From rear-end collisions on the Long Island Expressway to high-speed crashes on the Southern State Parkway, these cases involve New York's no-fault insurance rules, strict filing deadlines, and a serious injury threshold that determines whether you may pursue pain and suffering damages.
Our car accident lawyers at William Mattar Accident Lawyers can represent drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and cyclists who were injured in crashes across Nassau County and Suffolk County. We know the legal framework that determines what you can recover after a crash on any of them.
Call (516) 444-4444 for a free case evaluation about your car accident claim. There are no attorney’s fees unless we recover compensation for you.
Table of contents
- Why Long Islanders Can Trust William Mattar After a Crash
- How No-Fault Insurance Shapes a Long Island Car Accident Claim
- When Your Injuries Exceed What No-Fault Covers
- How Long Do You Have to File a Long Island Car Accident Claim?
- Types of Long Island Car Accident Cases We Can Handle
- What Is a Long Island Car Accident Case Worth?
- Steps That Protect Your Claim After a Long Island Car Accident
- FAQs for Long Island Car Accident Victims
- Speak with a Car Accident Lawyer Who Puts Your Recovery First After a Long Island Crash
Why Long Islanders Can Trust William Mattar After a Crash
Dealing with injuries, medical bills, and an insurance company that contacts you before you've even finished your first round of treatment is overwhelming after a Long Island car accident. Our car accident attorneys can step in early so you don't have to manage the legal side alone.
Dangerous Roads and Crash Hotspots on Long Island
Long Island's roads weren't all built for the traffic they carry today. The Southern State Parkway funnels modern vehicles through tight curves, narrow lanes, and short merge ramps that leave little room for error. The LIE, Sunrise Highway, Hempstead Turnpike, Route 110, and Montauk Highway add to the list of high-crash corridors throughout Nassau and Suffolk County.
No Upfront Cost, No Hidden Fees
We work on a contingency fee basis. You pay no attorney's fees unless we recover compensation on your behalf. Every case begins with a free evaluation where we review the facts of your crash, explain how New York's no-fault system applies, and outline what options may be available.
Insurance Communication Handled for You
Adjusters reach out quickly after a crash, sometimes within days. We manage those conversations to protect you from recorded statements and premature settlement offers that may undervalue your claim before you've even finished treatment.
How No-Fault Insurance Shapes a Long Island Car Accident Claim
Every car accident claim on Long Island starts with no-fault insurance, and the system often surprises people. It doesn't matter who caused the crash. Your own PIP policy pays first.
That $50,000 in Personal Injury Protection coverage handles the initial wave of expenses: doctor visits, diagnostic imaging, physical therapy, a portion of your lost wages, and small daily costs like mileage to medical appointments. For many Long Island residents commuting on the LIE or the Southern State, those benefits get consumed quickly — especially when injuries require specialist treatment that isn't available locally and means driving to providers across Nassau or into the city.
PIP also has a hard boundary: it does not cover pain and suffering. If your injuries go beyond what no-fault was designed to handle, you'll need to clear a separate legal standard before you can pursue the at-fault driver for additional damages. That standard is New York's serious injury threshold.
When Your Injuries Exceed What No-Fault Covers
New York restricts car accident lawsuits to cases where the injuries are serious enough to warrant litigation. Under Insurance Law § 5102(d), your injuries must meet at least one of nine defined categories — ranging from bone fractures and permanent loss of use to a medically determined injury that kept you from performing substantially all of your daily activities for 90 or more of the first 180 days after the crash.
For Long Island residents, that last category often becomes the battleground. Suburban daily life revolves around driving — to work, to school drop-off, to the grocery store, to medical appointments. When a crash injury makes it impossible to get behind the wheel or sit at a desk for months, documenting how that disruption meets the 90/180-day standard is where your attorney's work matters most.
Meeting even one category opens the door to a claim against the at-fault driver for damages that PIP doesn't touch, including pain and suffering.
How Long Do You Have to File a Long Island Car Accident Claim?
New York law imposes multiple deadlines after a car accident, and missing any of them may permanently affect your right to compensation.
