Whether a minor accident or a major crash, the damages victims face in Paterson are often extensive. When a negligent driver strikes, our lawyers can help you cover your losses through a lawsuit.
Recovering damages for your car accident will involve numerous steps, which we can guide you through. Be sure to report your accident to the police immediately after it happens and give them your side of the event. This will begin developing evidence that will be critical later. Afterward, go straight to the hospital to be examined so we will have definitive evidence of your injuries. Some victims’ insurance policies constrain their ability to sue for damages beyond basic financial losses. If we have enough medical evidence to show your injuries are serious, we can file a lawsuit regardless of your insurance policy.
For a free case review with our experienced car accident attorneys, call Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C. today at (201) 777-1111.
How to Respond After a Car Accident in Paterson, NJ
Knowing how to respond to a car accident can be difficult, even in relatively minor collisions. However, you always want to be prepared because how you react after the crash can have far-reaching consequences in a legal claim later. You must take some steps to comply with the law, like reporting your accident. Other steps you should complete to get critical medical care and start building your case. After that, our car accident lawyers can prepare evidence and explore how best to cover your damages. Sticking to the following guidelines can help save you a great deal of trouble, including not having your claim dismissed for being filed too late:
Report Your Crash
Before anything else, call 911 to report your accident. Under N.J.S.A. § 39:4-130, a Paterson accident involving injuries, death, or over $500 of property damage must be reported to the police within ten days. Besides the legal requirement, you want the police to investigate your crash so that you can get a copy of the police report later. So, be sure to make your report to the police before leaving the scene, even if you were in a minor accident, like a rear-end collision.
Police reports provide proof of the accident and contain detailed information that can help prove liability. Your report will have the other driver’s information, vehicle information, conditions at the time of the accident, layout of the roads, and potential cause. It will also include statements from witnesses and photos if the police took any. Thus, be clear about what you know when speaking to the police, but do not guess or try to fill in the gaps. If the defendant’s attorneys see a statement they can use against you in the report, they will seize on it.
Exchange Contact Information
Next, it is a good idea to exchange information with the other driver in case something is missing or does not match up with the police report. Again, keep the conversation brief, limiting it to only your identification and insurance information. There is no need to hash the case out on the scene.
However, you might not have been able to get their information because they fled after the accident. If you were injured in a hit-and-run accident, our team can work with the police to identify the driver.
Preserve Evidence
Some evidence can only be presented by word-of-mouth if it is not preserved while still on the scene. If able, take photos with your phone or ask someone to help you. Take pictures of visible injuries and the damage to your car. Also, photograph their vehicle’s damage and any debris on the streets, like broken glass and tire marks. Pictures like these can provide context that words rarely get across.
If your injuries were too severe to get photos, other sources might be available. For example, we can reach out to eyewitnesses identified in your police report to obtain videos or photos they took. Even if they failed to, their statements can still be obtained to support your claim. The police might also have taken pictures during their investigation, which will be included in the report.
Nearby businesses and homes might also have cameras that filmed your crash. Paterson is a fairly densely populated city, so it is possible that our team can uncover some surveillance footage during our investigation.
Get Medically Evaluated
Paramedics should also be dispatched to the accident scene when you call to report it. If so, do not refuse care even if you do not notice any immediate injuries. They can run preliminary assessments to rule out major complications. Your refusing care might also be noted in the police report, which can impact your claims that your injuries are serious. Either way, the emergency room should be your next stop from the scene.
The emergency room can comprehensively examine you, which will simultaneously start building your medical evidence. The emergency room doctors will typically give you instructions on obtaining continued care after discharging you and can refer you to the specialists you need to see. For instance, if you lost feeling in your extremities, they would send you to a neurologist for further testing.
Of course, the bills will follow your treatment, which will serve as proof of your damages and the efforts it will take for you to heal fully. Without medical evidence, you cannot substantiate your injuries, which might prevent you from filing a lawsuit if you lack evidence of their severity. Even a few gaps in treatment can harm your chances of recovering compensation.
Start Your Claim
You have nothing to lose by getting the right answers immediately after your accident, so contact our team as soon as possible after leaving the emergency room. In fact, you have little time to waste. § 2A:14-2(a) only allows Paterson car accident victims two years from the day of the crash to file a claim. The court will not hear the case if it is not filed before the “statute of limitations” runs.
However, the limitations period will not run if the victim is under 18 or has a mental disability. These individuals have two years after turning 18 or mental capacity is returned to file their claims, as per § 2A:14-21. We can also argue for more time under § 2A:14-22(a) if the defendant fled the state. During this assessment, we must also determine if your car insurance restricts your right to file a lawsuit to recover damages not covered by your policy.
