Most people in Queens have heard you get three years. It is roughly true, and it is the reason a lot of good cases die.

Three years is the general rule. But if a government body hurt you — the City, the MTA, a public hospital, a school district — a second and much shorter clock starts the day you are injured. You get 90 days. Miss it and the three years stops mattering. There is nothing left to file.

The short version

Who hurt you	Notice of claim first?	Deadline to sue
Private driver, shop, landlord, dog owner	No	3 years
City agency, city vehicle, city sidewalk	Yes — 90 days	1 year and 90 days
MTA bus or subway	Yes — 90 days	1 year and 90 days, plus a 30-day wait
School district, fire district, county	Yes — 90 days	1 year and 90 days
Wrongful death against a public body	Yes — 90 days from estate appointment	2 years from the death

How long do you have to file a personal injury claim in New York?

Three years from the date of the accident, for an ordinary claim against a private person or business. That covers most car accidents, falls in shops, and dog bites. The rule comes from CPLR 214(5), which allows three years for “an action to recover damages for a personal injury.”

Three years sounds generous, which is why people wait. They want to see how the injury settles and whether the insurer behaves. Against a private defendant, that instinct is usually harmless.

What is a notice of claim, and who has to file one?

A notice of claim is a formal document you must serve on a government body within 90 days of being injured, before you are allowed to sue it at all. General Municipal Law 50-e requires it to be served “within ninety days after the claim arises.”

It is not a lawsuit. It sets out what happened, where, and what you are claiming, served on the right office in the right form. Late or wrong, and the case usually ends before it starts.

Which accidents count as claims against the government?

More than people expect. General Municipal Law 50-e covers cities, counties, towns, villages, fire districts and school districts. Public Authorities Law 1212 applies the same requirement to the New York City Transit Authority, so subway and train injuries and city bus accidents are caught by it too.

Put simply: hurt in a crash with another driver, three years. Hurt in a crash with a city vehicle, 90 days.

How long do you have to sue New York City or the MTA?

One year and 90 days from the date of the accident — not three years. Serving the notice on time does not restore them.

General Municipal Law 50-i requires an action against a city, county, town, village, fire district or school district to be “commenced within one year and ninety days after the happening of the event upon which the claim is based.” Public Authorities Law 1212 sets the same period for the Transit Authority.

Do you have to wait before suing the MTA?

Yes. At least 30 days. Public Authorities Law 1212(1) requires that thirty days have passed since you presented your claim and the Authority has failed to pay or settle it, and your complaint has to say so.

It means you cannot serve a notice of claim and file suit the same week. It catches out people trying to handle a subway or bus claim themselves close to the deadline.

How long do you have to file a wrongful death claim in New York?

Two years from the date of death for a claim against a municipality, under General Municipal Law 50-i.

The notice of claim works differently here too. Under 50-e, the 90 days run not from the death but from the appointment of a representative of the estate. Appointing one takes time, and families regularly lose months without realising a clock is running.

What happens if you miss the 90-day deadline?

Not necessarily fatal. General Municipal Law 50-e(5) lets a court extend the time to serve a late notice, at its discretion. It looks at whether the agency learned the essential facts soon after the incident, whether the delay genuinely prejudiced it, and why you were late.

There is a hard limit. The extension “shall not exceed the time limited for the commencement of an action,” so once the underlying deadline passes, the court cannot help you. If you are past 90 days, that application is urgent and not a do-it-yourself job.

Why does this matter so much in Queens?

Jamaica is one of the busiest transit hubs in the city. The E, J and Z trains, the Long Island Rail Road, the AirTrain and dozens of bus routes converge within a few blocks of Jamaica Center, while Sutphin Boulevard, Archer Avenue and Hillside Avenue carry heavy traffic all day.

So a large share of injuries here are Transit Authority claims — falls on station stairs, passengers thrown when a bus brakes hard, pedestrians struck near the terminals. All of them on the 90-day clock. The same goes for a trip on a broken city sidewalk or treatment at a public hospital.

What should you do right now?

Write down the date of your accident and count 90 days forward. If any government body might be involved — a bus, a train, a city vehicle, a public sidewalk, a public hospital, a school — treat that date as your deadline.

If you are not sure whether the defendant is public or private, that is the exact question worth a free phone call. It takes minutes to answer and it decides whether you have three years or three months.

Our Queens personal injury lawyers have represented injured people across the borough since 1992, from our office on Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill. No fee unless we win. Call 718-659-5333 for a free case review.