I Was the Passenger in My Own Car When We Were T-Boned — Can I Sue Both Drivers?

Attorney Answer

You can pursue both drivers — but because the car was yours, the claim against your own driver runs through your own liability policy, and New York's no-fault rules decide separately whether anyone can be sued for pain and suffering.

Vehicle and Traffic Law § 388(1) is why your own driver's negligence reaches you as the owner: "Every owner of a vehicle used or operated in this state shall be liable and responsible for death or injuries to person or property resulting from negligence in the use or operation of such vehicle, in the business of such owner or otherwise, by any person using or operating the same with the permission, express or implied, of such owner." So if your driver carries any share of the responsibility, the statute makes you, as owner, answerable for it, and the liability coverage on your car is the fund that responds. Being the injured passenger and the owner at once changes which insurer pays, not whether a claim exists. If your driver is your spouse, the second question below explains why the policy's own terms may decide whether that coverage exists.

Before any of that matters, New York's no-fault article decides whether a pain-and-suffering claim exists. Insurance Law § 5104(a): "Notwithstanding any other law, in any action by or on behalf of a covered person against another covered person for personal injuries arising out of negligence in the use or operation of a motor vehicle in this state, there shall be no right of recovery for non-economic loss, except in the case of a serious injury, or for basic economic loss." Treatment and lost earnings within the no-fault limits are basic economic loss, paid as first-party benefits rather than won in a suit; Insurance Law § 5106(a) makes them overdue if unpaid thirty days after you supply proof of the fact and amount of the loss.

Which version of "serious injury" is yours turns on when a lawsuit is commenced, not on when the crash happened: Part EE of chapter 58 of the Laws of 2026 reaches actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026. So: have you already filed a lawsuit? If not, a case filed now runs under the current Insurance Law § 5102(d): "(d) "Serious injury" means a personal injury which results in 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 of a body organ or member; or significant limitation of use of a body function or system." For an action commenced on or after that date, CPLR 1411(b) also applies: "In any action to recover damages for personal injury subject to article fifty-one of the insurance law, the culpable conduct attributable to the claimant shall bar recovery if the culpable conduct attributable to the claimant is greater than the culpable conduct of the person against whom recovery is sought or is greater than the combined culpable conduct of the persons against whom recovery is sought." Insurance Law § 5104(d) also caps non-economic recovery at $100,000 for certain at-fault injured persons — uninsured, or impaired and convicted, or convicted of a felony — with death actions excepted; it is aimed at drivers, not passengers. If an action was already commenced before May 26, 2026, that case instead runs on the former nine-category § 5102(d), quoted in the first question below, and on the former CPLR 1411 pure comparative rule.

What you can do

1. Notify the no-fault insurer in writing and complete the no-fault application, so benefits for treatment and lost wages open; that claim carries its own regulatory deadlines, far shorter than the litigation clock.

2. Keep every bill, every no-fault denial and every treating physician's report — serious injury is decided on medical proof.

3. Get the police accident report, the other vehicle's insurance information, and a certified copy of your own policy with its declarations page and any household or spousal exclusion.

4. Ask a New York attorney whether an action has been commenced on your behalf, and what the current § 5102(d) requires — that definition changed in 2026.

5. Give no recorded statement to the other driver's insurer before an attorney reviews the file.

⏱ Time limits apply. A personal injury action must be commenced within three years under CPLR 214(5) — "an action to recover damages for a personal injury except as provided in sections 214-b, 214-c, 214-i and 215" — running from the date of the collision, not from the day an insurer answers you. The no-fault claim carries its own, much shorter regulatory requirements, which this page does not state. Which deadline governs you depends on facts this page cannot see; have a New York attorney fix your dates rather than estimating them.