Have you met with an unfortunate accident? Are you thinking about filing a personal injury lawsuit?
If you are going to claim your personal injury compensation, you need to have a proper understanding and knowledge of the New Jersey personal injury laws and liability rules. Here in this article, we will guide you with that.
You also can go with a New Jersey personal injury lawyer, but knowing some basic rules and regulations will allow you to find out whether you actually need a lawyer or not. So, let’s get started with the main topic of personal injury law.
New Jersey Personal Injury Statute Of Limitations
After you have suffered from any type of injury or harm, you are obviously going to file a civil lawsuit. All states have already placed some particular limitation on the amount of time you can file a claim.
On the basis of the particular type of case, the deadlines differ from one case to another. A specific law which is responsible for setting the timeline is called a statute of limitations.
In New Jersey, the statute of limitations offers a person who is surviving a personal injury a two years time to visit the court and file a lawsuit against the person and entity who is responsible for the damage to the person.
In case you fail to file the lawsuit within the time period or two years from the day the incident had taken place, the court will refuse to hear your case. Along with this, you will also lose the right to compensation.
This is a usual scenario. Although there are some exceptions, in which the deadline gets effectively extended. You can find the New Jersey statute of limitations for personal injury cases at New Jersey Revised Statutes section 2A:14-2.
On the other hand, in case you are going to file an injury lawsuit against the state or local government in New Jersey, you are required to follow some other distinct rules. In this case, the filling period becomes shorter. That is why getting a lawyer is the best thing to do here and get the details.
You must keep in mind that the statute of limitation we have discussed here is applicable for most of the cases but not for all the cases of New Jersey personal injury. Just like most other states, New Jersey also has a particular statute of limitations for injury lawsuits caused by medical malpractices.
Comparative Negligence Rule
In some personal injury cases, the party against which you are filing a personal injury lawsuit is actually claiming you for the accident, at least partially. If you are actually responsible for the accident, even partially, it will affect the total amount of compensation.
A "modified comparative negligence rule" is followed in New Jersey when it comes to shared fault injury. When the personal injury lawsuit goes to trial and you have been found responsible up to some level, the compensation amount will automatically decrease.
In case you are found to bear over 50% of the legal blame, you will not get a single penny from the other parties.
"Choice No-Fault" Car Insurance System
Only in car accident cases, New Jersey always follows a so-called “choice no-fault” system. For any type of vehicle that is registered for operation, car insurance is a must. The car owner can choose anyone between the “Standard,” and “Basic” policy.
The “Basic” policy refers to a form of no-fault car insurance. The scenario is also the same for the “limited right to sue” option, which comes under the “Standard” coverage. It means any type of injury claim after a car accident has to be made with the PIP or “personal injury protection” coverage of the injured driver.
Here, who is responsible for the accident does not matter at all. With a PIP claim, you will not get compensation for all those non-economic damages, such as suffering and pain. However, it includes the payments of almost every covered out-of-pocket loss.
In New Jersey, an injured individual is capable of stepping outside the PIP or no-fault system and also can file a lawsuit against the driver who is at fault. Only some particular injuries are included in this case.
• Significant disfigurement.
• Loss of body parts.
• A displaced fracture.
• Significant scarring.
• Loss of fetus.
• Any permanent injury, like the body part, has not completely healed to function normally and also is not expected to heal.
• Death.
In a serious situation such as this, it is important to hire a legal professional to handle personal injury cases.