Oficina de Manhattan
39 Broadway
Suite 1910
Nueva York, NY 10006
Riding a motorcycle through Manhattan means navigating one of the most demanding urban environments in the world. Dense traffic, aggressive drivers, construction zones, and deteriorating pavement create constant hazards, and when another driver’s negligence causes a crash, the consequences for a rider can be devastating. At Jacoby & Meyers, our motorcycle accident lawyers have spent decades fighting for injured riders and their families, securing the full compensation they deserve from the drivers and insurance companies responsible for their harm.
If you or someone you love has been hurt in a motorcycle accident in Manhattan, do not wait. Insurance companies begin building their defense immediately, evidence disappears quickly, and the window to take action has legal limits. The sooner you have an experienced Manhattan motorcycle accident lawyer working on your case, the stronger your position will be.
Call Jacoby & Meyers today for a free consultation. We handle all motorcycle accident cases on a contingency fee basis, no upfront costs, no hourly fees, and nothing owed unless we recover compensation for you.
Why Manhattan Is One of the Most Dangerous Places to Ride
Manhattan presents a uniquely hostile environment for motorcyclists. The sheer density of traffic, vehicles, cyclists, pedestrians, delivery trucks, rideshares, and taxis all competing for the same limited space means that the margin between a safe ride and a catastrophic crash is razor-thin. Add in the constant presence of construction, pothole-riddled streets, unexpected lane closures, and drivers distracted by phones and navigation systems, and it becomes clear why Manhattan sees a disproportionate share of serious motorcycle accidents.
Unlike drivers in enclosed vehicles, motorcyclists have no structural protection in a crash. There are no airbags, no crumple zones, and no seatbelts keeping a rider in place. When a car, truck, or bus strikes a motorcycle at even moderate speed, the rider’s body absorbs the full force of the collision. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that motorcyclists are approximately 24 times more likely to die in a traffic crash per mile traveled than occupants of passenger vehicles. In a borough as densely trafficked as Manhattan, that risk is present every time you start your engine.
Common causes of motorcycle accidents in Manhattan include:
- Left-turn collisions – a driver turning left fails to yield to an oncoming motorcycle, the single most frequent type of deadly motorcycle crash
- Distracted driving – phones, GPS systems, and in-vehicle screens pulling a driver’s attention off the road
- Rideshare and taxi hazards – Ubers, Lyfts, and yellow cabs stopping abruptly in traffic lanes or bike lanes
- Dooring – a parked car’s occupant opens a door directly into a passing rider’s path
- Rear-end collisions – stop-and-go traffic and inattentive drivers following too closely
- Unsafe lane changes – drivers merging without checking mirrors or blind spots
- Commercial vehicle accidents – delivery trucks and box trucks with limited visibility, creating deadly blind spots
- Road defects – potholes, uneven pavement, deteriorated road markings, construction hazards, and missing signage
- Drunk and impaired driving – especially at night and on weekends near Manhattan’s entertainment corridors
- Bus and MTA-related accidents – large vehicles with limited maneuverability and significant blind spots
Whatever caused your crash, our motorcycle injury attorneys will conduct a comprehensive investigation to establish liability and pursue every avenue of compensation available under New York law.
Serious Injuries Our Manhattan Personal Injury Lawyers Handle
Motorcycle accidents produce some of the most severe injuries seen in personal injury law. Our attorneys work alongside medical experts, life care planners, and forensic economists to ensure the true and complete value of your injuries is fully captured in your claim, not just today’s medical bills, but everything you will face going forward.
Lesiones cerebrales traumáticas
Even a quality helmet cannot fully protect a rider from traumatic brain injury in a serious crash. The rotational and linear forces involved can damage brain tissue in ways that affect cognition, memory, personality, speech, and the ability to work or live independently. TBI cases often require lifelong care and support, and our attorneys have extensive experience translating the full neurological and human impact of these injuries into maximum compensation.
Spinal Cord Injuries and Paralysis
A spinal cord injury can rob a rider of mobility, independence, and a career in a fraction of a second. Partial or complete paralysis requires lifetime medical management, adaptive equipment, home modification, and, in many cases, full-time care. The financial toll easily reaches into the millions. Jacoby & Meyers has the resources and the experience to pursue the full value of catastrophic spinal cord injury claims, and we do not settle for less than what our clients truly need.
