To practice in the New York “no-fault world,” you must have the following attributes: patience, determination, perseverance, a sense of humor and thick skin. In this area of the law, common sense is neither necessary nor even recommended. There is a plethora of pressing and practical issues that need to be addressed in order to prevent the no-fault world from imploding. This article will outline and expose some of these issues so that, hopefully, the New York State Department of Financial Services and the state Legislature can expeditiously resolve them.
While I have been a plaintiff’s personal injury attorney for 23 years, I have practiced in the area of New York no-fault law for over 13 years, starting on the plaintiff/applicant’s side, representing medical providers, and later switching to the defense side, representing insurers and self insurers. Since I have been on both sides of no-fault litigation, I have a unique perspective of evaluating the current no-fault system and can say with certainty that it is just not working. In fact, the system is clearly broken.
