Why NY’s "Serious Injury Threshold" Doesn't Apply to Bikers & What it Means for Your Claim

If an insurance adjuster tells you your motorcycle crash injuries aren’t “serious enough” to support a lawsuit, that claim may rest on a rule that doesn’t apply to you. New York’s serious injury threshold limits pain-and-suffering lawsuits between “covered persons” in the no-fault system, and the law excludes most motorcycles from that system.

As a rider, you can generally pursue non-economic damages without first proving a fracture or permanent limitation. One caution: “biker” here means motorcyclist. Cars hitting bicyclists are treated differently and usually require meeting the threshold. 

Attorney Benjamin Rabin of the Rabin Law Firm represents injured riders in Syracuse and throughout Central New York, and this distinction often shapes how he evaluates a motorcycle case from the first conversation. If an insurer is already questioning your injuries, a free consultation can clarify which rules govern your claim before you give a recorded statement or accept an offer. 

What the Serious Injury Threshold Does

The serious injury threshold is a gatekeeper: in a lawsuit between two covered persons, the injured person cannot recover for pain and suffering unless the injury fits a category listed in New York Insurance Law 5102(d).

Those categories include death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, a fracture, loss of a fetus, and certain permanent or significant limitations of a body organ, member, function, or system. In exchange, drivers, passengers, and pedestrians receive no-fault benefits for medical bills and lost wages regardless of who caused the crash. 

The threshold recently became harder to meet. Under Part EE of Chapter 58 of the Laws of 2026, New York eliminated the 90/180-day serious injury category for actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026. That category had allowed claimants to qualify by showing they couldn’t perform all of their usual daily activities substantially for 90 of the first 180 days after the accident.

For car occupants, pedestrians, and bicyclists, the change closes a path many claims once relied on. For most motorcyclists, it matters far less. 

Why Motorcyclists Fall Outside the Threshold

Motorcyclists fall outside the threshold because New York’s no-fault law defines “motor vehicle” to exclude motorcycles. A rider who isn’t operating a “motor vehicle” for no-fault purposes generally isn’t a “covered person,” and Insurance Law 5104 applies the threshold only to actions by one covered person against another.

A motorcyclist suing the driver who turned left across their path doesn’t fit that description, so the rider can seek compensation for pain, suffering, and lost enjoyment of life without first clearing the statutory list. In practice, a rider with a torn ligament, a concussion without lasting findings, or months of painful rehabilitation may still have a viable claim for non-economic damages, while a car occupant with the same injuries might not.

You still have to prove the other driver was negligent and that the crash caused your injuries, and the claim’s value still depends on the medical evidence. But the defense can’t win simply by arguing your injury falls short of a statutory category. 

The rule works in one direction. The same statute protects insured motorcyclists when someone else sues them: a car driver or passenger must show a serious injury to recover non-economic damages from an insured rider.

Vehicle classification can also matter. Some low-speed limited-use motorcycles, such as certain mopeds, may be treated differently. Bicyclists struck by cars are generally entitled to no-fault benefits from the vehicle’s insurer, making them covered persons who must meet the threshold. 

The Trade-Off: No No-Fault Benefits

The cost of escaping the threshold is that motorcyclists generally can’t collect no-fault benefits after a crash. New York’s no-fault statute excludes people occupying a motorcycle from the first-party benefits auto policies must pay.

That exclusion applies even when a car driver clearly caused the collision. The other driver's liability insurer generally does not pay these expenses through no-fault benefits while your claim is pending, although qualifying expenses may be recoverable through a liability claim. 

That gap usually comes from several sources: your own health insurance, medical payments coverage (if you added it to your motorcycle policy), disability benefits, and eventually the liability claim against the at-fault driver. Because the no-fault system doesn’t limit a rider’s lawsuit, it can include medical expenses, lost earnings, and pain and suffering.

Keep every bill, explanation of benefits, and payment record, since those documents form the backbone of your claim. Sorting out which coverage pays first, and what the liability claim must ultimately recover, is a routine part of Attorney Ben's work as a Syracuse motorcycle accident attorney. 

How Fault Can Still Limit a Rider’s Recovery

Getting past the threshold doesn’t end the argument over who caused the crash, and fault now carries higher stakes. New York has long reduced a plaintiff’s recovery by their own share of blame rather than barring it. The 2026 reforms changed that for some cases: CPLR 1411 now bars recovery entirely when the claimant is more at fault than the defendants in a personal injury action “subject to article fifty-one of the insurance law.”

Whether that language reaches motorcyclists, who sit largely outside the no-fault system, is a question New York courts have not yet settled. 

Either way, evidence of how the crash happened matters more than ever. Insurers often argue that a rider was speeding, splitting lanes, or hard to see. Photographs, dashcam or business surveillance footage, witness contact information, the police report, and the damage to your bike can answer those arguments, and some of that evidence disappears within days. 

Timing matters too. Most New York personal injury lawsuits must be filed within three years of the crash, but claims involving a city, county, or state vehicle can require formal notice within as little as 90 days. Missing those deadlines can end a claim regardless of how strong it is. 

Knowledgeable & Experienced Legal Guidance in New York

Attorney Ben Rabin has practiced law for more than two decades, devoting most of that time to people hurt through someone else’s carelessness. At the Rabin Law Firm, he handles each case personally rather than passing it to a case manager or paralegal. The attorney who sorts out your coverage, fault, and damages questions is the same one who negotiates with the insurer and, if needed, takes your case to court. 

For riders, that continuity matters because the issues above are connected. The missing no-fault benefits affect how your medical bills get paid now, and the strength of the liability evidence affects what a pain-and-suffering claim may be worth later.

Attorney Ben works with injured motorcyclists throughout Central New York, including Syracuse, Binghamton, Utica, Watertown, and Rochester. If an adjuster has told you your injuries don’t qualify, schedule a free consultation with him to learn which rules actually apply to your crash.