When you are injured in an accident, divides can open. There are divides between your pre-injury life and your post-injury life, now that you face daily challenges regarding mobility, pain, medical expenses, and employment. There are divides between what you know and what you need to know regarding your legal rights. There are divides between the confusion of what to do next and the peace of mind that comes from receiving the legal assistance you deserve.
At the personal injury law firm of Metro Law, we bridge these divides for you. We have successfully sued insurance companies to honor health insurance coverage in regard to serious accident injuries. We have won verdicts and retrieved large settlements for thousands of injured clients in New York and New Jersey. We have also resolved income challenges for numerous clients by winning awards for future loss of income.
If you have been injured in any type of accident caused by another person or party's negligence, do not hesitate to contact our law firm. In a free consultation, one of our New York and New Jersey personal injury will chart a course of action that will help you reach your ultimate goal.
Car, Truck, Motorcycle Accident Lawyer - New Jersey
The proper handling of your legal concerns after your injuries will determine whether or not you receive full compensation for:
Offering counsel in a variety of practice areas, we have litigated countless car, truck, motorcycle, and automobile accidents, medical malpractice, nursing home, products liability, construction, and aviation accident injuries. We also represent the families of accident victims in wrongful death claims. For more information visit our website at http://www.metrolaw.com/
Call MetroLaw.Com today at 973-826-2364 to arrange your free initial consultation.
Robert A. Solomon was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated cum laude from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1977. He returned to New Jersey upon his graduation from Drake University School of Law in 1979. Robert was admitted to practice law before the State Courts of New York as well as the United States District Courts of the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York in 1980. He was admitted to practice law before the State Courts of New Jersey and the United States District Court of New Jersey in 1982. He is a sustaining member of the American Association for Justice f/k/a Association of Trial Lawyers of America.
Richard Weinbaum grew up in Edison, New Jersey. He graduated from Grinnell College in 1981. Upon graduating cum laude from New York Law School in 1985 he was admitted to practice law before the state courts of New Jersey and New York as well as the United States District Court of New Jersey. He began his legal career in Brooklyn, New York concentrating in the areas of plaintiff s personal injury and medical malpractice. While a young associate, he was instrumental in several million dollar settlements of cases concerning children born with cerebral palsy. He was also involved in obtaining court approval of one of the earliest Supplemental Needs Trust in New York thus allowing the injured child's mother to use the settlement proceeds for the child's needs while maintaining the child's social services benefits.
Personal Injury Law: The Basics
At any moment in America, millions of people are driving, walking, shopping, traveling, and working, so it is no wonder that accidents and injuries have become an inevitable part of life. But the fact that mishaps are fairly commonplace does not detract from the pain and confusion that can result when an accident or injury happens to you or a loved one. This is especially true when any harm could have been avoided if others had not acted carelessly. If you decide to take steps toward protecting your legal rights after an accident or injury, you may have a number of general questions about "personal injury" cases.
What is a "Personal Injury" Case?
"Personal injury" cases are legal disputes that arise when one person suffers harm from an accident or injury, and someone else might be legally responsible for that harm. A personal injury case can become formalized through civil court proceedings that seek to find others legally at fault through a court judgment or, as is much more common, such disputes may be resolved through informal settlement before any lawsuit is filed:
Proving Fault: What is Negligence?
In most claims that arise from accidents or injuries -- from car accidents to "slip and fall" cases -- the basis for holding a person or company legally responsible for any resulting harm comes from a theory called "negligence."
Generally speaking, when someone acts in a careless way and causes an injury to another person, under the legal principle of "negligence" the careless person will be legally liable for any resulting harm. This basis for assessing and determining fault is utilized in most disputes involving an accident or injury, during informal settlement talks and up through a trial in a personal injury lawsuit.
