On May 7, 2026, news broke that New York State Governor Kathy Hochul had announced a budget agreement for the upcoming fiscal year for New York State. However, there were a number of portions of this budget agreement which included issues outside of simply what money would be spent on, including potential longstanding law changes that would impact the ability of people to obtain compensation for injuries suffered in car accidents which are not their fault. In New York State, for many years, to be able to bring an action/lawsuit for pain and suffering associated with a motor vehicle accident, one must meet what is known as the “serious injury” threshold, which is defined by Insurance Law Section 5102(d). Without the ability to seek pain and suffering compensation, frequently car accident cases are not litigated. Seeking non-economic damages is the way that folks who are injured as a result of someone else's negligence in a car accident recover funds to help compensate them for the injuries, pain, suffering, and impact on their life that they have really and truly experienced. Under Insurance Law 5102(d), serious injuries are defined currently as follows: