New York Auto Insurers Have Until August 31 to Show What This Year's Tort Reforms Save

A tort reform is meant to reduce what claims cost. Whether that reaches the policyholder depends on whether the regulator makes insurers show their working. New York's has put a date on it, and the date is tomorrow.

The deadline

Circular Letter No. 3 (2026) tells insurers to evaluate the projected savings from this year's reforms and reflect them in all pending and future rate filings. Every filing already sitting with the department must be amended by August 31, 2026 to include a new form, Exhibit TR-1 Automobile Tort Reform Calculation, documenting the percentage decrease in claims and loss adjustment expenses with detailed actuarial support for the methodology and assumptions used.

What changed in the law

• The definition of a fraudulent insurance act was widened, effective May 27, 2026, to reach a person who hires, requests, encourages, orchestrates or invites the staging of a motor vehicle accident.
• The 90/180-day non-permanent injury prong was removed from the definition of serious injury, effective May 26, 2026. That prong had allowed claims to clear the threshold on the basis of a temporary condition of that duration.
• Liability must be determined before non-economic damages are assessed.
• Non-economic damages are capped at $100,000 for an at-fault injured person who was operating an uninsured vehicle, was impaired, or was using a vehicle in the commission of a felony.
• A modified comparative negligence standard applies.

Flex rating

New York's flex-rating provision lets insurers move overall average rate levels within a band without prior approval from the Superintendent. From November 27, 2026 the exemption no longer covers increases of up to 5%; those will need approval. Decreases of up to 5% remain exempt. The provision itself sunsets in 2030, after which all nonbusiness motor vehicle rate filings will require advance approval.

Why it matters

A rate filing is the point at which a change in liability law either becomes a change in a premium or does not. New York has attached a specific exhibit and a specific date to that conversion, and has made the actuarial reasoning part of the filing rather than something a regulator has to go looking for. Drivers will not see the result on a renewal notice for some time. The paperwork comes first, and it is due tomorrow.