Broken Bones and Orthopedic Injuries
Fractures to the legs, arms, wrists, collarbone, pelvis, and ribs are among the most common injuries in motorcycle crashes. Many require surgical repair with rods, plates, and screws, followed by months of physical therapy. Incomplete healing, chronic pain, arthritis, and permanent loss of range of motion are frequent long-term consequences that can affect your ability to work and your quality of life for years.
Road Rash and Disfigurement
Severe road rash is far more than a surface injury. Deep abrasion through multiple layers of skin can require skin grafts, reconstructive surgery, and leave permanent scarring. Facial disfigurement and visible scarring carry profound psychological consequences, including depression, anxiety, social withdrawal, and PTSD, that deserve full recognition in your claim.
Lesiones internas
The blunt force of a motorcycle crash can cause internal bleeding and organ damage that is not immediately apparent at the scene. Injuries to the liver, spleen, kidneys, and lungs can be life-threatening without prompt surgical intervention. Our attorneys ensure that emergency medical costs, intensive care, surgery, and ongoing treatment are all captured in your damages.
Muerte por negligencia
When a motorcycle accident in Manhattan takes a life, the victim’s family has the right to pursue a wrongful death claim. Jacoby & Meyers handles these cases with the gravity, care, and relentless determination they deserve, pursuing compensation for funeral costs, lost income and financial support, and the irreplaceable loss of a parent, spouse, or child.
What Compensation Can a Manhattan Motorcycle Accident Victim Recover?
New York law provides injured motorcyclists with significant advantages that car accident victims do not always have. Critically, motorcycles are excluded from New York’s no-fault insurance system. This means you are not subject to the serious injury threshold that limits car accident claims.
You can pursue a full tort claim against the at-fault driver from the start, without first clearing a legal hurdle designed to filter out smaller cases.
Economic Damages:
- All past and future medical expenses, emergency care, hospitalization, surgery, specialist treatment, rehabilitation, physical therapy, prescription medications, and medical equipment
- Lost wages and income during your recovery
- Loss of future earning capacity if your injuries affect your long-term ability to work
- In-home care, home health aides, and daily living assistance
- Motorcycle repair or replacement and gear
- All other out-of-pocket costs arising from the accident and your recovery
Non-Economic Damages:
- Dolor y sufrimiento
- Emotional distress and psychological trauma
- Pérdida del disfrute de la vida
- Permanent scarring and disfigurement
- Loss of consortium, the impact your injuries have had on your relationship with your spouse or partner
When the at-fault driver’s conduct was especially egregious, such as street racing, drunk driving, or deliberate aggression, punitive damages may also be available. Our experienced motorcycle accident lawyers will evaluate every category of damages available and pursue the maximum recovery the law allows.
How Insurance Companies Approach Motorcycle Accident Claims
The insurance industry does not approach motorcycle claims the way it approaches car accident claims. Anti-motorcycle bias is deeply embedded in how adjusters evaluate these cases, and it shows up in the tactics they use from the first phone call. Common strategies used against Manhattan motorcycle accident victims:
- Stereotyping riders as inherently reckless to assign fault that reduces or eliminates your recovery
- Claiming your injuries were pre-existing or less severe than your medical records indicate
- Offering a quick, low settlement before you understand the long-term scope of your damages
- Requesting a recorded statement designed to capture statements that can be used against you
- Stringing out the claims process to create financial pressure and force an unfair settlement
Manhattan’s traffic complexity creates additional ammunition for insurance companies. They will scrutinize how you were riding, where you were in your lane, your speed, and your reaction time, looking for anything to shift fault onto you and away from their insured.
At Jacoby & Meyers, we anticipate these tactics and dismantle them with evidence. Accident reconstruction experts, medical professionals, traffic engineers, and eyewitness testimony all become tools in building a case that leaves the insurance company with no credible basis to minimize your claim.
Once you hire us, all communication with insurers goes through our office. You will never have to take another call from an adjuster again.
