Car crashes are scary and dangerous occurrences. When someone gets in their car, they never really expect to be the victim of a collision. That being said, car accidents injure countless people every day, and the injuries people get from car accidents are often quite serious. To make matters worse, the cost of dealing with injuries sustained in car crashes can easily reach hundreds of thousands of dollars, placing victims under significant financial pressure, even if they have good insurance policies. On top of that, victims will often face lengthy recovery periods for injuries that may never truly heal.
If you were hurt in a car crash in or around Jersey City, you need competent legal help. That is where we come in. Our lawyers have represented many plaintiffs injured in car accidents, so we know what it takes to effectively fight for you and to get you the justice and financial compensation you deserve. We will help you with every step of your claim so that you can focus on recovering from your injuries and getting back to living your life.
To get a free analysis of your claim, call the car accident lawyers from Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C., at (201) 777-1111.
NJ Insurance Laws in Jersey City Car Accident Claims
Before you go headlong into suing someone for your injuries, our car accident lawyers first have to determine whether or not you can sue in the first place. New Jersey is a state that uses “no-fault” insurance for car accident cases. This means that your insurance will automatically cover you for some of the injuries you get in a car crash without any need to determine who caused the accident. The tradeoff is that no-fault insurance removes a plaintiff’s right to sue someone after an accident. The idea behind this is that it gets victims the help they need without the hassle of going through an expensive and time-consuming legal process.
However, many victims have injuries that go well beyond what insurance is expected to cover. In those cases, New Jersey law effectively does away with the no-fault system and lets plaintiffs sue defendants in court. Per N.J.S.A. § 39:6A-8(a), the plaintiff needs to have suffered a bodily injury that results in death, significant disfigurement, loss of bodily function, loss of a fetus, or several other circumstances outlined in the relevant statutory section. Many car crashes will result in something that qualifies as a serious injury, so you should have our attorneys examine your situation to see if this applies.
New Jersey’s no-fault insurance rules also do not apply if you have an unlimited right to sue on your insurance policy. This is an optional insurance option New Jersey residents have that lets plaintiffs sue despite New Jersey’s no-fault insurance laws. We can examine your policy to determine whether you have an unlimited right to sue and advise you on the best course of action for your claim.
Types of Car Accidents in Jersey City
Car accidents can take many different forms. While the type of car accident you were in may not initially feel important, making that determination can help your case in different ways. First, it helps establish the facts of your case. Generally, the more specific detail you can give about your accident, the stronger your claim will be. Second, it can help our car accident lawyers focus our efforts when building your claim. Some kinds of accidents are more likely to happen for certain reasons than others, so knowing what type of car accident you experienced can help inform who you sue and theories of liability.
Head-On Crashes
Head-on car crashes occur when two vehicles traveling towards each other collide. Many safety features in cars are designed to protect against head-on collisions, but injuries from these accidents can still be severe, even with modern safety features. Common causes of head-on collisions include distracted driving and speeding.
Rear-End Collisions
Rear-end collisions have different factors affecting these accidents. For example, most rear-end collisions will be caused by aggressive tailgating. However, other rear-end crashes result from the front driver being the aggressive one who “brake checks” the driver behind them. In other cases, crashes are merely caused by drivers misjudging their speed or how long it will take them to stop.
T-Bone Accidents
T-bone accidents happen when a car hits another in the side, forming a “T” shape. These accidents can be dangerous because the sides of vehicles are often more vulnerable than the front or back, simply because there is less material in the walls of a car than the front or rear to protect you from impact. T-bone collisions often happen because a driver is not paying attention, is speeding, or turns a corner without taking full stock of the situation on the road.
Single-Vehicle Accidents
In some cases, a car may appear to spiral out of control all on its own. Such “single-vehicle” accidents can initially appear to merely be the fault of an inexperienced or careless driver. However, that is often not the case. Many of these accidents happen because the car is defective. In law, a product, like a car or an auto part, is considered “defective” if it is likely to hurt someone when used ordinarily or has faults in how it was manufactured or assembled. Many defects may cause a single-vehicle accident, including faulty brakes, bad electrical wiring, issues with self-driving or assisted-driving systems, and many others.
Identifying the defect that caused your crash can also assist with determining who you sue. For example, if the defect is ingrained in the car’s design, you would sue the designer. If a manufacturer of a particular part caused that part to be defective, you might sue that manufacturer instead.
Rollover Accidents
A rollover accident is when a car is flipped upside down or onto its side. Rollover accidents are particularly dangerous for convertibles or vehicles without rollbars or roll cages. Rollover accidents can happen because a forceful impact flips a car. Still, they can also happen if a road does not have appropriate guardrails and a car careens off the road and starts tumbling during an accident.
