Four systems, and New York now spans two of them
American fault law splits into four real categories: pure comparative negligence, modified comparative negligence with a 50% bar, modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar, and pure contributory negligence. Until May 2026, New York sat cleanly in the first category for every personal injury claim. A new reform changed that — but only for one specific category of claim.
A genuinely unusual, claim-type-specific split
Under CPLR § 1411(a), pure comparative negligence continues to govern most personal injury claims in New York — a claimant can recover something even at 90% fault. But the new CPLR § 1411(b), part of the state's 2026 budget legislation, carves out motor vehicle accident claims subject to the No-Fault law and moves them specifically to a modified 51% bar instead. This kind of claim-by-claim-type split is genuinely unusual; most states that use a particular comparative negligence rule apply it uniformly across personal injury claim types, rather than varying it by whether a car was involved.
How the new auto rule compares nationally
Mechanically, New York's new rule for motor vehicle accidents now works just like the 51% bar used in roughly 21 other states for all of their personal injury claims: a plaintiff whose fault exceeds 50% recovers nothing, while a plaintiff at 50% or below still recovers a proportionally reduced amount.
Why the commencement date matters
The new CPLR § 1411(b) rule applies to actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026. Because the relevant trigger is tied to when the action is commenced rather than necessarily only the date of the underlying accident, confirming exactly how this timing applies to a specific case is a genuinely important early step.
The other three systems, for context
A smaller group of 12 states uses the stricter 50% bar, where recovery is barred at fault merely equal to the defendant's. At the far stricter end, the five contributory negligence jurisdictions — Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and DC — bar recovery entirely for any fault, even 1%. See our guide to the other pure comparative negligence states for New York's peer group on the non-auto side of this split.