Rego Park Hit by Car Attorney

Usually, yes. A pedestrian struck by a covered motor vehicle is a “covered person” under New York’s No Fault law, and the serious injury threshold generally applies when seeking compensation for pain and suffering from another covered person.

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That doesn’t mean you need a broken bone to have a serious injury.

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Under the current version of Insurance Law Section 5102, a serious injury includes:

• 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
• Significant limitation of use of a body function or system
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That list changed in 2026. The former category based on being substantially unable to perform usual activities for at least 90 of the first 180 days after the accident was removed from the current statutory definition.

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This threshold mainly matters when pursuing noneconomic losses such as pain and suffering. No Fault benefits for qualifying medical expenses and lost earnings operate separately, and economic losses beyond basic No Fault can also present separate issues.

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So a pedestrian shouldn’t try to decide whether an injury is legally “serious” simply from the name of the diagnosis. The medical evidence, objective limitations, prognosis, and effect of the injury all matter.

Reaching the $50,000 basic No Fault limit doesn’t necessarily mean there is nowhere else to turn. The next source of payment depends on the insurance that exists, the losses you have, and whether there is a separate claim against the person responsible for hitting you.

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New York’s basic No Fault coverage provides up to $50,000 per eligible person for combined basic economic loss. It can include qualifying medical expenses, 80 percent of lost earnings up to $2,000 per month for no more than three years, and certain other necessary expenses.

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When those benefits are exhausted, several possibilities may need to be checked.
Additional PIP or OBEL: Some auto policies carry optional coverage above the basic $50,000. OBEL can add another $25,000 for specified losses, while Additional PIP can provide broader additional coverage depending on the policy purchased.

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Health insurance: DFS explains that health coverage may become relevant after applicable No Fault benefits have been exhausted when additional No Fault coverage isn’t available.

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The liability claim: New York permits a claim against a responsible third party for economic losses that fall outside or exceed basic No Fault. Pain and suffering is treated differently and generally requires a serious injury when the Article 51 threshold applies.

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So $50,000 is an insurance limit for basic No Fault. It isn’t automatically a limit on everything the pedestrian accident may have cost you.

Sometimes, yes. An auto policy in your household can become surprisingly important even though you were nowhere near your own car when you were hit. This comes up most often when the vehicle that struck you was uninsured, disappeared, or didn’t carry enough liability coverage.

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If an insured vehicle strikes a pedestrian in New York, the pedestrian generally files the basic No Fault claim with that vehicle’s insurer. DFS explains that when the vehicle is uninsured or the driver can’t be identified, coverage under an auto policy belonging to you or a relative in your household may become relevant.

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Household coverage may matter in several different ways depending on the policy:

• No Fault benefits in certain uninsured vehicle situations
• Mandatory uninsured motorist protection for an uninsured or hit and run vehicle
• Supplementary uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage if it was purchased and its requirements are met
• Optional additional No Fault benefits under some policies
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If there is no applicable household auto policy and an uninsured or unidentified vehicle caused the collision, MVAIC may need to be considered. DFS warns that these situations have strict reporting and filing requirements

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If the driver who hit you was identified and insured but their liability coverage isn’t enough for the injuries they caused, an underinsured motorist attorney can determine if applicable SUM coverage may provide another source of recovery.

The type of vehicle matters because these devices don’t all fit into the same New York insurance system. A pedestrian hit by a motorcycle can have a No Fault path, while a qualifying e bike or electric scooter is treated differently under current New York law.

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A pedestrian struck by an insured motorcycle should generally submit the No Fault claim to the motorcycle’s insurer. That can seem unusual because the person riding the motorcycle is generally excluded from No Fault, but DFS specifically recognizes No Fault protection for the pedestrian who was struck.

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E bikes and electric scooters require a different analysis. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 125 expressly excludes qualifying bicycles with electric assist and electric scooters from its general definition of a motor vehicle. That means the ordinary automobile No Fault framework shouldn’t simply be assumed to apply in the same way. If the device that struck you was a bicycle or qualifying e bike, a cyclist accident attorney can examine the rider’s roadway duties and the insurance options that may exist outside the ordinary automobile framework.

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The actual device still needs to be identified. What someone casually calls an “e bike” may have been modified or may legally fall into another vehicle classification.
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So after one of these accidents, the make, model, speed capability, ownership, and use of the device can matter almost as much as what everyone called it at the scene.

Parking lot fault usually depends on which vehicles were moving, who had established the clearer path of travel, and whether each driver acted carefully before backing, turning, or entering an aisle.

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New York law states that a driver should not back a vehicle unless the movement can be completed safely and without interfering with other traffic. A driver entering a roadway from a parking area must also yield to vehicles approaching on that roadway.

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A backing driver is not automatically 100 percent responsible in every parking lot crash. The other driver’s speed, attention, position, and opportunity to avoid the collision may also matter.

