Statutory interest rate
9% / year, fixed
Standard rate for most money judgments. A separate 2%/year rate applies specifically to consumer-debt judgments against a natural person.
New York · Construction claims reference
Construction Claim Rules in New York
Every figure below is the researched rule for New York, with its citation and a direct link to the official source so you can confirm it yourself. Covers statutory interest and when it starts accruing, how Actual Cash Value is determined and whether labor can be depreciated, whether a “no damages for delay” clause is enforceable and how long you have to file, the state-specific inputs behind a fully burdened labor rate and who can be held liable for a construction-site injury.
Statutory Interest & Accrual in New York
The rate itself and the date interest starts running, which differs by claim type in most states.
Accrual: breach of contract claim
From the earliest ascertainable date the cause of action existed (in practice, the breach date)
CPLR 5001(a) requires interest on a sum awarded for breach of contract; 5001(b) computes it from 'the earliest ascertainable date the cause of action existed,' which for a breach of contract claim is generally the date of breach.
Accrual: property damage / tort claim
From date of loss (the date the damage was incurred)
CPLR 5001(a) also covers 'an act or omission depriving or otherwise interfering with title to, or possession or enjoyment of, property'; interest runs from the date the loss was incurred, or if damages were incurred at different times, the court may pick a single reasonable intermediate date.
Personal-injury tort claims are excluded from CPLR 5001 prejudgment interest entirely (interest there only starts after verdict); that carve-out doesn't apply to property damage.
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Actual Cash Value & Property Loss in New York
How ACV is determined, whether labor cost can be depreciated and the rules on releasing withheld recoverable depreciation.
Actual Cash Value rule
Broad evidence rule
Applies when policy language doesn't define ACV; must include contractor overhead/profit when replacement would reasonably require it.
The link goes to Mazzocki, the more recent case and the one that established the overhead and profit rule. McAnarney (1928) predates the free databases, so its citation is given without a link.
ACV statute or regulation
New York regulation defines ACV by rule for property claims generally, as the lesser of reasonable repair cost or replacement cost with a substantially identical item, but it does not separately address depreciation of labor versus materials.
11 NYCRR 216.6 (Regulation 64, Standards for Prompt, Fair and Equitable Settlements Applicable to Automobile and Property/Casualty Insurance) defines actual cash value as the lesser of the amounts for which the claimant can reasonably be expected to repair the property to its pre-loss condition or replace it with an item substantially identical to the item damaged, including any sales tax on the item repaired or replaced. This is a binding regulatory definition of ACV that applies to property claims, not just auto claims, but it does not specify a materials-only depreciation rule or otherwise restrict depreciating labor cost. No New York Insurance Law section or DFS circular letter specifically banning or restricting labor-cost depreciation was located.
Recoverable depreciation holdback
No New York statute or regulation sets the timing or process for paying withheld recoverable depreciation once repairs are complete, so the policy terms control.
11 NYCRR 216 (Regulation 64) and DFS Office of General Counsel opinions on replacement cost (including OGC Opinion No. 08-10-12) address prompt claim handling and prohibit restrictive endorsements on settlement checks, but none specifically set a deadline or procedure for paying recoverable depreciation after proof of completed repairs is submitted.
Regulation 64 and the Department of Financial Services' prompt payment and unfair claims rules could apply to a holdback payment as a claim payment, but no provision addresses this specific step.
Delay Claims in New York
Whether a no-damages-for-delay clause will be enforced against you and the deadline for bringing a construction contract claim.
“No damages for delay” clause enforceability
Enforceable, but subject to four recognized exceptions
New York's Court of Appeals has held that a no-damages-for-delay clause is generally enforceable and courts hold challengers to a heavy burden, but recognized exceptions apply for delay caused by the contractee's bad faith or its willful, malicious, or grossly negligent conduct; delays not contemplated by the parties when they signed the contract; delays so unreasonably long that they amount to an intentional abandonment of the contract; and delays resulting from the contractee's breach of a fundamental contractual obligation.
