After a collision with an 18-wheeler, people are flooded with half-true advice: “you have three years,” “the trucking company’s insurance covers everything,” “no-fault means fault doesn’t matter.” Each of those statements is partly right and dangerously incomplete. At Yakov Mushiyev & Associates, P.C., we work as an 18 wheeler accident lawyer in Queens for people hurt in crashes with tractor-trailers and other large trucks, and a surprising amount of our early work involves correcting misunderstandings about deadlines, notices and legal thresholds. This page takes those rules one at a time and explains, carefully and precisely, what they actually say.
How an 18 Wheeler Accident Lawyer in Queens Approaches Your Case
Our office is at 1 Cross Island Plaza in Rosedale, a short drive from the Belt Parkway, the Cross Island Parkway and the truck traffic heading to and from JFK Airport. We represent drivers, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists injured by tractor-trailers on the Van Wyck, the Long Island Expressway, the BQE, and the industrial streets of Long Island City, Maspeth and Jamaica.
Eighteen-wheeler cases reward precision. The rules that govern them come from several sources at once: New York’s insurance and civil practice laws, the Vehicle and Traffic Law, and federal motor carrier regulations. When a client retains us, we:
- map every deadline that applies to the case, including the short ones;
- identify every party that may share responsibility, from the driver to the motor carrier to the trailer owner;
- send preservation demands for electronic and paper records before they can be lost;
- coordinate no-fault, health insurance and, where relevant, workers’ compensation benefits;
- build the medical record needed to meet New York’s serious injury definition.
You can review the full range of our work on the practice areas page, and our frequently asked questions about personal injury cases covers the basics of hiring a lawyer. Below are the rules we see misunderstood most often in truck cases.
Misunderstood Rule One: “I Have Three Years to Do Something”
What people think: the deadline for any injury claim in New York is three years.
What the rule actually says: three years is the general statute of limitations for personal injury lawsuits under CPLR 214(5). It is the outer limit for filing a lawsuit against a private defendant, such as a trucking company. It is not the deadline for everything else, and it is not the deadline when a public entity is involved.
Here is the fuller picture, in the order the deadlines typically arrive:
| Deadline | What it applies to | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 10 days | Driver’s DMV accident report (MV-104) when anyone is injured or killed or property damage exceeds $1,000 | NY DMV |
| 30 days | No-fault application (generally) | Insurance Law Article 51 |
| 90 days | Notice of Claim against NYC, its agencies, NYC Transit and many public authorities (generally) | GML §50-e; PAL §1212 |
| 1 year and 90 days | Lawsuit against those public entities (generally) | GML and related statutes |
| 2 years from death | Wrongful death action | EPTL 5-4.1 |
| 3 years | Personal injury lawsuit against private parties | CPLR 214(5) |
Two points of precision. First, the 90-day Notice of Claim rule under General Municipal Law §50-e is triggered by who owned or operated the vehicle, not by its size. Most 18-wheelers are privately owned, so the rule usually does not apply to the truck itself. But Queens crashes frequently involve more than one vehicle, and if a city vehicle, such as a DSNY truck, or an MTA bus was part of the chain of events, the 90-day clock may run for that part of the claim. Second, negotiation with an insurer does not pause any of these deadlines.
Misunderstood Rule Two: “No-Fault Means Fault Does Not Matter”
What people think: in a no-fault state, it does not matter who caused the crash.
What the rule actually says: no-fault benefits are paid without regard to fault, but they are limited. Under Insurance Law Article 51, no-fault pays basic economic loss up to $50,000 per person: necessary medical expenses, 80% of lost earnings up to $2,000 per month, and up to $25 per day for other reasonable expenses. Everything beyond that, including pain and suffering and economic loss above the no-fault limits, depends on proving fault.
In 18-wheeler crashes, injuries are often severe, and lost earnings can quickly exceed the $2,000 monthly cap. That makes the fault-based claim against the driver and carrier the center of the case, not an afterthought.
A further precision point: the 30-day no-fault application deadline is easy to miss when someone is hospitalized. If you were in a car, the application generally goes to the insurer of the car you occupied; if you were a pedestrian or cyclist struck by the truck, generally to the truck’s insurer. Motorcycle operators and passengers are not covered by New York no-fault at all, which changes the analysis entirely for riders struck by a truck.