The Three-Year Statute of Limitations
Under CPLR § 214, most personal injury lawsuits must be filed within three years of the accident date. This applies to car accident claims in both Nassau and Suffolk County. The deadline can also be much shorter depending on the unique circumstances. An attorney can examine the unique circumstances and provide accurate information.
Wrongful Death Filing Deadlines
When a car accident on Long Island proves fatal, a different statute of limitations applies. New York generally allows two years from the date of death, not the date of the accident, to file a wrongful death lawsuit.
Only the personal representative of the deceased person's estate may file the claim, and that representative must be appointed by the court before the lawsuit can proceed.
Delays in the appointment process do not automatically extend the two-year deadline, which makes early legal consultation critical for families who have lost a loved one in a crash.
The 30-Day No-Fault Application
New York generally requires you to submit your no-fault application within 30 days of the crash. Missing this window may jeopardize your eligibility for PIP benefits that cover medical bills and lost wages.
The 90-Day Notice of Claim
If your accident involved a government vehicle, a municipal road defect, or any other government entity, you may need to serve a notice of claim within 90 days. This applies to crashes involving Nassau County buses, Town of Hempstead vehicles, Suffolk County highway maintenance equipment, and similar situations. Every case is unique.
Speaking with a car accident lawyer early protects your rights across all of these deadlines. Call William Mattar Accident Lawyers at (516) 444-4444 for a free consultation.
Types of Long Island Car Accident Cases We Can Handle
Traffic patterns across Nassau and Suffolk County create crash scenarios that range from low-speed fender benders at congested intersections to catastrophic highway collisions. Each types of car accidents raises different liability questions, and our attorneys handle them all.
Rear-End Collisions
Bumper-to-bumper traffic on the LIE, the Southern State, and Sunrise Highway makes rear-end crashes one of the most common accident types on Long Island. While liability may seem clear, insurance companies still dispute the severity of injuries, particularly soft-tissue claims involving the neck and back.
Drunk Driving Accidents
Impaired drivers cause some of Long Island's most devastating crashes. A drunk driver who crosses the median or runs a red light may face criminal charges, but the criminal case doesn't provide direct financial compensation to the victim. A separate civil claim may allow injured parties to pursue damages for medical expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering.
Intersection and Multi-Vehicle Crashes
High-traffic intersections along Hempstead Turnpike, Route 110, and Jericho Turnpike see frequent collisions involving drivers who fail to yield, run red lights, or make unsafe turns. Multi-vehicle pileups on highways create complex liability situations where fault may be shared among several parties.
Rideshare and Commercial Vehicle Accidents
Uber and Lyft operate throughout Long Island, particularly around the airports and in denser western Nassau communities. Rideshare crashes involve layered insurance policies that change based on whether the driver had a passenger, was en route to a pickup, or was waiting for a ride request. Commercial truck and delivery van accidents raise additional questions about employer liability and vehicle maintenance.
Pedestrian and Bicycle Accidents
Pedestrians and cyclists struck by vehicles on Long Island face severe injuries with limited physical protection. Crosswalk accidents in downtown areas like Hempstead, Mineola, and Huntington, along with crashes on roadways that lack dedicated bike infrastructure, create claims that may involve both the driver's liability and municipal responsibility for road design.
What Is a Long Island Car Accident Case Worth?
Compensation depends on the severity of your injuries, how they affect your ability to work and live your daily life, and whether your case clears the serious injury threshold.
Beyond PIP benefits, a Long Island car accident claim may pursue:
- Medical expenses that outpace your coverage. Surgeries, extended physical therapy, neurological follow-ups, and future procedures tied to the crash. If your injuries require treatment at facilities outside your immediate area — common when Long Island specialists have months-long wait times — transportation and scheduling costs factor in as well.
- Lost income and long-term earning damage. Many Long Island residents depend on their ability to commute. When a crash sidelines you from a job that requires driving, physical labor, or consistent attendance, the lost wages are only part of the picture. Diminished earning capacity — what you'll lose over years if you can't return to the same role — may represent the largest component of the claim.
- Pain and suffering. The physical discomfort of recovering from crash injuries and the emotional weight that comes with it: disrupted sleep, anxiety behind the wheel, strain on family relationships, and the frustration of watching your routine fall apart.
