New York enacted its no-fault insurance law to ensure that people involved in car accidents would receive compensation within a reasonable time. Prior to the no-fault insurance law, courts were overwhelmed with vehicle injury claims. As a result, many victims' damage awards were extremely delayed. The Insurance Law addresses this problem.

The Insurance Law requires motor vehicle operators to carry insurance. It also requires those insurance policies to contain certain terms, insure certain people, and cover claims up to a certain limit. Additionally, the insurance law requires insurance policies to cover basic economic losses regardless of who was at fault in certain accidents (with some exceptions). This is known as "no-fault" insurance. It allows accident victims to receive their compensation from their insurance policies, without having to go through the courts.  However, the amount a victim may be awarded byno-fault insurance is limited. 

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An employee who suffers an injury while at work may be eligible for different types of benefits.  Two such benefits are Workers' Compensation and General Municipal Law Section 207-c. 

The New York State Workers' Compensation Act provides that an injured employee is entitled to all medical care and prompt payment of compensation for lost wages, if the injury arose out of and in the course of employment regardless of who is at fault for the injury.  Claimants who are totally or partially disabled and unable to work for more than seven days receive cash benefits.  The amount that a worker receives is based on his/her average weekly wage for the previous year.  If the worker dies from a compensable injury, the surviving spouse and/or minor children, and lacking such, other dependents as defined by law, are entitled to weekly cash benefits.

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