How Is Chronic Pain Valued in a New York Personal Injury Claim?

What Pain Awareness Month Reveals About How Insurers Treat Invisible Injuries

Chronic pain doesn't always show up on an X-ray or MRI the way a broken bone does. There may be no cast, visible scar, or single test that captures how much pain has changed the way you live, work, and sleep. That can make chronic pain one of the harder injuries to document in a personal injury claim, even when its impact is very real.

September is Pain Awareness Month, and it's a good time to talk honestly about what happens when persistent pain becomes part of an injury claim.

Chronic pain is common. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2023 National Health Interview Survey data, 24.3% of U.S. adults experienced chronic pain, while 8.5% experienced high-impact chronic pain that frequently limited life or work activities.

Chronic pain can follow a serious car accident, fall, construction accident, or other trauma. Because the severity of pain isn't always obvious from imaging or a physical examination alone, an insurer may question its cause, duration, or effect on your life. A New York personal injury lawyer can help build the fuller picture through medical evidence, testimony, treatment records, and evidence of how the injury has changed your everyday life.

Chronic Pain Takes Many Forms After an Accident

Chronic pain isn't one single condition, and it doesn't always look the way people expect. Understanding what kind of pain you're dealing with is often an important part of documenting the injury and connecting it to the accident.

• Chronic Back and Neck Pain: A herniated disc, nerve compression, or other spine injury caused or aggravated by a crash or fall can result in persistent pain even after physical therapy, injections, or other treatment.
• Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: Complex regional pain syndrome, or CRPS, is a chronic pain condition that often develops after an injury and can involve burning pain, sensitivity, swelling, and changes in the affected limb.
• Nerve Damage and Neuropathy: Injured nerves can cause ongoing burning, tingling, numbness, weakness, or abnormal sensitivity. Peripheral neuropathy can produce pain even when an injury isn't externally visible.
• Post-Traumatic Headaches: Headaches can persist after a concussion or traumatic brain injury. Some people experience symptoms for months or longer after a mild TBI, according to the CDC's concussion guidance.
• Widespread Musculoskeletal Pain: Some people report persistent pain in several areas after significant trauma. When there isn't a single obvious structural injury that explains every symptom, medical evaluation becomes particularly important for establishing the diagnosis and its relationship to the accident.

Whatever form your pain takes, it shouldn't be brushed aside simply because it doesn't fit neatly into a single diagnostic image.

There's No Set Formula, Which Means the Evidence Matters

Unlike a medical bill or lost paycheck, there's no price sheet for pain. New York courts have recognized that pain and suffering can't be reduced to a precise mathematical formula. The amount depends on the evidence and the circumstances of the individual injury.

Courts can look to awards in comparable cases for guidance, but those results aren't binding. The nature and severity of the injury, how long the pain lasts, whether it's permanent, and its effect on the person's life all matter.

New York also doesn't treat loss of enjoyment of life as a completely separate category of damages. Instead, the effect an injury has on your ability to live normally and participate in activities you once enjoyed can be considered as part of pain and suffering. New York appellate courts have applied that rule when evaluating noneconomic damages.

 

 

That's why how your pain and its impact on your life are documented can matter so much. An insurer can challenge a claim more easily when the medical and factual record doesn't capture what the injury has actually taken away.

What Actually Helps Prove What You're Going Through?

The strength of a chronic pain claim often depends on how well the condition's everyday reality is supported by evidence.

• Following Recommended Treatment: Medical appointments, physical therapy, pain management, and other recommended care can create a record of symptoms and how they've changed over time. The law doesn't require someone to undergo unnecessary treatment simply to strengthen a lawsuit.
• A Supported Medical Prognosis: A treating physician's opinion about whether symptoms are expected to continue can help establish the likely duration and future impact of the injury.
• Diagnostic and Clinical Findings: MRIs, nerve studies, range-of-motion testing, examinations, and other findings may support a diagnosis or functional limitation. At the same time, the absence of a single abnormal imaging result doesn't automatically mean the pain isn't real.
• People Who've Seen What You've Lost: A spouse, close friend, coworker, or family member may be able to describe changes in your mobility, sleep, activities, mood, or ability to handle everyday responsibilities.
• Evidence of Long-Term Effects: When chronic pain affects your ability to work, requires future treatment, or permanently changes your daily activities, those consequences should be documented separately and carefully.

Medical consistency can matter, but treatment history needs to be considered in context. In Pommells v. Perez, the New York Court of Appeals explained that an unexplained cessation of treatment can become an issue in a motor vehicle serious-injury claim. The court also made clear that the law doesn't require someone to continue unnecessary treatment simply to create a record, and a reasonable explanation for stopping treatment can matter.

Car Accident Claims Just Got Tougher, but Not Every Case Is Affected

If your chronic pain came from a New York car accident, the state's no-fault serious-injury rules changed significantly in 2026.

Until May 2026, one way to satisfy New York's serious-injury threshold was through a medically determined nonpermanent injury that prevented someone from performing all of their usual activities substantially for at least 90 of the first 180 days after the accident.

Effective May 26, 2026, New York removed that 90/180-day category. The change applies to actions and proceedings commenced on or after May 26, 2026.

The current definition in Insurance Law § 5102(d) still includes categories such as fractures, permanent loss of use, permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member, and significant limitation of use of a body function or system.

For a chronic-pain claim that doesn't fall into one of the more straightforward categories, the medical evidence can become especially important. New York's Court of Appeals has held that significant-limitation claims generally require objective medical evidence or a qualitative medical assessment supported by objective evidence. A diagnosis or a person's description of pain by itself may not be enough to satisfy the no-fault threshold.

That rule is specific to claims arising from the use or operation of motor vehicles under New York's no-fault system. A construction accident that doesn't arise from the use or operation of a motor vehicle isn't subject to the same serious-injury threshold.

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Most New York personal injury negligence claims have a three-year limitations period under CPLR § 214(5), but that doesn't mean every injured person always has three years.

Claims involving government entities can have much shorter requirements. For example, when New York's municipal notice-of-claim statute applies, General Municipal Law § 50-e generally requires notice within 90 days, subject to its exceptions and procedures.

Delay can also create practical problems in a chronic pain claim. Memories fade, records become harder to obtain, and unexplained gaps in treatment may give an insurer another issue to raise when disputing causation or severity.

If chronic pain from an accident has changed your life, you don't have to accept whatever number the insurance company offers first. Our legal team has recovered millions for seriously injured New Yorkers and their families. Every case is different, and the compensation that may be available depends on the injury, the evidence, liability, insurance coverage, and the ways the accident has affected your life.

Keogh Crispi, P.C. prepares every case as if it's going to trial so the evidence is ready if negotiations don't fairly resolve the claim. Contact us today for a free consultation. The lawyer you choose will make all the difference.

"Very great experience; I was spoken to like a human being and treated as one. Very grateful for Mr. Crispi’s professionalism and correspondence. Highly recommend to anyone needing his service." - Daniel T. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