According to a study on jury verdicts, the median compensatory damages award for personal injury trials in New York is $287,628. This median award dwarfs the nationwide median of $34,550.
That is obviously very high compared to most jurisdictions. Why? First, New York has favorable juries, particularly in its urban areas. But the reality is that New York’s no-fault law also distorts this number. Under New York’s no-fault system, drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and cyclists can usually recover up to $50,000 in basic economic loss from no-fault insurance, regardless of who caused the crash. These benefits can cover medical expenses, lost earnings, and certain other economic losses, but they do not compensate victims for pain and suffering.
That means many smaller car accident claims never become personal injury lawsuits. To recover pain and suffering damages after a New York car accident, the injured person usually must prove a serious injury under New York Insurance Law Section 5102(d). This leads to fewer lawsuits in smaller cases, which increases the average and median award among the cases that actually get tried.