How No-Fault Insurance Rules Can Impact How You Recover Compensation for a Paterson, NJ Car Accident
Drivers in Paterson with a car registered in the state must carry insurance. According to § 39:6A-4, every New Jersey insurance policy must include personal injury protection (PIP) benefits. PIP is another name for “no-fault” insurance, which will cover victims’ economic losses without regard to liability, negligence, or any other question of fault.
Suppose you are injured in a Paterson car accident. In that case, you will file a claim with your own PIP insurance provider for benefits, and the other driver will file with theirs without having to provide evidence of fault. In most cases, evidence of your damages and the accident are sufficient to recover benefits.
While this sounds like a rational system, no-fault insurance includes some serious caveats that victims might be unaware of. For starters, PIP will only cover necessary, appropriate, and reasonable medical treatment up to the victim’s policy limits, which cannot exceed $250,000, according to § 39:6A-4(a). However, many drivers only purchase the minimum coverage of $15,000, which medical bills can quickly top.
Further, PIP benefits only cover a certain amount of lost income. Under § 39:6A-4(b), weekly payments are capped at $100, with a total limit of $5,200.
PIP insurance also makes no allowance for your non-economic damages, your “pain and suffering.” You can only recoup those damages in a successful lawsuit. The biggest issue with PIP, though, is that it limits the right to sue to a few scenarios.
If you have a standard policy and selected the upgraded “unlimited right to sue” option, you can pursue non-economic damages in a lawsuit without further steps, as per § 39:6A-8(b). If you only have a “limited right to sue” policy – either a standard or basic policy – you must convince the court that your injuries are serious to get the right to sue.
How to Pass the Serious Injury Threshold to File a Car Accident Lawsuit in Paterson, NJ
Those with a basic PIP policy will need to overcome the “serious injury” threshold in order to file a lawsuit. Several types of injuries are included in the definition of “serious” under § 39:6A-8(a). Injuries that qualify include displaced fractures, dismemberment, miscarriage, significant disfigurement or scarring, death, and any other permanent injury other than disfigurement or scarring. With this range of injuries, there is a good chance victims qualify after a crash.
However, you need medical evidence to prove, at least initially, that your injuries meet the threshold. This process is known as “certification.” After filing the complaint for your lawsuit, the defendant will submit an “answer” to the court, either defending or denying the claim. Once the defendant answers the complaint, you will have 60 days to certify that your injuries are serious. This means submitting all the medical records you have up to date from any healthcare providers you have treated, including records from the emergency room, your treating physician, and any diagnostic testing. We do not need all the medical evidence we will use in the case, but the more we have, the more likely you are to meet the threshold, so do not skip getting medical care immediately after your accident.
Our team can reach out to each of the providers you received care from to gather these records. If we need more time to prepare our arguments, we can request that the court give us an additional 60 days to certify your injuries.
How Liability is Assessed Between the Parties Involved in a Paterson, NJ Car Accident Claim
Much of the discussion has concerned proving your damages and the extent of your injuries, but this is only half the battle. We will also use the evidence discussed thus far to prove that the other driver was completely liable for the accident. Liability for a car accident is determined by who owed what duty of care in the accident, which is typically straightforward since all drivers have a duty of care to others when on the road.
A “duty of care” is a legal construction that arises depending on the relationship of the parties involved. Essentially, it is a legal responsibility to act with reasonable care under a certain set of circumstances. For instance, if the driver were momentarily distracted when they hit you, we would argue that they breached their duty of care by not paying attention to the road. We can also use traffic violations and convictions as evidence of negligence in a car accident. However, a traffic violation is only one piece of evidence of liability. It does not mean that the driver is 100% liable for the accident.
Liability is established with evidence like police reports, medical records, and witness statements. Of course, the defendant will also have access to this evidence and will be trying to argue that you also violated your duty of care. It is common for other drivers to assert a “comparative negligence” defense to escape liability. If they provide evidence that you also acted unreasonably to cause the crash, your compensation can be diminished in proportion to the percentage of negligence attributable to you, according to § 2A:15-5.1. Fortunately, you will not be barred from recovery as long as your share of the fault is not greater than the other driver’s negligence.
Call Our Car Accident Lawyers in Paterson, NJ Today for Support with Your Case
Call Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C. at (201) 777-1111 to discuss your case with our car accident lawyers, free of charge.