If you were involved in a car accident, you may have incurred serious physical, mental, and financial damages that you need to recover. Though, you may be unsure as to whether this is possible if you were partially or majorly to blame for the crash. Continue reading to learn whether New York State abides by comparative negligence law and how an experienced car accident lawyer in Queens at the Law Offices of George Poulos can help you navigate this statute.
Does New York State follow comparative negligence law?
The short answer is, yes, New York State does follow comparative negligence law. More specifically, it follows pure comparative negligence law. This law allows a plaintiff of a personal injury claim, such as a car accident claim, to receive a monetary award for their damages even if the accident was partially or majorly their fault. As a specific example, say that the New York court found you to be 99 percent responsible for your car accident. With this, you will still be eligible to recover one percent worth of your damages.
Importantly, the pure comparative negligence law is different from modified comparative negligence law. This is because modified comparative negligence law only allows a plaintiff to recover their damages if they are partially, not majorly, responsible for their car accident. That is, if the New York court found you to be 51 percent at fault, you are not eligible for recovery. But if it found you to be 49 percent at fault, you may recover 49 percent worth of your damages.
Notably, New York is one of the 11 states in the country that still abide by pure comparative negligence law. The other 10 states read as follows:
- Alaska (AK).
- Arizona (AZ).
- California (CA).
- Kentucky (KY).
- Louisiana (LA).
- Mississippi (MS).
- Missouri (MO).
- New Mexico (NM).
- Rhode Island (RI).
- Washington (WA).
What is the statute of limitations for this claim?
If you qualify to bring forward a personal injury claim under New York’s pure comparative negligence law, then you should absolutely take advantage of this opportunity.
With this, you must keep in mind the statute of limitations for your claim. This deadline is generally three years from the date of your car accident. If you miss this deadline by as little as a day, you may just be permanently barred from suing, recovering your damages, and overall achieving justice. So, before it is too late, reach out to one of the skilled Queens personal injury attorneys. We look forward to collaborating with you.