Misunderstood Rule Three: “Serious Injury” Means Whatever the Doctor Says
What people think: if a doctor calls the injury serious, it qualifies.
What the rule actually says: “serious injury” is a defined legal term in Insurance Law §5102(d). To recover pain and suffering after a motor vehicle accident, the injury must fall into one of the statute’s categories, including death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, a fracture, loss of a fetus, permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system, a permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member, or a significant limitation of use of a body function or system.
Courts generally require objective medical evidence for the limitation categories: quantified range-of-motion findings, imaging, and a doctor’s explanation connecting the limitation to the crash. A doctor’s general description is not enough on its own. Many 18-wheeler injuries, such as fractures, clearly qualify; others, including spinal injuries without fracture, require careful documentation over time.
2026 update: For motor-vehicle personal injury actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026, the “90/180-day” category, which covered injuries preventing a person from performing substantially all of their usual activities for 90 of the first 180 days after the accident, was removed from the serious injury definition. The same legislation amended CPLR 1411 to apply modified comparative fault to these cases: a claimant whose fault exceeds the defendants’ combined fault (more than 50%) recovers nothing, and a claimant at 50% or less has recovery reduced by their share.
Misunderstood Rule Four: “If I Was Partly at Fault, I Have No Case”
What people think: any fault on your part ends the claim.
What the rule actually says: New York divides fault by percentage. Under the 2026 rule for motor-vehicle actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026, you can recover if your share of fault is 50% or less, with the award reduced by your percentage; above 50%, you recover nothing. Cases commenced earlier, and non-motor-vehicle cases, have been governed by pure comparative fault, under which recovery is reduced but not eliminated.
Truck cases frequently produce fault disputes. Carriers argue that a car lingered in a blind spot, cut in front of the tractor, or stopped suddenly. The 50% line means these arguments now carry more weight than before, which is why objective evidence, such as dashcam video and electronic data, matters so much.
Misunderstood Rule Five: “Truckers Can Drive as Long as They Want”
What people think: fatigue rules are vague or rarely enforced.
What the rule actually says: the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s hours-of-service regulations are specific. For property-carrying drivers subject to the rules:
- a driver may drive up to 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty;
- driving must take place within a 14-hour on-duty window;
- a 30-minute break is required after 8 hours of driving.
These hours are generally tracked by electronic logging devices (ELDs). Comparing ELD data with fuel receipts, delivery records and toll data can reveal whether a driver was over hours or falsifying logs. There are exceptions to the rules for certain operations, so the analysis depends on the specific carrier and trip.
Misunderstood Rule Six: “$750,000 Is What the Case Is Worth”
What people think: the federal insurance figure sets the value or the limit of a truck claim.
What the rule actually says: under federal rules (49 CFR 387.9), interstate general freight carriers must carry at least $750,000 in liability coverage, with higher minimums for hazardous materials. That number is a regulatory minimum. It is not a measure of what any claim is worth, and it is not necessarily the total coverage available. Carriers may carry more, and other parties, such as a trailer owner, a broker or a maintenance contractor, may have their own policies. Identifying every policy is part of the work.
Misunderstood Rule Seven: “The Evidence Will Still Be There Later”
What people think: the trucking company will keep its records, and they can be requested whenever needed.
What the rule actually says: companies have records-retention practices, and some data, such as certain engine control module (ECM) or “black box” data and dashcam footage, can be overwritten or lost. A preservation letter, also called a spoliation letter, formally notifies the carrier that litigation is anticipated and demands that it keep specified evidence. Courts take the destruction of evidence seriously once a party is on notice. The records we typically demand include:
- ELD logs and supporting documents;
- ECM and event data;
- forward-facing and driver-facing camera footage;
- maintenance, repair and inspection records for the tractor and trailer;
- the driver qualification file, including licensing, training and medical certification;
- dispatch communications and delivery schedules.
Misunderstood Rule Eight: “A Big Truck Can Use Any Highway in Queens”
What people think: any road open to cars is open to trucks.