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Important questions may include:

• Was one vehicle backing out of a parking space?
• Was the other vehicle already moving through the aisle?
• Were both vehicles backing at the same time?
• Did either driver ignore a stop sign or directional arrow?
• Were parked vehicles blocking visibility?
• Was a driver speeding through the lot?
• Did the collision happen while entering or leaving the property?
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At busy locations such as Rego Center, surveillance footage and photographs showing the aisle layout may be more useful than either driver’s memory alone.

For an ordinary personal injury claim against a private driver, New York generally provides three years to commence the lawsuit. But three years is not a safe universal deadline for every pedestrian accident. Some of the shortest deadlines arise when a City or public transit entity may be responsible.

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For example, a qualifying personal injury claim against New York City generally requires a Notice of Claim within 90 days. The NYC Comptroller also explains that the lawsuit generally must be commenced within one year and 90 days of the incident.

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That distinction can matter if you were struck by a City vehicle or another part of the accident potentially involves municipal responsibility.

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Public transportation defendants can have their own statutes and procedures as well. The correct entity also matters because a claim involving the Transit Authority, MTA, City, or another public body shouldn’t simply be sent to whichever agency seems most familiar.

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There can also be exceptions and tolling rules in particular cases, so the deadline should be identified from the actual facts rather than assumed from a general website answer.

You generally shouldn’t give the other driver’s insurance company a recorded statement on your own. Their adjuster is investigating the claim for the insurer that may ultimately have to pay it. Before answering any detailed questions, speak with an attorney who can determine what information actually needs to be provided.

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The adjuster may sound helpful and the questions may seem routine. But a recorded conversation can quickly get into details you’re still trying to understand, especially after a pedestrian collision where you may have been injured, disoriented, or unsure of exactly what happened.

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You don’t need to guess about:

• How fast the vehicle was moving
• Exactly how far away it was when you began crossing
• How many seconds you were in the roadway
• Whether you could have avoided the collision
• How serious an injury will ultimately become
• Details you simply don’t remember clearly
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If the other driver’s liability insurer contacts you, the safer approach is to take down the adjuster’s name, company, claim number, and contact information, then speak with a pedestrian accident attorney before discussing the accident in detail.

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If you’ve been hit by a car and an insurer wants to question you about what happened, contact an attorney before giving a recorded statement. The Boyko Law Firm can determine who the insurer represents, what information you’re actually required to provide, and which conversations should be handled through the firm.

You can still have a pedestrian injury claim. Being in a parking lot doesn’t eliminate the driver’s responsibility, and in some cases the property itself may add another issue to investigate. But the property owner isn’t automatically responsible just because the accident happened on private land.

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A driver can still be negligent while backing through a parking aisle, turning through a pedestrian route, or moving through an area where people are expected to walk.

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Separately, New York property owners generally have a duty to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition under the circumstances. Premises liability can become relevant when a dangerous condition connected to the property actually contributed to the collision.

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There still has to be a legal and factual connection between that condition and the accident. New York courts look at issues such as whether the responsible party created the dangerous condition or had the required notice of it.

Yes, but having a prior injury doesn’t automatically prevent you from recovering for what the pedestrian accident actually made worse. New York recognizes claims for the aggravation of a preexisting condition when that aggravation was caused by the accident and is properly supported.

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The distinction is important.

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You generally aren’t seeking compensation for a condition that existed before you were hit and remained unchanged. The issue is whether the collision caused a new injury or increased the pain, disability, or limitations associated with something that was already there.

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New York courts recognize that an injured person may recover for increased disability or pain caused by the aggravation of a preexisting condition. They also require that an aggravation theory be properly alleged and proven.

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This is one reason prior medical records can become important. If you had an old back problem but were functioning normally before the collision and began experiencing materially different symptoms afterward, the medical history can help show that change. If the records show the same complaints and limitations immediately before the accident, the insurer may rely on them in the opposite direction.

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Some people and law firms try to hide an old injury, but we found the better approach is to distinguish clearly between what existed before you were hit and what changed afterward.

There isn’t a meaningful “average pedestrian settlement” that can tell you what your individual claim is worth. Two people can both be hit while crossing the street and have claims that look completely different once the injuries, fault, insurance, and long term effects are examined.

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For example, value can change based on:

• The injuries and whether they meet New York’s serious injury threshold
• Whether surgery, future treatment, or permanent limitations are involved
• Lost income and future earning effects
• How responsibility is divided under New York’s current fault rules
• The amount of available liability, uninsured, or underinsured coverage
• Whether another responsible person or organization is involved
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Even the available insurance can create enormous differences. New York’s minimum bodily injury liability coverage for a nonfatal injury remains $25,000 per person, while some vehicles carry substantially greater limits and an injured person may have access to additional uninsured or underinsured coverage.

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That is why a settlement number from another pedestrian case usually tells you very little without knowing what sits behind it.

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A Rego Park hit by car attorney can evaluate the medical evidence, responsibility, financial losses, available insurance, and future effects of the injuries together before discussing what a particular pedestrian claim may realistically be worth.
Your case should be valued from your facts, not someone else’s settlement.