Commonly Asked Questions
Personal Injury
The following is a list of commonly asked questions regarding Personal Injury, if any of your questions are not answered bellow please feel free to give us a call.
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Every case is unique. The unique set of facts of your case, and how those facts are documented and presented, and how the applicable laws are utilized, all have a bearing on the ultimate outcome of your case. An experienced attorney can help you to understand your unique case and how the laws apply to your circumstances.
An attorney helps you handle each step in the case in a way that’s calculated to help you get the result that you’re looking for. Your lawyer will take the time to get to know you, your priorities, and the details of your case. They can then guide you through the process to get the maximum compensation possible.
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The average settlement for a personal injury case can range anywhere between $3,000 and $125,000. You may hear about some injury cases settling for millions of dollars, and that does sometimes happen. But the vast majority of injury cases settle for smaller amounts. The value placed on a case largely depends on the facts of the case, and how well those facts are documented early on.
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You maximize your injury settlement by carefully building strong evidence in your case. It’s essential to understand all of the categories of damages that apply and build the evidence of each category of loss that you’re claiming. If your case must be filed with the Court, it’s also important to carefully prepare court filings that comply with the law and present your case in the best light possible. When the other side files court motions, an aggressive and appropriate response is vital to maximize your injury settlement.
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Yes. Fair compensation for pain and suffering is proportional to your injuries and the severity of the health care required to treat those injuries. The more severe and permanent your injuries are from the accident, the higher your pain and suffering compensation must be to be fair.
Related: Understanding Pain & Suffering in Personal Injury
How Do New Jersey Court’s Define “Pain and Suffering?”
Common Construction Site Injuries If an individual gets an injury as a result of the negligence of another individual or entity in the State of New Jersey, they have the legal right to seek compensation for their injuries – both physical and mental. These compensatory damages are known as “pain and suffering” compensation. But what is it, and how do New Jersey courts define “pain and suffering?”What Exactly Is It?
The loose definition of “pain and suffering” is that it is the physical or mental suffering a person experiences as a result of an accident. It includes Pain, Suffering, Disability, Impairment, and the Loss of Enjoyment of Life. We can divide pain and suffering into two distinct components: physical and mental.Physical Pain and Suffering
Physical pain and suffering refer to the actual bodily injuries incurred as a result of an accident. Furthermore, physical pain and suffering claims include pain for the actual injury suffered. In addition to the natural effects and consequences that the injury and pain causes to a person’s life. Both now and in the future.Mental Pain and Suffering
Mental pain and suffering refers to the emotional injuries suffered as a result of a defendant’s negligence. Moreover, mental pain and suffering can include things such as mental anguish, distress, anger, humiliation, fear, and shock which may result after an accident. Mental anguish essentially refers to any negative emotions or events which are a result of the negligence of the defendant.Damages
When determining the damages for pain and suffering in the State of New Jersey, a lawyer cannot suggest the amount of pain and suffering to award. Rather, the jury must determine the compensatory amount base upon many different factors, including:- The injuries changed or affected the extent of the victim’s life;
- Any impact the injuries had on the plaintiff’s personal or professional life;
- The impact of the injuries upon the mental health or emotional state of the victim;
- The extent to which the victim’s injuries have negatively impacted their activities of daily living, lifestyle, hobbies, recreation, marriage, sleep, or general well-being; and
- The long-term consequences of these injuries on the plaintiff’s life.
If you are the victim of someone’s negligence and feel you are owed compensation for your pain and suffering, you may need an experienced and knowledgeable attorney on your side. Our legal team is willing to assist you through the process of claiming compensation for your injuries and relentlessly fight for your rights so that you come out on top.
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Yes, you can file a civil lawsuit without an attorney. However, all of the applicable laws and standards apply, just the same as if you had an attorney. You must follow the formalities for your case when collecting evidence, presenting information to either an insurance adjuster or the Court, when negotiating a settlement, discussing terms with attorneys representing other parties and filing documents. The rules of discovery, admission of evidence, and civil procedure all apply to you. If you make a mistake, it may unravel your case even if you have a great case. You can file a civil lawsuit without an attorney. But, usually, your best bet to recover the maximum amount possible is working with an experienced attorney.