What the rule actually says: commercial vehicles are banned from New York parkways, including the Belt Parkway, the Cross Island Parkway, the Grand Central Parkway and the Jackie Robinson Parkway. An 18-wheeler on a parkway is violating the rules, and the low overpasses on those roads pose a real danger. Tractor-trailers belong on expressways such as the Van Wyck, the Long Island Expressway, the BQE and the Clearview, and on designated truck routes. A truck’s presence where it was not allowed can be evidence of negligence.
Misunderstood Rule Nine: “I Was Working, So I Can Only Get Workers’ Comp”
What people think: if you were on the job when the truck hit you, workers’ compensation is your only option.
What the rule actually says: under Workers’ Compensation Law §11, workers’ compensation generally bars a lawsuit against your own employer, except in cases of “grave injury.” It does not bar claims against third parties. If you were driving a work van on the Van Wyck and a tractor-trailer owned by a different company struck you, you may have both a workers’ compensation claim and a third-party claim against the truck driver and carrier. Coordinating the two requires care, because the benefits interact.
For a phase-by-phase look at how an 18-wheeler claim unfolds, from the first hour to the first year, see our blog guide to 18-wheeler crash claims in Queens. Our page for a tractor trailer accident lawyer in Queens covers related questions, and our rear-end collision page explains the presumption that applies when a truck strikes a car from behind.
Three Queens Museums Along the Borough’s Truck Corridors
Some of Queens’ best-loved cultural institutions sit close to the industrial streets and expressways that heavy trucks use every day. Here are three, with a note on the traffic around each.
The Noguchi Museum
The Noguchi Museum in Long Island City was founded by the Japanese American sculptor and designer Isamu Noguchi and is housed in a former industrial building he converted near the East River, close to Vernon Boulevard and Socrates Sculpture Park. Its tranquil sculpture garden contrasts sharply with the neighborhood around it, where warehouses, film studios and construction sites still draw a steady flow of box trucks and tractor-trailers. Visitors walking from the subway or parking on side streets share those blocks with large vehicles making wide turns, so careful crossing and attention to truck blind spots are worthwhile.
The Louis Armstrong House Museum
The Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona preserves the modest brick home where the jazz legend and his wife Lucille lived for decades, kept much as they left it, along with an archive and a newer education center across the street. It sits on a quiet residential block, but the neighborhood is bounded by heavy traffic: Northern Boulevard, Roosevelt Avenue under the elevated 7 train, and the expressways ringing Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Trucks heading to the Long Island Expressway and the Van Wyck pass through Corona’s commercial corridors, where double parking and pedestrian traffic make tight conditions for large vehicles.
The Museum of the Moving Image
The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria is dedicated to film, television and digital media and occupies part of the historic Astoria Studios complex, alongside the working Kaufman Astoria Studios. Production in the area brings equipment trucks and trailers onto local streets near 35th Avenue and 36th Street, and the neighborhood connects to the BQE, the Grand Central and the RFK Bridge approaches. Visitors driving in should watch for oversized vehicles maneuvering around production sites, and remember that commercial trucks are banned from the Grand Central Parkway, so they are channeled onto local streets and expressways instead.
Directions to Our Rosedale Office from the Noguchi Museum
From the Noguchi Museum in Long Island City, head inland to the Long Island Expressway and take it east across Queens. Exit onto the Van Wyck Expressway southbound toward JFK Airport, then follow the Belt Parkway east toward Long Island. Our office at 1 Cross Island Plaza, Suite 325, sits in Rosedale near the junction of the Belt and Cross Island Parkways; use the Rosedale exits and the map below for the final turns. Expect roughly 30 to 45 minutes depending on traffic.
Precise Answers to Common Questions About 18-Wheeler Claims
Does the 90-day Notice of Claim apply when a private trucking company’s 18-wheeler hit me?
Usually not. The 90-day Notice of Claim requirement is tied to claims against New York City, its agencies, NYC Transit and many other public authorities. A privately owned tractor-trailer operated by a private carrier is generally subject to the ordinary three-year statute of limitations instead. However, if a public entity’s vehicle or property was involved in any way, such as a city truck in a multi-vehicle crash, a separate 90-day notice may be required for that part of the claim. Check early.
Does negotiating with the trucking company’s insurer stop the deadline?
