Fact-Checked
A third party claim is the claim you bring against the insurance company of the person or business that caused your accident. After a serious crash, two adjusters may call about the same collision, and neither tends to explain why there are two. One handles your own no-fault benefits, and the other represents the party who hit you, where compensation for pain and suffering, vehicle damage, and losses above your no-fault limits actually lives.
Insurers understand the distinction perfectly, which is part of why early conversations go badly for injured people. MooreJustice Accident & Injury Lawyers works both sides of that split for people hurt across the state. If an adjuster has already contacted you, our team can review what you were told before you respond.
Insurance contracts number the people involved. You are the first party, your insurance company is the second party, and anyone outside that contract is a third party. When someone else causes your injuries, you become the third party to their policy, and the claim you bring against their insurer is a third-party claim.
That numbering matters because of who each insurer answers to. Your own insurer owes you contractual duties under a policy you paid for. The at-fault party's insurer owes those duties to its policyholder, and its adjuster is professionally obligated to limit the amount the insurer pays.
State regulators describe liability coverage in exactly those terms. It makes payments on behalf of the policyholder when another person alleges that the policyholder was negligent or otherwise at fault.
Third parties are not limited to other drivers. Several categories come up repeatedly in serious injury and property damage cases:
Identifying every responsible party early often decides whether the available coverage matches the size of the loss.
Every driver in the state must carry $50,000 in no-fault coverage alongside liability limits of $25,000 for bodily injury to one person, $50,000 for bodily injury to all persons, and $10,000 for property damage. Those no-fault benefits are first-party benefits. They come from your own policy; they pay regardless of who caused the crash, and they cover reasonable medical expenses and a portion of lost earnings up to a combined statutory ceiling.
That coverage is deliberately narrow. It does not pay for pain and suffering, it stops at the statutory limit, and it does nothing about your vehicle. Everything past those boundaries belongs to the third-party claim.
No-fault covers people, not property. If your car was totaled or your equipment was destroyed, that loss goes to the at-fault party's property damage liability coverage or to your own collision coverage, and nowhere else.
Substantial property damage exposes how thin the minimum limits are. State law requires only $10,000 in property damage liability, which will not replace a late model vehicle, let alone a work van and the tools inside it. When the responsible driver carries minimum limits, recovering the full value of the loss usually means finding additional coverage or additional responsible parties.
Regulators are explicit on this point. An injured person may go to court against a third party for property damage and for economic loss beyond no-fault coverage, and bodily injury coverage responds separately.
Compensation for pain and suffering is not automatic after a motor vehicle collision. Insurance Law section 5104(a) permits an injured person to recover non-economic loss from the at-fault driver only after proving a serious injury, or after showing basic economic loss above $50,000.
Insurance Law section 5102(d) defines serious injury through a fixed list of categories. They include death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, a fracture, and loss of a fetus.
Permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function, or system also qualifies. So does permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member, or significant limitation of use of a body function or system.
Meeting one of those categories is an evidentiary problem rather than a paperwork problem. Imaging, treatment records, and physician findings carry the argument.
A fractured wrist documented on an X-ray is straightforward. A shoulder that never regains full range of motion takes objective measurement over time, because the defense will argue the limitation is minor or preexisting.
If an adjuster has asked you for a recorded statement or a signed medical authorization, talk to a lawyer before agreeing.
You can reach The Law Offices of Darren T. Moore P.C. at (917) 809-7014 for a free case evaluation, and there is no charge for asking.
Two amendments to the Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR) and the Insurance Law took effect on May 26, 2026, and both apply to actions and proceedings commenced on or after that date.
The first added CPLR section 1411(b), which reaches personal injury actions subject to the no-fault article of the Insurance Law. An injured person whose share of fault exceeds the combined fault of everyone they seek to recover from is barred from recovering anything.
Before the change, fault reduced damages proportionally and nothing more. Someone found 60 percent responsible for a collision could still recover the remaining 40 percent, and that is no longer true in covered motor vehicle cases.
Pure comparative fault survives everywhere else. A slip and fall, a construction injury, or a dog bite is still governed by the older rule, under which damages are reduced by your percentage of fault and never eliminated.
The second amendment revised the serious injury definition and the order of proof. Lawmakers deleted the category covering a non-permanent injury that kept someone from usual daily activities for 90 of the first 180 days. A separate provision now caps non-economic damages at $100,000 for certain at-fault operators, including drivers who were uninsured or who were convicted of driving while impaired.
A third-party claim covers the losses that no-fault benefits leave behind. Recoverable categories generally include the following:
The size of the claim and the size of the available coverage are separate questions. A catastrophic injury can pass a $25,000 bodily injury policy during the first week of hospitalization. That gap is why supplementary uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy often becomes part of the same recovery.
Three clocks usually run at once, and they run at very different speeds.
Written notice to your own no-fault insurer is due within 30 days of the accident under state insurance regulations. A late notice can be denied unless you supply a clear and reasonable justification for the delay.
When a city agency or transit authority is among the responsible parties, a notice of claim is due within 90 days of the occurrence and must be served before a
.ny lawsuit begins.
The general deadline is longer. CPLR section 214 allows three years for personal injury and three years for injury to property, each measured from the date of the accident.
Three years feels generous until a sidewalk case runs into the 90-day rule. Evidence degrades faster than any of these deadlines, and surveillance footage is routinely overwritten within weeks, so MooreJustice Accident & Injury Lawyers moves immediately to preserve evidence.
Yes. The two run in parallel, and accepting no-fault payments does not waive your right to pursue the at-fault party.
That insurer's duties of good faith run to its own policyholder rather than to you. It must comply with claims-handling regulations, but it is not your advocate.
You are not required to provide one. Recorded statements are frequently used to lock in early descriptions of pain levels before the full extent of an injury is known.
Additional coverage may exist through an employer, a vehicle owner, an umbrella policy, or your own supplementary uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage.
No. CPLR section 1411(b) reaches only personal injury actions subject to Article 51 of the Insurance Law, which governs motor vehicle cases.
We work on a contingency fee basis, meaning our fee is a percentage of any recovery rather than an hourly charge.
The $50,000 no-fault ceiling is often reached before a seriously injured person leaves the hospital, and everything after that point depends on the third party claim.
Our attorneys identify each responsible party, document the injury against the statutory categories, and handle the opposing insurer so you are not doing it from a hospital bed or a repair shop parking lot. Darren T. Moore and Nicholas Blatti work these matters directly.
We take them on a contingency-fee basis, and we will tell you plainly what your claim involves and what it will take, including the difficult parts.
Call MooreJustice Accident & Injury Lawyers. at (917) 809-7014 or reach us through our contact page to schedule a free case evaluation about a third party claim in New York.
Darren Moore is the founder of The Law Offices of Darren T. Moore, P.C. and a dedicated New York personal injury attorney. Known for his relentless advocacy and client-focused approach, he has spent his career helping injury victims pursue justice and recover the compensation they deserve. Darren handles a wide range of personal injury matters and is committed to delivering personalized representation for every client.
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