For decades, New York had one of the most forgiving fault rules in the country. A driver who was mostly to blame for a crash could still sue the other driver and collect a slice of the damages. That changed in 2026. If you were hurt in a crash around Buffalo this year, or you’re thinking about filing a lawsuit over an older one, the new rules may apply to you even if the crash happened earlier.
What did the Legislature change?
The changes came in Part EE of Chapter 58 of the Laws of 2026, signed May 26, 2026. The state’s Department of Financial Services summarized them for insurers in Insurance Circular Letter No. 3 (2026). Three changes matter most to injured people.
- A fault cutoff for no-fault crash cases. A new CPLR 1411(b) says that in personal injury actions governed by the no-fault law, the injured person can’t recover once their own share of blame exceeds the combined share of everyone they sue.
- The 90/180 category is gone. The definition of “serious injury” in Insurance Law 5102(d) used to include an injury that kept you from almost all of your usual daily activities for 90 of the first 180 days. That category was deleted.
- A $100,000 cap in certain cases. A new Insurance Law 5104(d) caps pain and suffering damages at $100,000 for an at-fault injured person who was driving uninsured, was impaired and convicted, or was committing a felony and convicted. The cap doesn’t apply in death cases.
When do the new rules apply?
This is the part that surprises people. The changes apply to actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026. The date the lawsuit is filed controls, not the date of the crash. So if you were hit on Delaware Avenue in 2025 and your lawyer files suit this fall, the new rules generally govern your case. A suit filed before May 26 stays under the old rules.
How does the new fault rule work?
Picture a crash at Elmwood and Forest. Driver A rolls through a stale yellow. Driver B is turning left and cuts it close. A jury could split blame many ways.
- If Driver A is found 40 percent at fault, A can recover 60 percent of their damages from B.
- At 50 percent, A still recovers half, because A’s share isn’t greater than B’s.
- At 60 percent, A recovers nothing under the new rule. Under the old pure comparative rule, A would have collected 40 percent.
With several defendants, you compare the injured person’s share against all of theirs combined. If a pedestrian is 30 percent at fault and two drivers share the other 70 percent, the pedestrian can still recover.
Does pure comparative fault still exist?
Yes. The original CPLR 1411 still applies to cases outside the no-fault system, like many slip-and-fall or premises cases. Even some crash-related cases may fall outside Article 51, depending on who was involved and what coverage applied. Motorcyclists are one example, since they’re excluded from no-fault benefits. Whether the new subsection reaches your case is a legal question worth asking a lawyer early.
What does losing the 90/180 category mean?
To get pain and suffering damages in a New York car crash case, you have to show a “serious injury.” The 90/180 category was often the only route for people with soft-tissue injuries that healed but kept them off work and out of normal life for months. With it gone, those claims now have to fit another category, such as a significant limitation of use of a body function or system, a permanent consequential limitation or a fracture. Medical documentation of how an injury limits movement or function matters even more now.
The law also requires the jury to decide fault first, and only then decide whether there’s a serious injury. Our serious injury guide walks through the remaining categories.
Who does the $100,000 cap hit?
The cap is narrow. It applies to an injured person who was at fault, isn’t blocked by the new fault rule and fits one of these situations.
- Driving a vehicle they were responsible for insuring without coverage, unless the lapse was under 30 days.
- Driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs and convicted of that offense.
- Driving during a felony or fleeing from one, and convicted of that felony.
Passengers, pedestrians and insured drivers who did nothing wrong aren’t affected by the cap. It also doesn’t apply when the injuries resulted in death.
What stayed the same?
Plenty. No-fault still pays up to $50,000 in basic economic loss regardless of fault. You still have three years to sue most drivers under CPLR 214. Claims against the City of Buffalo, Erie County and other public bodies still need a notice of claim within 90 days. And economic losses above $50,000 can still be pursued without proving a serious injury.
What should you do differently?
- Build the fault picture early. Dashcam video, witness names, photos of the scene and the police report carry more weight when a 51 percent line is in play.
- Follow through with medical care and keep your doctors informed about what you can’t do. That documentation now carries much of the threshold fight.
- Keep your insurance active. A lapse of 30 days or more can cap your own claim if you’re ever partly at fault.
The short version
- Lawsuits filed on or after May 26, 2026 fall under the new rules.
- In no-fault crash cases, being more at fault than the defendants combined now blocks recovery.
- The 90/180 route to the serious injury threshold no longer exists.
- A $100,000 pain and suffering cap applies only to some at-fault uninsured, impaired or felony drivers.
This is a summary of new law that courts haven’t fully interpreted yet. For how it applies to your crash, find a Buffalo-area attorney.