If you were hurt riding in someone else’s vehicle anywhere in Brooklyn — a private car, a yellow cab or green boro taxi, an Uber or Lyft, or an MTA or private bus — a Brooklyn passenger injury lawyer can pursue every driver whose mistake caused the crash. As a passenger, you were not steering, braking, or choosing the lane, which means fault almost never lands on you and you can file against each at-fault driver’s insurance at the same time. Silver Law Group takes these cases on contingency: the consultation is free, we answer 24/7, we work in English, Spanish, and Russian, and you owe no fee unless you recover. Call 212-470-4544.
Do You Have a Case If You Were a Passenger? Almost Always, Yes
You had no hand on the wheel, so the argument that sinks many driver cases — who had the right of way, who was speeding — rarely touches you. Fault sits with one or more of the drivers involved, and you sit outside it. That gives you two paths to recovery, and you can use them at once: a claim against the driver of the vehicle you were riding in, and a claim against any other driver who helped cause the crash. When two drivers point fingers and it is not yet clear which one is more to blame, you do not have to wait for them to sort it out. You pursue both, and the insurers argue over percentages while your case moves forward.
The Passenger Situations We Handle Across Brooklyn
The vehicle you were in decides which insurance policies come into play and who you can hold responsible. These are the passenger cases we handle across Brooklyn, from Flatbush Avenue and Atlantic Avenue to the Belt Parkway, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, and Ocean Parkway:
- Private-car passenger — you claim against the host driver, any other at-fault driver, or both.
- Yellow-cab and green boro-taxi passenger — the driver, the medallion or fleet owner, and any third-party driver can all be on the hook.
- Uber and Lyft passenger — coverage runs through TLC rules, not the statewide rideshare policy many riders expect.
- MTA and NYCT city bus passenger — a public claim with a short, unforgiving deadline attached.
- Access-A-Ride and paratransit passenger — the same public-entity deadline applies, and the operator may be a private contractor.
- Charter or tour bus passenger — a private carrier held to a higher duty of care, usually with a larger policy behind it.
Injured in a Brooklyn Taxi or Livery Cab
A cab crash gives you more than one target. You can claim against the driver, against the medallion or fleet owner under vicarious liability for their driver’s negligence, and against any other driver who hit the cab. The yellow cabs and green boro taxis you flag down across Brooklyn are for-hire vehicles licensed by the Taxi and Limousine Commission, and TLC rules require them to carry $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident in commercial liability coverage, plus up to $200,000 in no-fault benefits — far more than the personal policy on a private car. That larger no-fault pool matters when your medical bills climb.
Injured as an Uber or Lyft Passenger in Brooklyn
Here is where riders get the wrong number. You may have read that a $1.25 million policy covers Uber and Lyft crashes; that figure comes from New York’s statewide rideshare law, and it does not apply inside the five boroughs. Under VTL §1693(12), New York City is carved out of the state’s Article 44-B framework for transportation network companies, so a Brooklyn Uber or Lyft ride falls under the same TLC rules as a cab: $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident in liability, with up to $200,000 in no-fault benefits. Before you close the app, screenshot your trip. That record confirms the driver was in an active prearranged trip when the crash happened, which is what puts the commercial coverage in play instead of the driver’s personal policy.
Injured on an MTA Bus or Access-A-Ride in Brooklyn
A public bus claim runs on a clock most people never hear about until it is almost gone. If you were hurt on an MTA or NYCT bus or in an Access-A-Ride vehicle, you must serve a formal Notice of Claim within 90 days of the crash under GML §50-e, and file the lawsuit itself within one year and 90 days under GML §50-i. Miss the 90-day notice and your claim can be barred before it starts. These crashes happen on the borough’s busiest lines — the B41 down Flatbush Avenue, the B46 along Utica Avenue — where hard stops throw standing riders into poles and seatbacks. For a bus passenger, the bus’s own insurance is generally the primary source of your no-fault benefits, not any policy of your own.
Injured on a Private Charter or Tour Bus
Private charter and tour bus companies are common carriers, which means the law holds them to a higher duty of care toward you than an ordinary driver owes. They also tend to carry larger commercial policies. When a charter loses control on the BQE or the Belt Parkway, the driver’s conduct in the moment is only part of it: a fatigued driver kept on the road too long, or a bus sent out with worn brakes, is a separate act of negligence you can build a claim around.
How No-Fault Insurance Covers You as a Passenger
No-fault is the first money that reaches you, and it does not wait for anyone to admit fault. New York’s Personal Injury Protection pays your early medical bills and part of your lost wages no matter which driver caused the crash. How much is available depends on the vehicle: a private car carries the state minimum of $50,000 in PIP under Insurance Law §5102, while a TLC-licensed cab or rideshare carries up to $200,000. The question in every passenger case is which vehicle’s policy pays first — the car you rode in, the bus that carried you, or another vehicle involved — and that answer changes how far your benefits stretch. Getting it right early keeps your treatment covered while the liability claim plays out.
File Your No-Fault Application Within 30 Days
The no-fault application, form NF-2, has to reach the insurer within 30 days of the crash. Miss that window and you can lose your PIP benefits entirely, even with a valid injury. See a doctor the same week, before you feel the full weight of what happened. Early treatment creates the medical record that links your injuries to the crash and keeps the insurer from claiming you were hurt some other way.
