailed, following the same rules as substituted service.
Court-ordered service — if none of the above are practicable, a court can authorize an alternative.

The process server has to be at least 18 years old and cannot be a party to the case. After service, an affidavit of service describing exactly how it was done is filed with the county clerk.¹¹¹²

What Happens After Filing

The Defendant’s Answer

Once served, the defendant generally has about 30 days to file an answer. The answer typically denies the allegations and raises any defenses.

Getting a Judge Assigned

The Request for Judicial Intervention, filed on form UCS-840, is what triggers assignment of a judge. An RJI can be filed any time after service, but the court will not accept motions, conference requests, or a note of issue without one. In NYC counties, the clerk requires proof of the index number purchase when the RJI is submitted.¹³¹⁴

Discovery

After the initial filings, the case moves into discovery, where both sides gather and exchange evidence. Discovery typically lasts six to 18 months, though the timeline varies depending on complexity and court congestion in the borough where the case is pending.¹

Early in discovery you prepare a bill of particulars, a detailed written statement describing your injuries, medical treatment, lost wages, and how the defendant is responsible. It’s governed by CPLR 3043(a). The first in-court appearance is usually a preliminary conference, at which the judge issues an order setting deadlines for document exchanges, depositions, and medical examinations.

Depositions are called examinations before trial, or EBTs, in New York. They’re oral examinations under oath, transcribed by a court reporter. Both plaintiff and defendant can be deposed, along with witnesses. Attendance is mandatory; failing to appear can get the case dismissed.

The defendant is entitled to request that you undergo a physical examination by a doctor of the defendant’s choosing, often called an independent medical examination or IME. Insurance companies may request multiple IMEs to dispute the severity of the injuries. Failure to attend can lead to dismissal or liability for the cost of the missed appointment.

Both sides also exchange documents: medical records, employment records, photographs, surveillance footage, insurance information, and witness details.

Settlement or Trial

Most personal injury cases in New York settle before trial. Nationally, roughly 95% resolve without a verdict. Settlement discussions can begin before a lawsuit is even filed, often with a demand letter to the insurance company, and continue through discovery and sometimes during trial itself.

New York courts actively push settlement. Judges may order pre-trial conferences where attorneys and insurance representatives meet to explore resolution. Mediation is common; arbitration, where a neutral decision-maker issues a binding ruling, is available too. Some courts also order mandatory settlement conferences with a mediator, often a retired judge or experienced attorney, who meets with each side privately to try to close the gap between what’s demanded and what’s offered. All parties, their lawyers, and representatives with authority to settle must attend, and failure to appear without a valid excuse can result in sanctions.

If a settlement is reached, the defendant generally has 21 days to pay after receiving signed and notarized settlement papers. The City of New York has 90 days.

If no settlement is reached, the case goes to trial. In NYC, personal injury trials are typically bifurcated under 22 NYCRR § 202.42: liability is decided first, and if the plaintiff wins on liability, damages are decided by the same jury right after.¹⁵ Jury selection produces six jurors and two alternates. During the liability phase, lawyers cannot discuss damages in their opening statements.

Trial scheduling depends heavily on the borough. Bronx and Kings (Brooklyn) counties tend to have the most congested dockets, which can push trial dates out. A case that goes to trial in NYC typically takes one to four years from filing.

Medical Malpractice: A Certificate of Merit Must Come With the Complaint

Medical malpractice complaints carry an extra filing requirement. Under CPLR § 3012-a, the complaint must be accompanied by a certificate of merit — a signed statement from your attorney confirming they’ve reviewed the facts and consulted with at least one licensed physician (or dentist or podiatrist, as applicable) who the attorney reasonably believes is knowledgeable in the relevant area, and that a reasonable basis for the lawsuit exists.¹⁶

If the statute of limitations is about to expire before a consultation can be arranged, the attorney can file the complaint with a certificate stating that, then file the required certificate within 90 days after serving the complaint. If the attorney made three good-faith attempts to consult with three different professionals and all declined, they can file a certificate describing those attempts instead.

