Long Island Uninsured Motorist
Accident Lawyers

Legal Analysis

Your Recovery Options After an Uninsured Driver Crash

Being hit by an uninsured driver on Long Island does not leave you without a claim. New York law lines up several sources of payment in a set order, and the first job is to find every one that applies. This page covers the injury claim. If your question is whether to use no-fault or to sue, our guide to no-fault versus a personal injury lawsuit covers that choice.

Uninsured Motorist (UM) coverage comes first. Insurance Law §3420(f)(1) requires every auto liability policy issued for a vehicle principally garaged or used in New York to include it, at $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for injury. It pays what you could have recovered from the owner or driver of an uninsured vehicle, an unidentified hit-and-run vehicle, a stolen vehicle, a vehicle driven without the owner’s permission, an unregistered vehicle, or a vehicle whose insurer disclaimed or denied coverage, for an accident in New York. Whether a relative’s policy also covers you depends on that policy’s definition of “insured,” so we read every policy in the household.

Supplementary uninsured/underinsured motorist (SUM) coverage is the higher layer, under §3420(f)(2). It applies when the at-fault vehicle’s bodily injury limits are lower than your own, it covers accidents anywhere in the United States or Canada, and it pays only after the at-fault policies are exhausted by settlements or judgments.

MVAIC (Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation) is the fallback under Insurance Law article 52 for a “qualified person”: in general, a New York resident who is not covered as an insured under a policy with UM coverage (§5202(b)). It pays no-fault benefits (§5221) and, for injury, up to $25,000 per person, reduced by any other collectible insurance (§5210). Its affidavit deadlines are short, and they are explained below.

A lawsuit against the at-fault driver is also available. The practical question is collectability: an uninsured driver often has no assets to pay a judgment. We look into the driver’s assets before advising on that route.

Which Coverage Pays, and the Deadline That Controls

The right claim depends on who hit you and what insurance exists. Each row below is tied to the statute that sets it. Your policy may add its own notice conditions, so read it alongside this table.

The 2026 cap is about uninsured drivers, not their victims. Part EE of chapter 58 of the Laws of 2026 added Insurance Law §5104(d), effective May 26, 2026. In a serious injury case, it limits non-economic damages to $100,000 for an injured person who is at fault, is not barred under CPLR 1411, and was operating an uninsured vehicle they were responsible for insuring (a lapse shorter than 30 days does not count), or was convicted of impaired driving, or of a felony committed while driving. It does not apply to death cases. If an uninsured driver hit you, the cap limits that driver’s own claim, not yours.

How UM Claims Work: Your Insurer as the Defendant

A UM claim is a first-party claim: you claim against your own insurance company, not the at-fault driver’s. Under §3420(f)(1), your insurer agrees to pay what you would be entitled to recover from the uninsured driver, up to your UM limits. That promise does not mean your insurer will agree on what the claim is worth.

Insurers defending UM claims dispute liability, challenge the injuries, point to prior conditions, ask for recorded statements, and send you to examinations by doctors they choose. Years of premiums do not change that posture. On a UM claim, your insurer’s interests are adverse to yours.

Many UM and SUM disputes are decided in arbitration under the policy, and the insurer can petition the court under CPLR article 75 to stay the arbitration on a threshold issue, such as whether the other vehicle was insured or was a motor vehicle at all (Matter of Government Empls. Ins. Co. v Bermeo, 230 AD3d 1141 [2d Dept 2024]). Your policy decides the forum. We handle UM arbitrations and the stay proceedings that come with them in Nassau and Suffolk. For the rest of the car accident case, see our car accident lawyer page.

MVAIC: The Fund of Last Resort

The Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation (MVAIC) exists under Insurance Law article 52 to cover people hurt, through no fault of their own, by uninsured vehicles, unidentified vehicles that leave the scene, stolen vehicles, vehicles driven without the owner’s permission, vehicles whose insurer disclaimed coverage, and unregistered vehicles (§5201(b)). The accident must happen in New York.

Who qualifies. A “qualified person” is a New York resident who is not an insured and is not the owner of the uninsured vehicle (or the owner’s spouse riding in it), or a resident of a state or country that gives New Yorkers similar protection (§5202(b)). An “insured” means someone covered by the UM provision of an auto policy (§5202(i)), which is why a person with UM coverage claims under the policy rather than against MVAIC. In a hit-and-run case, the court must also find that the injured person was not driving an uninsured vehicle or driving while suspended or revoked (§5218(b)(3)).

The affidavit deadlines. Filing a sworn affidavit with MVAIC is a condition precedent to any payment. It is due within 90 days for a hit-and-run with an unidentified driver (and the accident must be reported to the police within 24 hours unless that was not reasonably possible), within 180 days for a known uninsured driver, and within 180 days of a notice of disclaimer when the other driver’s insurer denies coverage (§5208(a)). A late filing can be accepted by MVAIC, or allowed by a court, only on proof that earlier filing was not reasonably possible, and the court application must be made within one year (§5208(b), (c)). Treat the 90-day and 180-day dates as hard deadlines.

How the money is paid. For an identified uninsured driver, MVAIC pays an unpaid judgment against that driver on a court order, up to $25,000 for injury to one person (§5210). For a hit-and-run, the claimant asks a court for permission to sue MVAIC directly (§5218). If MVAIC pays and the driver is later identified, MVAIC takes over the claim against that driver (§5218(g)(2)).

What Damages Can You Recover?

The damages in a UM, SUM, or MVAIC claim are the same kinds you could claim from the at-fault driver, limited by the coverage that applies.

Policy limits set the ceiling. Mandatory UM is $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident (§3420(f)(1)). SUM can go much higher: under §3420(f)(2)(A) it can be bought up to your bodily injury limits, subject to the statutory maximums, and for new policies covered by §3420(f)(2-a) it equals your bodily injury limits unless the first named insured signed a written waiver. We get the declarations page and any signed waiver early, because they decide how much is on the table.

Economic damages cover measurable losses: medical expenses, lost wages, lost earning capacity, and out-of-pocket costs. No-fault pays basic economic loss first, and UM does not duplicate it (§3420(f)(1)).

Non-economic damages (pain and suffering, disability, loss of enjoyment of life) require a serious injury under Insurance Law §5102(d): 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, or significant limitation of use of a body function or system. For actions commenced before May 26, 2026, the former 90/180-day category also applies. We work with treating physicians to document each category the injury meets.

Comparative fault under CPLR 1411 reduces damages by the claimant’s share of fault. In motor vehicle lawsuits commenced on or after May 26, 2026, CPLR 1411(b) bars recovery if the claimant’s share of fault is greater than the other side’s; whether that limit carries into UM arbitrations has not yet been decided. Expect the insurer to argue fault, and expect us to build the record against it.