Usually 33⅓% is the standard contingency fee in a New York injury case, so the first question is not the fee - it is whether you still have a live claim.

The three biggest factors are the deadline, the type of defendant, and the proof of your ongoing harm.

1. The lawsuit deadline

For most New York car-crash injury cases, the basic deadline to sue is 3 years from the crash date under CPLR 214. So if you are about a year out, you may still have time.

But if your crash involved a city bus, MTA bus, NYC Sanitation truck, NYPD vehicle, or another public agency, the rules change fast. A Notice of Claim is usually due in 90 days, and Queens cases against the City often go through the New York City Comptroller before any lawsuit. Miss that, and the case gets much harder.

2. Who hit you and what coverage exists

If it was a regular private driver on the BQE, Van Wyck, or Cross Bronx, a lawyer can still step in and deal with the liability carrier, your no-fault file, and possible SUM/UM coverage.

If it was a pothole or bad road condition after the spring thaw, claims can turn on whether the NYC Department of Transportation or New York State Department of Transportation had prior written notice. Those road-defect cases are tougher than ordinary rear-end crashes.

If your injuries are minor and your bills were fully handled by no-fault, hiring a lawyer may not add much.

3. Whether your records prove a serious, ongoing injury

At one year out, lawyers look hard at:

• MRI findings, surgery, injections, or specialist care
• Gaps in treatment and why they happened
• Whether you meet New York's serious injury threshold under Insurance Law 5102(d)

If Medicare paid for treatment, that does not block the case, but any settlement must deal with Medicare reimbursement. For someone on Social Security with no savings cushion, that accounting matters as much as the lawsuit itself.