New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed a new law, effective May 26, 2026 (Assembly Bill A10008C), which enacts significant changes to New York’s auto liability law. The law is applicable to all actions and proceedings commenced on or after the date the bill was signed.

Here are the three most significant changes.

• The second prong of the serious injury threshold which allowed a party to sue for a non-permanent injury resulting in the inability to perform the usual and customary activities for 90 out of the first 180 days following an accident has been eliminated.

• New York’s pure comparative law has been replaced by a 50-percent rule. If a plaintiff’s culpable conduct is greater than the culpable conduct of the defendant, or of all defendants combined if there are multiple defendants, plaintiff cannot recover. Thus, New York joins New Jersey and many other modified comparative negligence states.

• A cap of $100,000 has now been placed on recovery of non-economic damages (other than in an action for damages for injuries resulting in death) where the  injured party is at fault and was (1) operating an uninsured motor vehicle he or she was responsible for insuring (unless the lapse was less than thirty days); (2) operating a motor vehicle while impaired and convicted of such; or (3) operating a motor vehicle in the commission of a felony, or immediate flight therefrom, at the time of the accident and has been convicted of such.  

The law also contains the following provision: 

No liability for non-economic loss shall be fixed unless and until the trier of fact has determined the existence of a serious injury. In any action to recover non-economic loss pursuant to this article, the trier of fact shall not determine the question of whether an injury is a serious injury until the trier of fact has determined the party or parties at fault.

This provision is significant because interest on judgment will not accrue until there is a finding of both fault and a serious injury.  This may also make moving for summary judgment on the serious injury threshold more challenging, with differing interpretations by the courts likely.