Injuries from Car Accidents in Jersey City
People are often badly hurt in car crashes, even when cars move at slower speeds. Detailing the injuries you get from your accident is important to building your case because it helps establish the facts of your claim and informs the financial compensation you seek in damages. Injuries that often prompt people to sue after car accidents include some of the following:
Soft Tissue
Soft tissue injuries are some of the most common injuries in car accidents and include injuries to the neck and back, which is the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine, as well as the joints, including the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles. These injuries are typically not detected in X-rays and require MRIs or CT Scans to properly diagnose. Conservative treatment such as chiropractic treatment or physical therapy is typically used to address these injuries. In many cases, the soft tissue injuries are particularly serious and surgery may be required for a better physical recovery.
Broken Bones
Broken bones are also common in car crashes, especially broken arms, ribs, legs, and pelvises. When you break a bone, you will likely need to be put in a cast, sling, splint, or other immobilizing device that may prevent you from doing certain things. If you suffer a compound fracture, where the bone punctures the skin, you may need to undergo surgery to reset the fractured bone properly. Additionally, after the break heals, you may need physical therapy or training to regain strength and dexterity in the affected area.
Bruising
Bruising in and of itself is generally not a serious injury. However, bruising over a large area that will not go away, especially around the head or torso, may be a sign of something much more serious, like internal bleeding, that can result in death if untreated.
Cuts and Puncture Wounds
Getting cut up or “stabbed” is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of car crashes, but cutting and puncturing injuries do occur because of broken glass and other debris from vehicles involved in crashes.
Cutting wounds are generally less serious, medically speaking, but can leave nasty, potentially permanent scars. Puncture wounds, while superficially less scary looking, are tougher to stop bleeding and are often more life-threatening because an object penetrating just a couple of inches beyond the skin can hit a vital organ or blood vessel and put someone in critical condition.
Burns
Most cars on the road consume gasoline, which is flammable. In any accident, there is a chance that the contents of a vehicle’s gas tank can ignite and burn victims. Even in electric vehicles, there is a chance that a spark from a battery or other component can cause a fire, which can cause injuries that are just as serious.
Traumatic Brain Injuries
A traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is caused by a hard blow to the head that damages the brain through blunt force or penetrative injuries. TBIs are incredibly serious injuries. Even mild ones (i.e., concussions) can have significant side effects like mood swings, migraines, forgetfulness, and sensitivity to light and sound. More severe traumatic brain injuries can have catastrophic consequences, including major loss of cognitive function, paralysis, or even death due to complications.
Amputation
Victims of car accidents sometimes lose their limbs. This can be because doctors decide that amputation is the best way to prevent infection or save the victim or because the limb got removed in the accident itself. The latter situation is incredibly dangerous, and victims of traumatic amputation can easily die if they do not receive medical care quickly.
Death
The grim reality of car crashes is that sometimes the victim loses their life. When this happens, certain parties can file wrongful death lawsuits on behalf of deceased family members. Only certain people can file wrongful death lawsuits in New Jersey under N.J.S.A. § 2A:31-2, so it is a good idea to talk with us to see if you can file the claim yourself or if another party should do so.
Damages from Jersey City Car Accident Lawsuits
If you take your case to court and successfully demonstrate that the defendant is liable, you will be awarded damages. “Damages” are how courts try to undo the accident through financial compensation. Damages can be categorized as economic, non-economic, and punitive.
Economic Damages
Economic damages come from things that have an exact value you can show to the court. Damage to your car, medical expenses, and lost wages fall under this category. While it may at first feel like economic damages are easy to prove since there is a paper trail showing their value, there are still often disputes between the parties as to how much compensation the plaintiff is actually owed, so it is still important to have ample evidence to support your claims.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages do not have an obvious monetary value tied to them. In this category will be things like mental anguish, emotional distress, and pain and suffering. Unlike items that fall under economic damages, non-economic damages have no exact value displayed on a receipt or other source. Therefore, you will need to convince the jury of the value of your claim.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are special kinds of damages based on the defendant’s conduct, not the injuries they caused. To be awarded these damages, you must prove that the defendant’s conduct went beyond mere negligence and into the realm of something like recklessness or malice. Not every car accident claim warrants going after punitive damages, so you should discuss your claim with our lawyers to see if seeking punitive damages is appropriate for your case. If punitive damages are not available, you should not worry about getting enough compensation, as plaintiffs should get all the compensation they need through economic and non-economic damages.
Call Our Jersey City Car Accident Lawyers To Discuss Your Case
The Jersey City car accident lawyers at Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C., can analyze your case for free when you call us at (201) 777-1111.