New York imposes multiple deadlines after a car accident, and they do not all run on the same clock. Missing any one of them can permanently eliminate your right to benefits or your right to sue. The most dangerous deadlines are the shortest ones — and they arrive before most people have finished dealing with the immediate aftermath of the collision. Every deadline described in this article is a hard cutoff. There are no extensions for not knowing the deadline existed.
Most injured people assume that because the accident was not their fault and because their injuries are real, they will have time to sort out the legal details once they have recovered physically. That assumption is the source of more forfeited claims than any other factor in New York auto accident law. The calendar does not care about your recovery. The calendar runs on the date of the accident, and it runs fast.
The 30-day no-fault application deadline
You must submit the NF-2 application for no-fault PIP benefits to your own insurance company within 30 days of the accident. This is the most commonly missed deadline in New York auto accident law. PIP covers up to $50,000 in medical expenses and lost wages regardless of fault. Missing the 30-day deadline gives the carrier a basis to deny your benefits entirely. Your medical providers may refuse to treat you on a no-fault lien if the application was not filed on time. The 30-day period runs from the date of the accident — not from the date you receive the form, not from the date you feel well enough to fill it out, and not from the date you realize you need it.
The NF-2 is a short form. It asks for basic information about the accident, the injured person, the vehicle, and the insurance policy. It can be completed in fifteen minutes. It must be filed with the no-fault carrier for the vehicle you were occupying at the time of the accident — which may not be the same insurer that covers your other vehicles. If you were a passenger, the NF-2 is filed with the insurance carrier for the vehicle you occupied. If you were a pedestrian struck by a vehicle, the NF-2 is filed with the insurance carrier for the vehicle that struck you. Identifying the correct carrier and filing within 30 days is the single most time-sensitive step after an accident.
If you are hospitalized and unable to file, have a family member or attorney file on your behalf. The form does not require your signature to be valid in every case — an attorney retained within the window can file on your behalf. But no one files for you automatically. The carrier will not call you to ask why you have not filed. The deadline passes silently, and the benefits are forfeited.
The 90-day notice of claim for government entities
If the accident involved a vehicle owned or operated by a government entity — an MTA bus, a New York City sanitation truck, a police vehicle, a county vehicle, a school bus owned by a public school district — or if the accident was caused by a dangerous road condition maintained by a municipality, you must file a notice of claim within 90 days of the accident. The notice of claim is a formal document served on the government entity describing the accident, the injuries, and the damages claimed. It must comply with strict statutory requirements under New York General Municipal Law Section 50-e.
Missing this deadline generally bars the claim entirely. Courts can grant permission to file a late notice of claim in limited circumstances under GML Section 50-e(5), but the standard is strict and permission is not guaranteed. The court considers whether the municipality had actual knowledge of the essential facts within the 90-day period, whether the delay prejudiced the municipality’s ability to defend the claim, and the reasonableness of the delay. Late notice applications are regularly denied. If there is any possibility that a government entity is involved, the notice of claim should be filed as a protective measure within the 90-day window.
The three-year statute of limitations
The general statute of limitations for a personal injury lawsuit arising from a car accident in New York is three years from the date of the accident under CPLR 214. This is the deadline to commence the lawsuit by filing the summons and complaint with the court. If the lawsuit is not commenced within three years, the right to sue is extinguished permanently regardless of how strong the claim is.
Three years sounds like a long time. It is not. Medical treatment often takes a year or more to stabilize. Investigation and discovery take additional months. Pre-litigation negotiation can consume six months or more if the case is being prepared for settlement. By the time all of that is done, two years or more have passed. Waiting until the end of the three-year period to retain an attorney means the attorney has no time to properly prepare the case before the deadline arrives. The result is a rushed filing that starts the lawsuit from a weaker position than it would have been if filed earlier in the window.
The one year and 90 day deadline for government lawsuits
If the defendant is a government entity, the lawsuit must be commenced within one year and 90 days of the accident under GML Section 50-i. This is roughly one-third the time available for a private-party claim. Combined with the 90-day notice of claim requirement, the entire timeline for pursuing a government claim is compressed dramatically.
A person injured by an MTA bus has 90 days to file the notice of claim and one year and 90 days from the accident to file the lawsuit. During that window, the injured person must complete enough medical treatment to establish the serious injury threshold, submit to a statutory hearing known as a 50-h examination where the government attorney questions the claimant under oath, and prepare and file the summons and complaint. Missing either deadline — the 90-day notice or the 15-month lawsuit deadline — is fatal to the claim. Cases involving the MTA, NYCHA, New York City, or any other government entity require immediate legal representation for this reason.
The two-year wrongful death statute
If a car accident causes death, the statute of limitations for a wrongful death action is two years from the date of death under EPTL 5-4.1. This is shorter than the three-year personal injury statute and runs from the date of death, not the date of the accident. If the person survived for a period after the accident before dying, the wrongful death clock starts on the date of death, not the accident date.
A separate survival action for the decedent’s conscious pain and suffering between the accident and death follows the three-year personal injury statute under CPLR 214 and is typically filed together with the wrongful death claim. The personal representative of the decedent’s estate — not the surviving family members directly — is the party who brings both actions. An estate must be formally opened and letters of administration or letters testamentary must be issued by the Surrogate’s Court before the lawsuit can be commenced. This process takes additional time and must be factored into the deadline calculation.
UM and SUM claim deadlines
Uninsured motorist and supplemental underinsured motorist claims are governed by the terms of your own insurance policy, not by a general statute. Many policies require that a demand for arbitration be filed within specified timeframes after the claim is made or after specified conditions are met. Some policies require notice of the UM/SUM claim to be given to the carrier within a reasonable time after the accident. Others require that any tentative settlement with the underinsured driver be disclosed to the SUM carrier before it is finalized, to preserve the SUM carrier’s subrogation rights.
These deadlines vary by policy and must be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Missing a policy-imposed deadline can be just as fatal as missing a statutory deadline. The SUM carrier’s position is that if its rights have been prejudiced by the claimant’s failure to comply with policy terms, the SUM claim is barred. Review your policy terms or have an attorney review them as soon as the possibility of a UM or SUM claim is identified.
Evidence preservation has its own practical deadline
There is no statute that requires you to preserve evidence within a specific number of days. But evidence degrades with time. Surveillance footage from businesses near the accident scene is typically overwritten within 30 to 90 days. Traffic camera footage from NYC DOT is typically retained for limited periods and may require a FOIL request. Witnesses become harder to locate as weeks pass — phone numbers change, people move, memories fade. Vehicle damage is repaired or the vehicle is scrapped. Skid marks and debris are cleared from the roadway. Event data recorder information in modern vehicles can be overwritten within weeks.
The practical window for preserving the strongest evidence is measured in days and weeks, not months. An evidence preservation letter sent to nearby businesses and to the body shop within the first week can prevent critical evidence from being lost. Waiting until the statute of limitations is approaching to think about evidence preservation is waiting until the evidence is gone.
How Schwartzapfel Holbrook protects every deadline
At Schwartzapfel Holbrook, we calendar every applicable deadline in every case on the day the case is opened. The NF-2 is filed within the first week. If a government entity is involved, the notice of claim is prepared immediately — and in many cases served within the first 30 days to provide a substantial cushion before the 90-day deadline. Evidence preservation letters are sent to businesses near the accident scene and to the body shop within the first week. UM and SUM policy terms are reviewed at the outset for any contractual deadlines that may apply. We do not wait for deadlines to approach. We address them at the outset so no deadline is missed and no right is forfeited. Missing a deadline is not a strategic decision. It is a preventable error.
Schwartzapfel Holbrook / Fighting For You