When You Can Sue Beyond No-Fault: The Serious Injury Threshold
No-fault covers your bills, but it does not pay a dime for what the injury did to your life. To recover for pain and suffering, your injury has to clear the serious injury threshold written into Insurance Law §5102(d). The statute defines it through a specific set of categories:
- death
- dismemberment
- significant disfigurement
- a bone fracture
- permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function, or system
- permanent consequential limitation of a body organ or member
- significant limitation of use of a body function or system
- a medically determined injury that keeps you from your usual daily activities for at least 90 of the 180 days after the crash
Passenger injuries land in these categories often. A fractured wrist from bracing against a dashboard meets the fracture category outright, and a herniated disc that never fully heals can qualify as a significant or permanent limitation.
Injuries Passengers Commonly Suffer
The injuries that push passengers over the threshold tend to repeat:
- Traumatic brain injury, from a head striking a window, partition, or seatback
- Spinal cord damage and herniated discs, which can become permanent limitations
- Bone fractures to the wrists, ribs, and legs
- Internal injuries that may show no symptoms for hours
- Facial lacerations and scarring, which can meet the significant disfigurement category
- PTSD and other lasting emotional injury
Passengers rarely see the crash coming, and in a cab or on a bus they are often unbelted. A sudden stop or a side impact throws you forward into a partition, a pole, or the seat ahead with nothing to catch you. That is why a passenger’s injuries are frequently worse than the driver’s in the same vehicle.
What Your Brooklyn Passenger Injury Case Could Be Worth
No honest lawyer can hand you a number at the first call, and any firm that advertises a guaranteed figure is selling you something. What your case is worth depends on your injury and how long its effects last. Your damages fall into two groups. The economic side covers what the crash costs you in dollars: past and future medical care, wages you lost while you could not work, and the earning capacity you lose if the injury follows you into your career. The non-economic side covers what does not come with a receipt — your pain and suffering, the emotional toll, the parts of your life you can no longer enjoy, and any lasting disfigurement. A permanent injury with a poor long-term prognosis carries more weight than a sprain that heals in a month, and that difference, not a billboard number, is what drives value.
Who Pays When Several Drivers or Companies Share the Blame
A passenger case can have several defendants in it at the same time, and that works in your favor. You can name the driver of the vehicle you were in, any other driver who contributed, the taxi or bus company behind a commercial vehicle, a rideshare driver, and — if a blowout or brake failure played a role — the manufacturer of a defective part. New York follows pure comparative negligence under CPLR §1411, so each party pays in proportion to its share of fault. Here is the part that protects you: comparative negligence reduces a recovery only by the injured person’s own share of blame, and you, sitting in the passenger seat, carry none of the driving fault. The drivers and their insurers fight over percentages among themselves. Your recovery is not cut because of it.
What to Do After You’re Hurt as a Passenger in Brooklyn
What you do in the first hours shapes the claim you can bring later. Take these steps in order:
- Get medical care right away, even if you feel fine. Adrenaline hides injuries, and internal damage and concussions can surface a day or two later. Brooklyn passengers are often taken to Kings County Hospital Center or Maimonides Medical Center.
- Report the crash and get the police report. It fixes the date, location, and vehicles on the record.
- Collect the details that identify each vehicle: the taxi medallion number, a screenshot of your rideshare trip, or the bus route and run number.
- Photograph the scene, the vehicles, and your injuries while everything is still fresh.
- Say no to a recorded statement. An adjuster may call within days asking for one — do not give it until you have spoken with a lawyer, because it exists only to find words the insurer can use to pay you less.
Deadlines That Can End Your Passenger Claim
Your case runs on more than one clock, and the shortest one controls. Here is every deadline that can end a Brooklyn passenger claim:
- 30 days to file your no-fault (NF-2) application for medical and wage benefits
- 90 days to serve a Notice of Claim if the MTA, NYCT, Access-A-Ride, or the City is involved, under GML §50-e, with the lawsuit due within one year and 90 days under GML §50-i
- Three years to sue a private driver or company for personal injury, under CPLR §214
- Two years to bring a wrongful death claim if a passenger was killed, under EPTL 5-4.1
When you do sue, a Brooklyn passenger case is filed at Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street in Downtown Brooklyn. The gap between a 90-day notice and a three-year statute is the trap. A rider who assumes they have three years can lose a claim against the MTA in the first three months.
What It Costs to Hire Silver Law Group
You pay nothing to start and nothing along the way. Silver Law Group works on contingency, which means our fee is a percentage of what we recover for you and comes out of that recovery when it arrives, not out of your pocket. If we do not win or settle your case, you owe us no attorney’s fee at all. That keeps the risk on us and lets you hire a lawyer while you are out of work and worried about bills. The first conversation is free, we answer 24/7, and we handle your case in English, Spanish, or Russian. Call 212-470-4544.
Why Injured Passengers Choose Silver Law Group
Passenger cases are messy in a specific way: two, three, or four insurers, each hoping another one pays. That is the problem this firm is built to handle. We keep the claims against every at-fault driver and company moving at once instead of letting them stall each other. You reach us any hour, the consultation costs nothing, and we work with you in English, Spanish, or Russian so nothing gets lost between you and your lawyer. We prepare every case as if it will go to trial, because an insurer that sees a file ready for a courtroom is an insurer more willing to pay what your injury is worth. And you carry no fee unless we recover for you.