New York Laws that Affect Your New York City Motorcycle Accident Case
In most motorcycle accident cases, New York gives you three years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit. However, this deadline can be significantly shorter in specific circumstances. If a city agency, the MTA, or another government entity contributed to your accident, through a defective roadway, a malfunctioning traffic signal, or a negligent city vehicle, you may have as little as 90 days to file a formal notice of claim.
Missing that deadline typically means forfeiting your right to sue. Do not assume you have time. Contact an experienced motorcycle accident lawyer as soon as possible.
Pure Comparative Negligence
New York’s comparative negligence rule allows you to recover compensation even if you were partly at fault for the accident. Your damages are reduced proportionally by your share of fault. If you are 15% at fault and your total damages are $800,000, you recover $680,000.
Insurance companies aggressively try to inflate your percentage of fault to reduce what they pay. Our attorneys work to keep your fault allocation as low as the evidence supports and to ensure the full weight of responsibility falls on the party whose negligence caused the crash.
Helmet Requirements
New York law requires all motorcycle operators and passengers to wear helmets. If you were not helmeted at the time of your crash, the defense will argue that your head and neck injuries are at least partially attributable to your own conduct. Our attorneys are experienced in addressing these arguments and preventing them from unfairly reducing the compensation you are owed for injuries caused by someone else’s negligence.
MTA and Government Entity Claims
Manhattan has a higher concentration of MTA buses, city vehicles, and government-maintained infrastructure than virtually any other jurisdiction in New York. If a bus driver, a city sanitation truck, a poorly maintained stretch of pavement, or a defective traffic signal played a role in your crash, special procedural rules apply, including tight notice-of-claim deadlines and specific filing requirements. Our attorneys are well-versed in handling government entity claims and will ensure every procedural step is taken correctly and on time.
Why Injured Riders Choose the Law Firm of Jacoby & Meyers
Jacoby & Meyers has been representing injured clients throughout New York City for over five decades. Our motorcycle accident law firm has secured hundreds of millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for clients across Manhattan and all five boroughs. That depth of experience means we have seen virtually every defense tactic, every insurance strategy, and every courtroom argument, and we know how to beat them.
No Fee Unless Our Legal Team Wins
Hiring Jacoby & Meyers costs you nothing out of pocket. We work on a pure contingency fee basis, we advance all costs of investigation and litigation, and our fee comes only from the recovery we obtain for you. If we do not win your case, you owe us nothing, period.
Willingness to Go to Trial for Your Personal Injuries
Insurance companies keep track of which law firms will actually take cases to trial and which will settle for less to avoid the courtroom. Our reputation as tenacious, experienced trial attorneys gives us significant leverage at the negotiation table. When insurers know we are ready and willing to try a case in front of a Manhattan jury, they take our demands seriously. When they do not, we follow through.
Immediate and Thorough Case Investigation
The moment you retain us, we get to work. We move quickly to secure traffic camera and surveillance footage before it is overwritten, retain accident reconstruction experts, preserve physical evidence, and track down witnesses. In Manhattan, where evidence can disappear within days, speed matters enormously.
Direct Access to Your Attorney
Your case will not be managed by a rotating cast of paralegals or junior staff. At Jacoby & Meyers, experienced attorneys handle your case directly, and you will have direct access to the motorcycle accident lawyer working on your behalf. We provide honest, clear updates throughout the process, no runaround, no delays in communication.
What to Do After an NYC Motorcycle Accident
The decisions you make in the hours and days following a crash can directly affect the value of your motorcycle accident case. When you are able, take these steps:
- Call 911 immediately. Always report the accident to the police and request medical assistance. A police report is one of the foundational pieces of evidence in any motorcycle accident claim.
- Seek medical attention right away, even if you feel okay. Adrenaline masks pain. TBI, internal injuries, and spinal trauma can present with few or no obvious symptoms immediately after a crash. A prompt medical evaluation protects your health and creates a documented record tying your injuries to the accident.
- Document the scene. If you are physically able, photograph your injuries, your motorcycle, the other vehicle or vehicles, the road surface, skid marks, traffic signals, signage, and the surrounding environment. Capture as much of the scene as possible before anything is moved or cleaned up.
