Sometimes, it is impossible to avoid getting injured in an accident caused by someone else. When misfortune strikes, our team will be ready to help you get compensation by filing a lawsuit.
Personal injury law is a broad field that includes many types of claims. You might need to get compensation for a car accident or a defective product. Other victims must file claims against property owners for not making their premises safe. No matter what type of accident you were injured in, our team can help you get the compensation you need for your recovery. We will guide you through each step of your case, informing you of how much time you have to file, who we should sue, and what damages you can claim.
To get your free case review today with our personal injury attorneys, call Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C., at (201) 777-1111.
Practice Areas Our New Jersey Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help With
With over 100 years of legal experience, our firm can help you with virtually any type of injury claim in New Jersey. Our personal injury attorneys have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for our clients in cases ranging from minor car accidents to complex wrongful death claims. We can help identify each party that contributed to your accident, no matter how small, and gather the evidence needed to prove their negligence. With our support, you can focus on your health and recovery while we handle the day-to-day stresses of your case. The following are just some of the injury claims our team regularly helps victims with in New Jersey:
Car Accidents
Our attorneys litigate car accident claims all the time. Some cases are relatively straightforward, but NJ’s laws often make these cases confusing, blocking lawsuits in many cases without “serious injuries” or where the driver does not have an “unlimited right to sue” policy.
Some cases involve only you and the other driver. In such cases, we can typically settle a claim by negotiating with the insurance company without going through the entire trial process. If the car crash was complex or involved multiple drivers, recovering compensation would be more difficult. We might need the court to decide liability if your accident implicated several defendants or facts that an expert will need to explain.
Our firm has also seen a sharp increase in claims against rideshare companies and drivers, like Uber and Lyft. In these cases, getting coverage for your damages can be complicated as rideshare companies enjoy certain legal protections from lawsuits. You will also be limited to a certain type of insurance depending on whether the driver was on duty at the time. However, we can sort through your options for insurance claims and prepare a lawsuit if it will not cover your damages.
Truck Accidents
Truck accident claims are also common in New Jersey as countless commercial vehicles travel through the state. While these cases are often challenging, you will have more options to recover compensation because our team can usually sue both the truck driver and the trucking company that employs them. Truckers have numerous responsibilities, including inspecting their vehicle, driving only a certain amount of hours, and resting before each trip.
After determining that the trucker driver caused your accident and was not an independent contractor, we can name the trucking company as a defendant under the legal principle of respondeat superior, a type of “vicarious liability.” As long as the trucker caused your accident while performing their job duties, the trucking company can be sued despite not having played a direct role in your injuries.
Pedestrian Accidents
New Jersey has parks, train stations, and bus stops where pedestrians come into close proximity with negligent drivers. Unfortunately, New Jersey drivers do not always look out for pedestrians, resulting in devastating accidents. In many cases, defendants will try to place the blame on the pedestrian for not watching out for their own safety. They might claim that you were not in a crosswalk or crossed with a red light. Regardless, you can pursue compensation even if you were partially at fault for your injuries, though no-fault lawsuit restrictions on lawsuits do still apply to pedestrians in many cases.
Premises Liability
Our team can also help you hold property owners and managers responsible if you were injured by dangerous conditions on their property. Many premises liability claims are for slip and fall accidents. For instance, you might have slipped on the platform while waiting for the train or tripped over an uneven sidewalk.
The challenging part will be to determine who is responsible for the safety of the premises. If you were injured in a private business, we would usually sue the business owner since the property is their overall responsibility. Sometimes, different areas of a commercial building or apartment building are tended by different parties.
New Jersey’s Deadline to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit
Generally, you should not wait to speak with our attorneys if you believe someone else is responsible for your injuries. In most cases, New Jersey only gives victims two years from the date they were injured to file a lawsuit, according to N.J.S.A. § 2A:14-2(a). This is commonly known as the “statute of limitations.”
Fortunately, we do not need to gather every piece of evidence before filing your claim. With your testimony and medical records, we will usually have enough to justify your claims for the purpose of filing. Thus, we can file the case quickly so that the statute of limitations does not become an issue. Once your lawsuit is filed with the court, time constraints will not burden you, as the case can take as long as it needs to be completed successfully, aside from various filing deadlines for briefs and responses. After that, we can gather the rest of your evidence during discovery. However, if you do not file your claim before the deadline, you will be barred from recovering damages from the court.
This rule is strict and only allows a few exceptions. Minors will usually have two years to file from their 18th birthday, no matter when the injury occurred as a child. You might also have more time if you could not reasonably discover your injuries or if the true cause of the injury was concealed from you through fraud.
Our New Jersey Personal Injury Lawyers Are Here to Help
Contact Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C., at (201) 777-1111 for a free case evaluation with our personal injury lawyers.