Construction contract filing deadline
6 years for breach of a written or oral contract
New York's general limitations period for an action on a contractual obligation or liability, whether express or implied, is six years from accrual, absent a more specific shorter period applying elsewhere in the CPLR or the UCC. Two deadlines sit in front of that one on most construction claims. A mechanic's lien and a payment bond claim each run on their own, far shorter clock, counted from last furnishing rather than from breach and missing either one removes the security while leaving the contract claim alive but unsecured. Check those dates first. Accrual is the other half of the question: the period runs from breach, which on a payment dispute is usually the date payment came due rather than the date the work was done.
Labor Burden Inputs in New York
The state-specific rates and requirements that sit underneath a fully burdened hourly labor cost.
State unemployment insurance (SUTA)
New-employer rate 4.1% (4.025% UI plus 0.075% Re-employment Services Fund); experience-rated range 1.7% to 9.5%; 2026 taxable wage base $13,000.
New York's 2026 contribution rates, including the 0.075% Re-employment Services Fund surcharge that applies to all contributory accounts, run from 1.7% (1.625% UI plus the surcharge) to 9.5% (9.425% plus the surcharge). The new-employer rate is 4.1%. The 2026 taxable wage base is $13,000, following $12,500 in 2024 and $12,800 in 2025.
From 2027 the wage base adjusts annually to a percentage of the state average annual wage under the FY2026 budget, so recheck it at the start of each year.
Workers' compensation rating
Independent state rating bureau: the New York Compensation Insurance Rating Board (NYCIRB), not NCCI.
New York does not use NCCI advisory rates. Workers' compensation insurance rates, classifications and experience rating for New York are established by the New York Compensation Insurance Rating Board (NYCIRB), the state's own independent statistical and rating organization, subject to approval by the New York State Department of Financial Services.
The Rating Board's rate-setting role is well established but is described here from general industry sources rather than a quoted passage on its own site.
Prevailing wage law
New York has its own prevailing-wage law with no minimum dollar threshold, covering essentially all public works contracts.
New York's prevailing wage requirements are set out in Article 8 (Public Construction) and Article 9 (Building Service Contracts) of the New York Labor Law. Unlike most states, New York applies no minimum dollar threshold, meaning virtually all public work contracts are covered regardless of size. The New York Department of Labor issues and updates prevailing wage schedules, with contractors required to pay updated rates retroactively (for example, to July 1 of the applicable year).
Construction Site Injury & Third-Party Liability in New York
OSHA enforcement structure, how much weight an OSHA violation carries in a negligence case and whether an injured worker's own employer can be pulled back in.
Comparative / contributory negligence rule
Pure comparative fault, no bar; recovery reduced by the worker's share of fault
Recovery is reduced in proportion to the worker's share of fault, with no threshold that cuts it off. A worker 90% at fault still recovers 10% of the damages.
New York is a pure comparative state for an ordinary construction claim. The worker's share reduces the award and never defeats it and CPLR 1411 sweeps in assumption of risk as well as contributory negligence. Under CPLR 1412 comparative fault is an affirmative defence the DEFENDANT must plead and prove.
Two things here are easy to miss and the second decides most construction cases.
CPLR 1411 now has a subsection (b). The current text opens 'Except as provided in subsection (b)' and (b) bars recovery in actions subject to Insurance Law article 51 (the motor-vehicle no-fault regime) where the claimant's culpable conduct is greater than the defendant's or than the defendants' combined. Most published summaries and several statute sites, still print only the single-paragraph version. A site accident is normally outside article 51, but one involving a vehicle may not be.
Labor Law s 240(1) and s 241(6) usually matter more than comparative fault. For gravity-related injuries on a construction site, s 240(1) imposes liability on owners and contractors. A worker's own negligence is not a defence to it. Where that section applies, the percentage this calculator asks for does not reduce the recovery at all. A fall from height in New York should be analysed under the Labor Law first and comparative fault second, not the other way round.
