Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
Table of contents
- Understanding New Jersey’s No-Fault Insurance System
- Categories of Car Accident Damages New Jersey Law Allows
- How Fault Affects Your Personal Injury Compensation NJ Claim
- Serving Clients Across Lawrenceville, Cherry Hill, and Nutley
- $510,000 Settlement in Rear End Collision
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Talk to a New Jersey Car Accident Lawyer Today
New Jersey is the location of some of the most crowded highways in the country as well as many busy local streets. All of these roads, including the Turnpike and Route 1 corridor, as well as streets in towns like Lawrenceville, Cherry Hill and Nutley, can be the location of serious car accidents. Statistics on traffic accidents in New Jersey, provided by the New Jersey Department of Transportation, indicate that there are an average of 58,000 injury-causing accidents each year in the state over the last five years. Many of these accidents result in serious injury to the people involved. The resulting medical expenses and loss of income can be devastating to the victim of a serious car accident.
Determining what you can recover from your car accident is one of the first things that you will be concerned with after being injured. Car accident compensation law is typically outlined by an experienced car accident attorney and the amount that you can expect to receive for your injuries can vary greatly from case to case. Many individuals underestimate the amount of compensation that they are entitled to and accept a low settlement from an insurance company in order to avoid further legal proceedings.
Our attorneys at Pellettieri Rabstein & Altman have been able to provide representation to a large number of injured individuals from all over New Jersey. For nearly a century, our attorneys have helped individuals understand the amount of compensation to which they are entitled and have been able to help prove the amount of damages to which they are entitled as a result of their injuries. See the answers to the questions that we are commonly asked by our clients from our Lawrenceville, Cherry Hill and Nutley offices with regards to car accident compensation in New Jersey and a general overview of the no-fault laws in place in New Jersey.
Understanding New Jersey’s No-Fault Insurance System
New Jersey is one of only a few states that follow a no-fault plan for auto insurance. This means that the medical expenses of the parties involved in a car accident are generally paid by the PIP (Personal Injury Protection) coverage of the parties involved, regardless of fault, up to the coverage limits.
Even though New Jersey operates under a no-fault insurance policy, it does not mean that you can’t pursue a claim for personal injury against the other driver. However, to file a claim or go to court against the at-fault party, your case will need to meet certain legal criteria. That determination will depend on a number of factors, including the nature and extent of your injuries and the terms of your insurance policy. You must have selected a policy with a limitation on lawsuit threshold as opposed to the zero threshold, and your attorney can review your policy and injuries to help determine whether you can pursue further personal injury claim and recover from the at-fault party.
Categories of Car Accident Damages New Jersey Law Allows
When you are injured in a car accident and have a claim against the at-fault driver for his or her negligence, the New Jersey law that governs the types of damages that the injured driver can recover, generally refers to those types of recoverable damages as economic damages and non-economic damages.
Economic Damages
Economic damages are those actual financial losses caused by the accident. These include for example:
- Emergency room, hospital, surgical, and follow-up medical bills
- Prescription medications, physical therapy, and long-term rehabilitative care
- Lost wages – the amount of money you lose from work because of the time you have to spend recovering from your injuries
- Diminished future earning capacity if your injuries cause permanent disability
- Other items which may be considered as economic damages are property damage to your car or other personal property
Because these are easily documented with items such as pay stubs, medical bills and repair estimates, they are considered easier to quantify. However, the at-fault party’s insurance company will attempt to minimize the amount of economic damages that you are entitled to recover for your losses.
Non-Economic Damages
There are also some non-economic damages which are harder to quantify and are the more human aspects of a car crash. They include, for example:
- Physical pain and suffering
- Emotional distress and anxiety following the crash
- Loss of enjoyment of life and diminished quality of life
- Scarring or disfigurement
- Loss of consortium, or the negative effect on your relationship with your spouse
Since non-economic damages are difficult to value and are not typically supported by receipts, insurance companies and their lawyers frequently dispute compensation for these types of losses. Having a skilled negotiator and a firm with experience trying cases to verdict is crucial in getting the compensation that you deserve for your losses.
How Fault Affects Your Personal Injury Compensation NJ Claim
In New Jersey, personal injury cases are determined under a modified form of comparative negligence. The degree of fault on the part of a claimant will reduce the amount of personal injury compensation that he or she is able to recover from another party. For example, if you are awarded $100,000 in personal injury damages and are found to be 20% at fault for the accident, then your personal injury damages would be reduced to $80,000 (100% – 20% = 80%).
