Every cyclist’s worst fear is being struck by a car while on the road. They might do everything right, driving along the curb with a helmet, a bell, and a light source for night driving. None of that helps when one car jumps the curb and plows into their side. Impact can send a cyclist flying into the fences or tumbling under the wheels of their car. Fear floods the senses, so much that you might not notice your mangled bike or splintered femur. With a bike accident, the injuries are typically more severe because you have nothing to protect you when you are hit and sent to the ground.
Trauma doesn’t come with a price tag. If your car gets broken in, there’s monetary value to how much a new window or door may cost. If your leg breaks, therapy and hospitals will give you a fee for their services to help you heal. However, when it comes to witnessing something horrible, it’s far harder to find an economic value on your experiences.
The worst has happened. You’re driving your vehicle on the open road, eyes ahead. You are obeying every rule of the road, doing everything right. Then, something strikes your vehicle. Maybe a truck plowed through your passenger door, crunching seat into metal shards. Perhaps a car cut short – too fast for you to swerve out of the way – and you strike it head-on, folding your engine through your steering wheel. Your fingers have fragmented down to the knuckles, your skin is shredded as shards carve jagged gashes, and your passengers lay concussed next to you from heavy trauma to the skull.
Personal injury cases can be traumatic. The money you receive for damages during a personal injury suit can both pay for medical charges and generate monetary compensation for the emotional trauma. While vehicular accidents and medical mishaps are painful, fewer things are worse than when man’s best friend turns on you and draws blood in a vicious attack. However, when pursuing a personal injury suit over a Dog Bite, you can’t sue the animal for money. The dog can’t pay for personal damages. So, what can you do in situations like these?
One of the most common personal injury actions relate to an individual losing their balance and subsequently suffering injuries from a fall. Generally, when a fall occurs you can’t help but ask yourself, did I trip on something? Did I slip on something? While the distinction between a trip and slip may seem nonsensical, the legal distinction is important for a successful personal injury action. This blog will explore the differences between a slip-and-fall and trip-and-fall case, and how to obtain a successful outcome
In personal injury cases, the courts in New Jersey do not allow the attorney to ask the jury to award a specific amount of money for pain and suffering or non-economic losses. For example, an attorney cannot argue that my client should be entitled to 2 million dollars for her permanent back injury that required a fusion surgery and has limited her life in all ways. In some states the attorney can argue in that way and suggest a specific number.
One of the more difficult issues that can evolve during a personal injury case is the assertion of liens by a healthcare insurance carrier and provider, Medicaid and Medicare, and workers’ compensation insurance carrier, or for past due child support obligations. In short, liens are a property interest held by a third-party against the financial recovery awarded for personal injury settlement or final judgment obtained. In other words, a Plaintiff may be required to pay a portion of their settlement proceeds to a third-party for a related lien.
This can sometimes be a surprise to an injured party, because after years of litigation they believe the fight it over. However, counsel for the plaintiff may need to challenge and negotiate down a lien to ensure a larger net recovery for the injured client. This article will discuss some of the common liens that may affect the potential net recovery by a plaintiff in a personal injury case.
While the thrill of riding motorcycles is second-to-none, the risks associated with operating a motorcycle are evident. Those risks are generally unrelated to trained motorcyclist operating a bike in a safe manner, but instead are associated with the potential negligence of individuals driving automobiles on the same roadways. While wearing helmets, protective clothing, and safe riding techniques do reduce the risks, bikers are simply more prone to serious injuries. In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that motorcyclists are 28 times more likely to die in a collision. From 2011 to 2015, there have been over 12,000 crashes in New Jersey involving motorcycles. In 2015, there were 2,300 motorcycle accidents in New Jersey, which resulted in 49 fatalities.The most common injuries sustained in motorcycle collisions are skull, spine, elbow, leg, wrist and arm fractures, tendon and ligament damage, brain injuries, internal organ damage, and soft tissue injuries such as herniated discs.
This blog will focus on motorcycle insurance, liability, and their relationship with New Jersey law.
Everyone knows the dangers of drinking and driving - yet, so many people still drive on our roadways after a night of drinking. Despite efforts to stop - or at least curb - drinking and driving, there are still people who endanger themselves - and others - when they are intoxicated. In fact, a drunk driver kills someone in the United States every 50 minutes.
Some people are more susceptible to injury because of a preexisting degenerative medical condition. That preexisting degenerative medical condition may, however, not be causing the person any pain. If a preexisting degenerative medical condition that is not causing pain, starts causing pain as the result of trauma caused by the negligence of another, then the person is entitled to full recovery for any aggravation or worsening of that preexisting degenerative condition. Even if you have a preexisting medical degenerative condition that was causing pain, if that condition is made worse in any way then you are entitled to compensation for the fair and reasonable value equivalent to the worsening of that condition.