Non-economic damages cap
No general cap on non-economic damages
Most states cap non-economic damages only in medical malpractice actions, which does not reach a third-party construction claim. Economic losses, medical bills, lost wages, future earning capacity, are not capped by these statutes.
OSHA plan
Public-sector-only state plan; private construction sites remain under federal OSHA
New York operates an OSHA-approved state plan covering public-sector (state and local government) employees only. Private-sector construction sites (the large majority of the industry) remain under federal OSHA jurisdiction. That split decides where the file lives. A private construction site is inspected by a federal OSHA area office, with any citation contested before the federal Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. A public employer on the same kind of work answers to the state plan instead, before the state's own review body. Reporting deadlines are the same either way: a work-related fatality within 8 hours, an inpatient hospitalisation, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours. For a construction claim the inspection file matters more than the citation: photographs, measurements, witness statements and the inspector's narrative are usually obtainable and are often the best contemporaneous record of the site.
Weight of an OSHA violation in a negligence case
Evidence, not automatic negligence; functions mainly as support for Labor Law §§200/240/241(6) claims
An OSHA violation alone does not automatically establish liability in New York; it functions as supporting evidence within New York's own statutory framework (Labor Law §§ 200, 240 and 241(6)), which does most of the substantive work in construction-injury cases.
Third-party contribution against the employer
No general statutory-employer shield for GCs/owners; Labor Law §§240(1)/241(6)/200 impose direct, non-delegable duties on them, separate from the employer's WCL §11 protection.
New York doesn't extend a generic statutory-employer immunity to owners/GCs the way many states do. Instead, Labor Law §240(1) imposes absolute liability for qualifying elevation-related risks, §241(6) imposes a nondelegable duty tied to a specific 12 NYCRR Part 23 provision and §200/common law covers premises and means-and-methods control. Contribution/indemnity against the employer itself is separately limited by WCL §11 (see Piercing Immunity card).
Injury-severity gate on contribution claims
Contribution/indemnity against the employer is barred by WCL §11 absent a written agreement or a statutory "grave injury."
Workers' Comp. Law §§11 and 29 generally bar a direct employer tort claim; §11 sharply limits third-party contribution and indemnity against the employer to cases involving a written agreement or a statutory "grave injury." In practice exclusivity takes the direct employer off the tort table entirely, whatever the OSHA file shows. The claim runs against the other parties on the site: the general contractor, the owner, another subcontractor, an equipment manufacturer. The employer or its carrier then asserts a lien against whatever the worker recovers from those parties, so the figure the worker actually keeps is the recovery less the lien, the fee and the costs. Whether the lien is reduced for the cost of obtaining the recovery is a separate state question worth asking early, because it moves the net more than most people expect.
Distinctive state doctrine
Labor Law § 240(1) imposes absolute liability for elevation-related risks, a rule most states have no equivalent to
Sections 240(1) and 241(6) impose standards well beyond ordinary negligence: absolute liability for qualifying elevation-related risks and a nondelegable duty tied to a specific regulation in 12 NYCRR Part 23. Most states have no equivalent, which is why a New York construction injury claim often turns on the Labor Law rather than on common law negligence.
Put these New York rules to work on your own numbers
ClaimDuke's calculators compute delay and extended overhead (Eichleay), fully burdened labor rates, ACV/RCV property loss, claim interest and construction-injury settlement ranges. Every calculation is free and live; a documented, citation-backed report is $19.
This page is reference information for your own verification. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for confirming the current rule with the official source linked above or with counsel. Several states' interest rates float and reset on a schedule (monthly, quarterly or annually), so always check the live source for the figure as of today rather than relying on what is shown here. Which rule actually applies to your specific claim is itself a legal question this page cannot answer for you.