Sustaining "Personal Injury"... What Changed Under New York Insurance Law? How Does This Impact the Rights of the Injury Victim? New York Insurance Law Definition of "Serious Injury" - It isn't the definition we once knew.
As of May 2026, injury victims in New York State motor vehicle accidents lost one of the primary means of establishing a personal injury case. This is how New York Insurance Law 5201(d) defines "serious physical injury...
(d) "Serious injury" means a personal injury which results in death; dismemberment; significant disfigurement; a fracture; loss of a fetus; permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system; permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member; or significant limitation of use of a body function or system. See New York Senate's page for the modified provisions of the insurance law.
What changed in May 2026? A major category of injury was carved out of the old statute. What you do not see any longer is the injury victim being able to meet the threshold for serous physical injury on the basis of...
A medically determined injury or impairment of a non-permanent nature which prevents the injured person from performing substantially all of the material acts which constitute such person's usual and customary daily activities for not less than ninety days during the one hundred eighty days immediately following the occurrence of the injury or impairment
The rationale for the legislative change is to protect consumers from higher insurance premiums. The unfortunate consequence is that many accident victims suffer painful injuries that do not meet the severe bar of a fracture or loss of organ.
The rationale for the legislative change is to protect consumers from higher insurance premiums. The unfortunate consequence is that many accident victims suffer painful injuries that do not meet the severe bar of a fracture or loss of organ.