No. Settlement talks, adjuster correspondence and even a promise to “work something out” generally do not pause the statute of limitations. If the deadline passes while negotiations continue, the claim can be lost. Insurers know this. Track the filing deadline from the date of the crash and make sure a lawsuit is filed in time if a fair settlement has not been reached. A lawyer can file to protect the claim while discussions continue.
Is the truck driver required to stop after a crash?
Yes. Under Vehicle and Traffic Law §600, a driver who knows or has reason to know that a crash caused injury or property damage must stop and exchange information, and in injury cases must report to police if the information cannot be exchanged. Some truck drivers do not realize they struck a smaller vehicle, especially in a blind spot. If the truck kept going, note its company name, DOT number on the door, trailer markings and direction of travel.
Is the $750,000 federal minimum the most I can recover?
No. The $750,000 figure is the federal minimum liability coverage for interstate general freight carriers under 49 CFR 387.9, and minimums are higher for hazardous materials. Carriers may carry more coverage, and other responsible parties may have separate policies. The minimum also says nothing about what a particular claim is worth. Value depends on the injuries, the losses and the evidence of fault, and it is only fairly assessed after the full picture is developed.
Do hours-of-service rules apply to every truck I see in Queens?
Not every truck. The federal hours-of-service rules apply to drivers of commercial motor vehicles subject to FMCSA regulation, and there are exceptions for certain short-haul and specialized operations. Interstate 18-wheelers hauling freight are typically covered. Whether a specific driver was subject to the 11-hour, 14-hour and 30-minute break rules depends on the vehicle, the cargo and the trip, which is determined from the carrier’s records and logging data.
I was driving for my job when an 18-wheeler hit me. Can I sue?
Often, yes, but not your own employer. Workers’ Compensation Law §11 generally bars suits against your employer, except for “grave injury” cases, but it allows claims against third parties such as the truck driver, the motor carrier and the truck’s owner. You may receive workers’ compensation benefits and pursue a third-party lawsuit at the same time. The two interact, including potential repayment rights for the compensation carrier, so they should be handled together.
What does “permanent consequential limitation” mean?
It is one of the serious injury categories in Insurance Law §5102(d). In plain terms, it means a lasting limitation in the use of a body organ or member that is more than minor. Courts generally look for objective proof, such as measured loss of range of motion compared with normal values, imaging that explains the limitation, and medical opinion tying it to the crash. Consistent treatment records over time make this category far easier to prove.
At what point does my own share of fault bar recovery?
For motor-vehicle personal injury actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026, the line is 50%. If your fault is greater than the combined fault of the defendants, you recover nothing; at 50% or less, your recovery is reduced by your percentage. Cases commenced before that date have been governed by pure comparative fault. Because the commencement date matters, ask a lawyer how the rule applies before assuming either way.
What happens if the trucking company loses or destroys key evidence?
Once a carrier is on notice of a potential claim, it has a duty to preserve relevant evidence. If it fails to, courts can impose sanctions, which may range from instructing the jury that it may infer the missing evidence would have been unfavorable to the carrier, to more serious penalties in extreme cases. The best protection is prevention: a prompt preservation letter identifying ELD data, ECM data, video and maintenance records.
Does the wrongful death deadline run from the crash or from the death?
Under EPTL 5-4.1, a wrongful death action generally must be filed within two years of the date of death, not the date of the crash. When a person dies days or weeks after a collision, the dates differ. Damages are limited mainly to economic losses to the family, while the estate may also bring a survival claim for the person’s conscious pain and suffering. If a public entity is involved, much shorter notice deadlines can also apply.
Get Precise Answers From an 18 Wheeler Accident Lawyer in Queens
Misunderstanding a single deadline or definition can cost an injured person their claim. If you or a loved one were hurt in a crash with a tractor-trailer, an 18 wheeler accident lawyer in Queens can identify the rules that apply and act on them before time runs out. Call Yakov Mushiyev & Associates, P.C. at 718.775.3110 or contact us online to speak with our Rosedale office. For crashes near the eastern border of the borough, see our page for an 18 wheeler accident lawyer in Bellerose.
Related reading: 18 Wheeler Accident Lawyer in Queens: an hour-by-hour to year-one guide.
General information, not legal advice. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.