- Collect information. Get the other driver’s name, license plate, driver’s license number, insurance company, and policy number. If there are witnesses, get their names and contact information. Note any nearby businesses or traffic cameras that may have captured the motorcycle crash.
- Do not give a recorded statement to any insurance company. Not to the other driver’s insurer, and not to your own until you have spoken with an attorney. Adjusters are trained to ask questions in ways designed to minimize your claim. Let your motorcycle accident lawyer handle all insurer communication.
- Avoid social media. Defense attorneys and insurance investigators monitor accident victims’ social media accounts. A photo, a check-in, or an offhand comment can be misrepresented and used to undermine your case. Stay off social platforms until your motorcycle accident claim is resolved.
- Contact Jacoby & Meyers as soon as possible. The earlier we get involved, the more evidence we can preserve and the stronger your case will be from the start.
New York Motorcycle Accident Lawyer FAQ
What if the At-Fault Driver Fled the Scene or Is Uninsured?
Hit-and-run accidents and uninsured motorists are unfortunately not uncommon in Manhattan. New York law requires motorcycle insurance policies to include uninsured motorist coverage, which can compensate you when the responsible driver cannot be identified or is uninsured. Our attorneys will also investigate whether any other parties, such as a vehicle manufacturer, a road maintenance contractor, the MTA, or the City of New York, share liability.
Can I Recover if I Was Partially at Fault?
Yes. Under New York’s pure comparative negligence system, partial fault does not bar your recovery; it only reduces it proportionally. If you bear some responsibility for the accident, our job is to ensure that responsibility is accurately assessed and not inflated by the insurance company’s narrative.
¿Cuánto vale mi caso?
The value of a motorcycle accident claim depends on the severity of your injuries, your medical expenses, your lost income, the long-term impact on your life and career, and the strength of the evidence against the at-fault party. There is no honest way to give a number before a thorough review of your case, but we will provide a detailed and realistic assessment during your free consultation.
How Long Do I Have to File a Claim for My Motorcycle Accident Injuries?
In most cases, three years from the date of the accident. However, if a government entity is involved, you may have as few as 90 days to file a notice of claim. Contact us immediately so we can identify all applicable deadlines and ensure nothing is missed.
What Does It Cost to Hire a Manhattan Motorcycle Accident Lawyer?
Nothing upfront. Jacoby & Meyers works on a contingency fee basis; all litigation costs are advanced by our firm, and our fee is a percentage of what we recover. If we do not win, you owe us nothing.
Serving Motorcycle Accident Victims Throughout Manhattan
Our motorcycle accident law firm represents injured riders across all of Manhattan, from Inwood and Washington Heights in the north to the Financial District and Battery Park at the southern tip. Whether your accident occurred on the FDR Drive, the West Side Highway, Fifth Avenue, Canal Street, 125th Street, Tenth Avenue, or any of the borough’s countless intersections and cross streets, our attorneys are ready to help.
We also handle cases involving motorcycle crashes on the bridges and tunnels connecting Manhattan to the outer boroughs and beyond, including the George Washington Bridge, the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge, and the Queensboro Bridge approaches.
If your accident involved an MTA bus, a city vehicle, or a road defect on a city-maintained street, we are experienced with the specialized legal requirements those claims demand.
Call a Manhattan Motorcycle Accident Lawyer at Jacoby & Meyers for a Free Case Review
Andrew Finkelstein, abogado especializado en accidentes de motocicleta en Manhattan
You deserve a law firm with the experience, resources, and determination to take your case all the way and win. At Jacoby & Meyers, our attorneys are ready to fight for every dollar of compensation you are owed.
Call us now or complete our online contact form to schedule your free, confidential consultation. There are no costs, no obligations, and no fees of any kind unless we recover for you.
Testimonios de clientes
Opinión: 5/5
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
«David siempre estuvo ahí para guiarme en este difícil proceso tras el accidente de tráfico. Me ayudó a recuperarme, siempre estuvo dispuesto a escucharme y luchó para conseguirme una indemnización increíble. Estoy muy satisfecha con este resultado, que ha superado todas mis expectativas, y con su profesionalidad. Si necesitas un abogado, ¡David y su equipo son la mejor opción!»
Opinión de: Qing L.
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