Cases Involving Minors: Court Approval Is Required

When a personal injury claim involves a child, no settlement is final without court approval. Under CPLR § 1207, a motion for settlement must be brought by a parent with legal custody, a guardian, or another authorized adult. The court treats the minor as a ward of the court and reviews the settlement to make sure it’s in the child’s best interest.¹⁷

Attorney fees in infant settlements are capped at one-third of the amount remaining after court-approved disbursements, unless the court authorizes more. Settlement proceeds are typically deposited or invested for the child’s benefit, and withdrawals require a court petition explaining the purpose, the child’s condition, and why the family cannot cover the expense independently.¹⁸

Recent Changes That Affect a Case Filed Now

Third-Party Practice Deadlines Under the AVOID Act

The Avoiding Vexatious Overuse of Impleading to Delay Act, signed by Governor Hochul in December 2025 and effective for actions filed on or after April 18, 2026, changes third-party practice. Under the amended CPLR § 1007, defendants must now file any third-party complaint — a claim pulling in another party who may share liability — within 90 days of serving their answer. After a note of issue is filed, third-party claims are barred unless the defendant shows “good cause” or that it’s in the “interest of justice.” Courts must sever or dismiss untimely third-party claims, and consolidating a severed claim back into the original case is prohibited.¹⁹

A narrow exception exists for claims against a plaintiff’s employer involving a “grave injury” under Workers’ Compensation Law § 11, or when the employer’s identity was not known within the standard deadline.²⁰

Motor Vehicle Cases Filed On or After May 26, 2026

Budget legislation signed on May 26–27, 2026, made major changes to auto accident lawsuits. For motor vehicle actions filed on or after that date, New York switched from pure comparative negligence to modified comparative negligence. A plaintiff found to be more than 50% at fault is now completely barred from recovering damages. This applies only to motor vehicle cases and does not cover accidents resulting in death or property damage.²¹²²

The same legislation eliminated the “90/180-day” category of serious injury under Insurance Law § 5102(d) and introduced a new trial-sequencing requirement: juries must now decide fault before considering whether the plaintiff meets the serious injury threshold. If the plaintiff is found more than 50% at fault, the trial ends without any damage assessment.

For all other personal injury cases, the older pure comparative negligence rule under CPLR § 1411 still applies — your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault, but you can still recover.²³

One more boundary worth flagging on car accident filings: New York’s no-fault system under Article 51 of the Insurance Law adds a threshold that other personal injury cases don’t have. To sue another driver for pain and suffering, you have to prove a “serious injury” as defined in Insurance Law § 5102(d) — categories that include death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, fracture, loss of a fetus, permanent loss of use of a body organ or system, permanent consequential limitation, and significant limitation of use of a body function or system.²⁴ Motorcycles are excluded from the no-fault system entirely, so the threshold doesn’t apply to motorcycle cases.

1
NYCourts.gov. Statute of Limitations Timetable
2
New York City Bar Association. Statutes of Limitation
3
Justia. NY CPLR § 208 – Infancy, Insanity
4
NYC Comptroller. Personal Injury Claim FAQs
5
New York State Senate. General Municipal Law § 50-e
6
NYC Comptroller. Personal Injury Claim Form
7
Justia. General Municipal Law § 50-i
8
New York City Bar Association. Suing Government
9
Nolo. Personal Injury Statute of Limitations in New York
10
NYCourts.gov. New York State Filing Fees
11
NYCourts.gov. How to Serve Process
12
Justia. NY CPLR § 308 – Personal Service Upon a Natural Person
13
NYCourts.gov. How to File an RJI
14
Cornell Law Institute. 22 NYCRR 202.6 – Request for Judicial Intervention
15
Cornell Law Institute. 22 NYCRR 202.42 – Bifurcated Trials
16
Justia. NY CPLR § 3012-a – Certificate of Merit
17
Justia. NY CPLR § 1207 – Settlement of Infant’s Claim
18
Cornell Law Institute. 22 NYCRR 202.67 – Infants’ and Incapacitated Persons’ Claims and Proceedings
19
NYCourts.gov. 22 NYCRR 1015.15
20
Holland & Knight. New York’s AVOID Act Imposes Strict Deadlines on Third-Party Practice
21
Barclay Damon. NYS Enacts Sweeping Auto Insurance Reforms Impacting Motor Vehicle Accident Claims
22
Wilson Elser. New York’s 2026 Tort Reform Key Changes to New York State Civil Procedure Laws
23
New York State Senate. CVP § 1411 – Damages Recoverable When Contributory Negligence Is Established
24
NY Department of Financial Services. No-Fault FAQs