Specifically, in negligence claims the plaintiff (the person injured) tries to show that the defendant (the person supposedly at fault):
To illustrate how these four elements work, take a hypothetical personal injury case: Don speeds through an intersection against a red light and hits a vehicle driven by Pat, who had the green light and the right of way. In a personal injury dispute based on negligence, Plaintiff Pat will need to show that:
Resolution Before Trial: Settlement
The majority of legal claims arising from accidents or injuries do not reach a civil court trial -- most are resolved earlier through a negotiated settlement among the parties. An informal settlement can even take place before any lawsuit is filed. Through settlement, the plaintiff in a personal injury case agrees to give up the right to pursue any further legal action in connection with the accident or injury, in exchange for the payment of an agreed-upon sum of money from the defendant or an insurance company. In rare cases, instead of paying money the defendant will agree to perform (or cease performing) a certain action.
If you are considering settling a legal claim after an accident or injury, or if you have received a settlement offer, you should talk to your attorney and receive his or her thorough assessment of the case and the prospects for settlement. Consider the following points:
Where Are Personal Injury Lawsuits Filed?
Personal injury lawsuits usually fall under the authority (or "jurisdiction") of state courts in the county where the injury occurred, or where those involved (the "parties") in the incident are located.
An exception to the rule of state court jurisdiction arises when parties in a personal injury case live in different states. Such a personal injury case may be filed under federal jurisdiction in the federal trial courts (called U.S. District Courts), or the case may be moved there if it was originally filed in a state court. Issues of jurisdiction can be tricky for those unfamiliar with the legal process, but an experienced attorney can sort through any problems that may arise in deciding where to file a lawsuit.
Where Are the Laws that Govern Personal Injury Cases?
Unlike other areas of the law that find their rules in statutes (such as penal codes in criminal cases), the development of personal injury law has taken place mostly through court decisions, and in treatises written by legal scholars. Many states have taken steps to summarize the development of personal injury law in written statutes, but for practical purposes court decisions remain the main source of the law in any legal case arising from an accident or injury. (Note: in some types of injury cases, most notably those arising from car accidents in which a state vehicle code section was violated, statutes can be used to help establish fault for an accident or injury.)
To understand how pre-existing case law (or "legal precedent") might be used to strengthen an injury case, suppose that you are involved in an accident or are injured, and decide to hire an attorney to protect your legal rights. During settlement negotiations with insurers or opposing counsel, and especially in any legal filings with the court, your attorney will make reference to (or "cite") prior cases in which the courts in your state decided on issues like fault or damages, in ways that are favorable to your position. For example, suppose you have been injured in a "slip and fall" on an uneven sidewalk outside your apartment building. In seeking to prove that the owner of your building is at fault, your attorney might cite a case in which your state's supreme court held that owners of residential buildings have a legal duty to ensure that the premises surrounding the building are properly maintained.
Compensation for injuries suffered from car accidents largely involve two issues: evaluation of injuries and insurance law. If your attorney is unfamiliar with all aspects of insurance no-fault and coverage laws, or is inexperienced in documenting your injuries and your injuries' causes, your case can suffer as a result.
At the personal injury law firm of Metro Law, we have developed our car accident litigation skills over 28 years, and have successfully recovered awards for thousands of car and truck accident victims.
Our Strategy
Our firm's lawyers work with a range of experts when building a car accident case:
Recent successful car and truck accident cases we have handled include:
Each case is unique and results will vary depending on the facts of each case.
We can assist clients in managing medical bills, applying for state disability and income continuation benefits, resolving property damage claims, and filing claims against insurance companies or negligent parties to recover for damages. If you or a loved one has suffered a serious truck or car accident injury, including a broken bone, a displaced fracture, disfiguring scars, fatal injuries / wrongful death, or the loss of a limb, fetus or organ, we can help.
At the New York and New Jersey law offices of MetroLaw.Com, we have a long record of trial success in personal injury cases. Having practiced extensively in personal injury law for over twenty-eight years, attorney Robert Solomon leads our firm as we fight for the optimum legal outcome for our clients:
Each case is unique and results will vary depending on the facts of each case. Whether you have been injured in an auto accident or you have been the victim of medical malpractice, we can answer your questions and help you understand your options.
State Required Disclosure: No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.