CPLR 217-A

Personal Injury Attorney

Last Updated on October 27, 2025

CPLR 217-A is a New York state law that allows personal injury lawsuits to be revived even after the normal time limit (statute of limitations) has expired, but only under very specific and limited circumstances. This law applies when the defendant left New York state for a substantial period of time after causing your injury, effectively making it impossible for you to serve them with legal papers and start your lawsuit. The time they spent outside New York doesn't count toward the statute of limitations deadline.

For this law to help you, the person who injured you must have been absent from New York for at least four consecutive months, and their absence must have prevented you from properly serving them with court papers. For example, if someone caused a car accident in New York and then moved to another country for several years, making it impossible to locate and sue them, CPLR 217-A might allow you to file your case when they return even if the normal deadline has passed. However, this law has strict requirements and doesn't apply in most typical personal injury cases where the defendant remains available to be sued.

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