- Loss of enjoyment of life. Coaching your kid's soccer game. Weekend projects. The Saturday morning drive to the beach. When injuries take those things away, the law recognizes that as compensable loss.
We build each damages case with input from treating physicians and, where appropriate, financial professionals who can project long-term costs — because the insurance company's opening number rarely accounts for what the crash actually took from you.
Steps That Protect Your Claim After a Long Island Car Accident
The first week after a crash often determines how the next several months of your claim unfold. These steps help preserve your legal position while you're focused on recovery:
Stay consistent with your treatment plan. This is the most important thing you can do for both your health and your claim. Long Island insurance adjusters routinely flag gaps in medical care, even a week or two between appointments, as evidence that your injuries aren't serious enough to meet the threshold. If your provider refers you to a specialist, follow through, even if the wait for an appointment is long. Document the scheduling delay.
File your no-fault application within 30 days. This deadline applies whether or not you caused the crash. PIP benefits flow through your own policy, and late submissions risk jeopardizing the coverage you'll need from day one.
Keep a file of everything. Medical bills, pharmacy receipts, repair estimates, rideshare or Uber receipts to appointments, correspondence from any insurer. The more organized this file is when your attorney receives it, the stronger the foundation for a Long Island personal injury attorney to build your case.
Talk to a Long Island car accident lawyer before accepting anything. Signing a release or cashing a settlement check closes your claim for good; even if your injuries worsen, even if you need surgery you didn't expect. A free case evaluation gives you a baseline before you make irreversible decisions.
FAQs for Long Island Car Accident Victims
Can I sue after a car accident if I was partly at fault?
Yes. New York does not bar recovery based on shared fault. Under the state's pure comparative negligence rule,your compensation is reduced proportionally. Insurance companies use this rule aggressively, often seeking to inflate your fault percentage to lower what they owe. A strong evidence in a car accident record from the crash scene helps keep that number honest.
Does no-fault insurance cover passengers, pedestrians, or cyclists on Long Island?
It can. Passengers are generally covered under the vehicle's PIP policy. Pedestrians and cyclists struck by a motor vehicle may access benefits through the driver's insurance, even though they weren't in a car themselves. The details depend on the circumstances of the crash and which policies are in play, which is one reason early legal consultation helps clarify your coverage picture.
What if the other driver fled the scene?
Hit-and-run accidents create additional challenges, but your own uninsured motorist coverage may provide compensation even when the at-fault driver is never identified. Specific procedural requirements apply, including timely police reporting, so speaking with an attorney quickly is important.
How much does a Long Island car accident lawyer cost?
Our firm handles Long Island car accident cases on a contingency basis. This means there's no fee unless we recover compensation for you, and nothing out of pocket to get started. The initial consultation is free and carries no obligation.
What if the insurance company already made me an offer?
Early settlement offers often arrive before you've finished treatment and before the full extent of your injuries is clear. Accepting one closes your claim permanently. An attorney may help you evaluate whether the offer reflects the actual value of your losses or whether pursuing further negotiation or litigation makes more sense.
Do I need a lawyer if my car accident seemed “minor”?
Some injuries, particularly those involving the neck, back, and soft tissue, develop gradually over days or weeks. New York's serious injury threshold and no-fault rules add procedural complexity even to crashes that initially seem straightforward. A free case evaluation may help clarify whether legal representation is worth pursuing.
Does the 30-day no-fault deadline apply even if I wasn't at fault?
Yes. The 30-day requirement for submitting your no-fault application applies regardless of who caused the accident. PIP benefits come through your own policy, so the obligation to file on time falls on you.
Speak with a Car Accident Lawyer Who Puts Your Recovery First After a Long Island Crash
Rear-ended on the LIE during your morning commute. T-boned at an intersection on Hempstead Turnpike. Side-swiped on the Southern State. However the crash happened, the aftermath follows the same pattern: medical appointments, insurance calls, bills, and decisions you shouldn't have to make alone.
William Mattar Accident Lawyers can handle the legal process — insurance disputes, evidence gathering, claim strategy — while you focus on getting better.
Call (516) 444-4444 for a free case evaluation, any time of day. No Fee Until We Win℠.
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