Furthermore, a claimant who is found to be 51% or more at fault for the injuries that he or she has sustained in an accident shall be prohibited from collecting any personal injury damages in connection with such an incident.
One of the reasons early preparation with evidence to support your claim is so important is that you will be compared to fault for the occurrence of the accident and your reduced recovery for personal injury damages in New Jersey will be determined by your percentage of fault for the occurrence of the accident.
Serving Clients Across Lawrenceville, Cherry Hill, and Nutley
The experienced attorneys at PR&A have been representing the people of New Jersey who have been seriously injured in accidents and resulting claims since 1929. Our experienced trial attorneys have offices located in Lawrenceville, Cherry Hill, and Nutley, NJ, and represent clients in Mercer County, Camden County, Essex County and in surrounding New Jersey counties. We are familiar with the local courts, insurance companies and processes that are prevalent in the vicinity of I-295 in Cherry Hill, Route 1 in Lawrenceville, and the Garden State Parkway in Nutley.
We handle all car accident cases on a contingency fee basis. This means you pay nothing for our services upfront and you only pay a percentage of your recovery.
$510,000 Settlement in Rear End Collision
Most people associate personal injury cases with seemingly instantaneous injury. That is, the car crash happens and as a result the individual suffers from seemingly immediately apparent trauma and subsequent injury which requires treatment to attempt to cure as the individual recuperates from the physical injury incurred in the car crash. Often the treatment required can take weeks or months to heal; frequently leaving the injured person with trauma such as whiplash and in many cases other injuries which involve tears in ligaments and even broken bones. In fact, the cases handled by lawyers at Pellettieri, Rabstein & Altman that are arguably the most serious and potentially most valuable are the seemingly instantly incurred injuries which in fact result in the individual’s needing to have surgery, but which as a result of subsequent complications, the individual never recovers from the injury as a result of required surgery due to injuries caused by the car accident.
We have recently settled a rear-end collision case involving the fatal post surgical complications of a 54 year old wife and mother for $510,000.
The client operating her vehicle was struck from behind by another operating his vehicle. In rear-end collisions such as this, the party at fault is typically the party who was operating from behind and who caused the collision by operating too closely, by being distracted, by not applying his brakes in time, etc.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How long do I have to file a car accident lawsuit in New Jersey?
A: The statute of limitations for a personal injury lawsuit after a car accident in New Jersey is generally two years from the date of the car accident.
Q: What if the at-fault driver is uninsured or underinsured and you cannot collect from that driver?
A: You may have uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy. It is a good idea to have an attorney review your policy to determine your coverage.
Q: Can I recover damages if I was partially at fault for my car accident injuries?
A: In New Jersey, as long as you were not more than 50% at fault for your injuries, you can recover some damages. This is because New Jersey follows a modified version of the comparative negligence rule. Under this rule, your recoveries will be reduced by your percentage of fault for your injuries, but you can still recover an award of damages.
Q: Am I going to have to go to trial for my car accident claim?
A: Most car accident claims get resolved by the insurance company for the car that caused the accident through settlement negotiations. However, it is ultimately up to you whether or not to settle your claim. If the insurance company is not offering enough in settlement, then going to trial with an attorney who can effectively try your case is usually in the best interest of the client as they can receive a much greater award in trial than what was offered by the insurance company in settlement.
Q: How Much Does a New Jersey Car Accident Lawyer Cost?
A: At Pellettieri Rabstein & Altman, we do not require you to pay any advance fees for your car accident claim. Our personal injury lawyers work on a contingency fee basis. That means our fee for handling your case is a percentage of your recovery and you only pay us if we obtain compensation for you. If we do not recover any money for you, then you owe us nothing.
Talk to a New Jersey Car Accident Lawyer Today
You don’t have to face the claims process from your injured and vulnerable position. Our injury lawyers have secured hundreds of millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for hundreds of injured clients in New Jersey. Pellettieri Rabstein & Altman’s Lawrenceville, NJ, Cherry Hill, NJ, and Nutley, NJ law offices offer free initial consultations to those whose car accidents warrant full car accident compensation under NJ law. Contact us today to schedule your free consultation.