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There is no law that you must hire an attorney after a car accident. Some choose to retain an attorney immediately so that they can focus on their health and recovery, rather than on the various legal processes involved. You have the right to hire a legal representative at any time.
Although retaining a lawyer does not guarantee you a specific outcome, an experienced attorney can help investigate the accident, gather evidence, and negotiate with insurance carriers on your behalf. This can go a long way towards helping you spend time with your family, focus on healing from your injuries, and eliminate the stressors of attempting to navigate the legal implications of your case alone.
Ultimately, determining if and when you should hire an attorney after an accident is up to you.
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Especially in personal injury cases, there is often a good chance you can avoid going to court. A lawyer will usually try to negotiate a fair and just settlement with the insurance company before resorting to filing a lawsuit. Even once you file a suit, mediation and arbitration may be possible. Both of these options can help you avoid going to court.
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Most attorneys in New Jersey do not charge a flat rate or hourly fees for personal injury cases. Instead, they receive a percentage set by the New Jersey Rules of Court from any settlement they are able to negotiate for you. Simply put, they get paid only if you get paid.
They also deduct any costs that they paid up front so that you could proceed with the case. This might be money advanced by your attorney to request medical records, police reports, video surveillance footage, obtain expert witnesses, or to pay for filing fees and court costs. Your attorney should be happy to speak with you to make sure that you understand how they are going to get paid. It’s important to ask any questions that you have when discussing your case with an attorney.
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Any injuries, including physical, mental, or property damage caused by another person’s negligence can constitute a personal injury. In the case of an automobile accident, insurance policies provide coverage for injuries as well as compensation and/or repair for damaged vehicles. The request made to an insurance company for compensation for injuries to your person is the personal injury claim.
The severity of your physical injuries and the healthcare you receive for those injuries will ultimately determine if you have a case for compensation.
Keep in mind that some car accident injuries may not display symptoms for days or even weeks after an accident. For example, whiplash may take several days to manifest, and the surge of adrenaline following an accident may mask pain from injuries and can take days to fully dissipate.
You do not need to wait until your injuries are identified before hiring an attorney. You can hire an attorney immediately after a car accident to help you assess your losses and explore the options available to you through the applicable insurance policies. An experienced attorney can even help you navigate the process of obtaining competent medical assistance to evaluate and treat your injuries and ensure that the proper insurance is billed for those treatments.
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◘ Notify the Police immediately and request a copy of the Police Report.
◘ Take photos of the accident, any property damage, and your injuries. If you have video recordings, such as a dash cam, make sure to back up the footage to a safe location.
◘ Collect insurance information for any policies that may apply. In an automobile accident, this would include your insurance policy, as well as the policies of any other drivers involved in the accident.
◘ Stay off social media. Any posts or pictures uploaded to the internet can be used against you by an insurance company. Such posts may be used to downplay the severity of your accident and injuries or make it more difficult for you or your attorney to get the maximum compensation you deserve.
◘ Seek medical attention – even if you feel your injuries are minor – and speak with your attorney about the medical care you are receiving. Pain and soreness from an accident may take days, weeks, or even months to become fully noticeable. A simple medical exam can catch potential problems quickly - before they become more complicated due to lack of care. Seeking medical attention quickly also provides evidence that you were injured in the accident, and not as a result of some other event. A simple record of medical care immediately following your accident may become a vital part of your monetary recovery at the conclusion of your case.
◘ Make a list of any witnesses who saw what happened and collect contact information for each person.
◘ Write down what happened while the events are still fresh in your mind. Road conditions, the weather, time of day, and any other details you can make a note of may become important later as your case develops.
◘ As you recover, write down how your injuries impact your activities of daily living so that these changes can be easily recalled and explained in the future.
