Personal Injury

Understanding Personal Injury Cases in New Jersey

If you’ve been injured in an accident in New Jersey, an experienced New Jersey personal injury lawyer can help you get the compensation you’re entitled to.

Personal injuries arise from things like:

• Auto accidents
• Truck accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Bicycle accidents
• Motorcycle accident
• Slips and falls
• Recreational and sports accidents
• Medical malpractice (including dental and pharmacy malpractice)
• Toxic torts
• Defective products
• Assault and other intentional torts (including sexual assaults)
• Nursing home abuse and neglect
• Unsafe property conditions (including road conditions)
• Wrongful death
• Birth injuries

If you’ve been injured in an accident involving the State of New Jersey or a New Jersey county, city, township, or other governmental entity such as the state Board of Education, you must comply with the New Jersey Tort Claims Act.This means you must file a special notice with government entity involved within 90 days of your accident.

If you or the party who caused the accident is covered by insurance, you will usually start by filing a claim with the relevant insurance company.This needs to happen within a specified time after the accident occurs or the discovery of an injury or damage.Only if you can’t agree on a settlement with the insurance company can you then file a civil lawsuit.

However, an insurance company’s first offer may not be its best offer.Also, the insurance company’s adjuster is not your friend.He or she may try to get you to say or do things that will hurt your case.Thus, it’s important to say as little as possible to the insurance adjuster until you (or your attorney) have had the chance to thoroughly investigate the accident and determine the reasons for the accident, who was at fault, and the full extent of your injuries.

The amount of compensation for your injuries will be based on things like the amount of your medical expenses and lost wages.

When calculating an initial settlement offer, an insurance adjuster will add up your expenses for medical care and related expenses.Then the adjuster will multiply this figure by a factor from 1.5 to ten to calculate the amount for your pain and suffering and other non-monetary damages.

Obviously it makes a big difference whether the multiplier is on the low or high end of the scale.The adjuster may feel that your injuries were minimal.If you’re living with pain and disability every day, you certainly won’t agree.

Your lost income (past and future) is also a factor in calculating damages.How long were you off work?Can you return to work in the same profession and position?Will you still be able to work overtime?Are you likely to miss out on bonuses or promotions due to your injury and time missed from work?

An adjuster will reduce the total settlement offer if you were partly at fault for the accident in which you were injured.For example, if the accident was 30% your fault, then the total settlement offer would be reduced by 30%.

In most New Jersey personal injury cases, one or both parties are covered by insurance.In most cases, the parties are able to negotiate a settlement and there’s no need to file a complaint or go to trial.

Our experienced New Jersey personal injury lawyers can help you negotiate with insurance companies and get the compensation you deserve.If, despite our best efforts, the insurance company refuses to make a reasonable offer, we can take your case to court.

If you have questions about your personal injury litigation matter, we invite you to contact our Hackensack office for a free initial consultation with one of our experienced New Jersey PI litigation attorneys.

Call us today at (201) 345-5907 or send us an e-mail and let us help you with your New Jersey personal injury case.