◘ Follow your doctor’s care plan and be sure to attend all follow-up appointments, even if you may not see an immediate benefit. Some “conservative care” steps may be necessary before an insurance company will approve treatment which may prove to be more beneficial to you in the future. Also, these initial treatment steps provide additional evidence of the severity of your injury and is a very important component to making sure you get the best possible results.
◘ Follow your lawyer’s instructions as your case progresses.
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Most personal injury cases don’t go to trial. Generally, they can be resolved through settlement before a lawsuit is filed or, if a lawsuit is filed with the Court, before the trial date has been reached.
A case may require a trial if there is a dispute over some of the facts of the case, such as if there is a legal issue in contest. Sometimes, it becomes necessary to receive a Court ruling if the parties cannot agree on the severity of the injuries or damages involved and disagree on how much money would be an appropriate compensation for those losses.
Whether or not the parties can reach an agreement and quickly settle for a monetary payout largely depends on how carefully the case is built at the outset, in the days and weeks immediately following the accident, and throughout the course of medical treatment for any injuries. Having an experienced attorney from the beginning can help you to build the facts of your case and make sure that you have all the information you need long before your case goes to trial.
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Since every accident and injury is different, there is no way to precisely value your claim. However, there are some factors which can drastically increase the value of a claim, such as loss of wages, costs for medical treatment, and type of medical care received (such as surgery, chiropractic care, physical therapy, and pain management). If your injuries require continued care in the future, the value of your claim may increase based on similar factors.
An experienced attorney can help you negotiate with an insurance company to get the best result, which may include a lump sum cash settlement, from your personal injury claim.
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New Jersey is a No-Fault State. That means liability (or who is “at fault”) won’t prevent you from getting coverage for medical expenses after your accident. Every vehicle owner in New Jersey is required to have a personal injury protection (or “PIP”) insurance policy to cover their own medical bills after an accident. If your PIP policy is exhausted (meaning that your medical bills exceed the limits of the policy), other policies may take effect, especially if another driver was at least partially at fault for the accident.
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Some cases resolve in only a few weeks. In a few cases, where the facts of the case are in dispute, litigation can continue for a year or more. Most cases are somewhere in the middle. Depending on the nature of your injuries, and the medical care involved, the case may resolve in a few months, or within a few years of the accident. Our firm will try to resolve your case as quickly as possible without leaving money on the table. Seeking medical treatment immediately after the accident and diligently following up with doctor’s appointments can contribute to your attorney having the ammunition needed to negotiate the fastest resolution possible with the most benefit to you.
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A statute of limitations is the time limitation that you have to file a case with the Court. For most personal injury cases in New Jersey, unless the injured party is a minor at the time of the accident, the period of limitation is two years from the date of the accident. However, since most cases are settled long before the statute of limitations expires – it’s best to seek legal help as soon as possible. If you have questions about whether you are within the statute of limitations, it is best to seek qualified counsel to ensure every possible avenue of filing is explored within the time limit.
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The first stage is to seek medical care and heal from your accident as much as possible (doctors and insurance adjusters call this maximum medical improvement, or “MMI”). Once you have reached MMI, your injuries will be evaluated to determine whether you will need continued medical care to maintain that plateau.
In the meantime, your attorney will keep in contact with you, your medical providers, and the insurance adjusters handling your claim. Once your recovery has reached a plateau, your attorney will prepare a written demand for compensation based on the extent of your injuries, the medical care needed to reach maximum recovery, and how those injuries have impacted your life.
If a settlement cannot be reached within two years of your New Jersey accident, your attorney will prepare legal documents to file a lawsuit with the Court. Both sides are served with copies of those legal documents, and a time is set for you to build your case by collecting evidence, taking testimony from witnesses, gathering medical evidence, and demanding evidence from the other parties. Parties will be granted time to present motions to the Court, and a date for Trial will be set.
If a case goes to Trial, your case will be presented before a Judge and, if requested, a jury. The other parties will be given an opportunity to present their “side”, and a ruling will be made.