Personal Injury Law Journal

Accidental or unintentional injuries are the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for approximately 65 percent of all deaths. The other 35 percent are intentional injuries, occurring as a result of fights, assaults, suicide, homicide, and other crimes. Many of these intentional injuries occur at bars, inns, taverns or clubs, after an evening of recreational drinking.

A bar’s liability extends not only to injuries resulting from a motor vehicle accident, but also to injuries resulting from known dangers in the face of inadequate warnings or protections. For example, a bar may be liable for injuries sustained by a person legally on the property by way of an assault, if it is shown that the assault was a known danger and the bar provided inadequate security despite the danger.

If you sustained an injury from an assault at a bar, please contact us immediately.

Deborah Dunn is an Associate in Stark & Stark’s Marlton, New Jersey office, concentrating in Accident & Personal Injury Law. For more information, please contact Ms. Dunn.

Obscured traffic signs are an example of an obvious dangerous road condition.  This is another example of a hazard that more often goes unnoticed until it is too late.  If a sign posting a traffic command is not in 100% plain view, then motorists are not being provided every available chance to be safe. Under ideal conditions, a motorist needs only to adhere to the rules of the road, and hope that all other motorists do the same. However, improper signage puts everyone on the road at risk. For instance, if a stop sign is covered up by a nearby shrub, then the motorist who must come to a stop cannot follow the rule. Consequently, the motorist who is intersecting with the stop sign driver, a motorist who is simply minding his or her own business and following his or her own set of traffic laws, is now exposed to the risk of becoming part of a traffic collision. Similarly, signs that are placed in a location that obstructs a motorists view of oncoming traffic also exposes drivers to unnecessary risk.

If you feel as though you have been injured as the result of a dangerous road condition, including an obscured traffic sign or a roadway that has been obscured by a sign, then please contact us immediately.

Deborah Dunn is an Associate in Stark & Stark’s Marlton, New Jersey office, concentrating in Accident & Personal Injury Law. For more information, please contact Ms. Dunn.

There is a common misconception among motorcycle riders that if they are injured in a motorcycle accident, their car insurance or the insurance of the car that is responsible for the accident will be responsible to pay their medical bills.  That is not the case.  In New Jersey, as in many other states, car insurance companies are required by law to include minimum coverage for medical expenses associated with an auto accident in every policy they sell (this insurance is known as Personal Injury Protection or PIP).  Insurance companies are not required to provide the same coverage for medical expenses on motorcycle policies.  

What does that mean?  If you are injured as a passenger or driver of a motorcycle and you have standard motorcycle insurance, you will have no medical coverage unless your private health insurance carrier pays your bills.  

It may not make sense that medical expenses associated with a motorcycle accident are not covered by motorcycle insurance, since injuries suffered in motorcycle accidents are often much greater than those suffered in auto accidents.  However, riding a motorcycle is considered a “voluntary risk”.  Therefore, even though medical bills can be catastrophic, laws are not written to protect riders the same way they are written to protect drivers or passengers in cars.  Riders choose to accept the risk of injury for the love of riding.  However, that choice is often based on the general misconception that motorcycle coverage is similar to automobile coverage and as long as insurance is in place, injury to the rider is “covered”.  

Most riders are not aware that most motorcycle policies expose riders to various risks over and above the risk of injury.  An injured rider who paid for motorcycle insurance can end up without appropriate medical care and with enormous debt.  In addition, medical bills from a motorcycle collision often eat into and can easily exceed the other driver’s insurance limits, leaving minimal or no compensation for a rider even for injuries caused by someone else’s wrong doing.  

Some insurance companies offer optional Medical Payments Coverage for motorcycle policies, which is additional coverage that provides some minimal medical coverage to injured riders.  Riders should also check the amount of coverage available to them for collisions involving drivers without insurance or without enough insurance (known as Under Insured Motorist/ Uninsured Motorist or UIM/UM coverage).  In some instances, UIM/UM coverage can mean the difference between an accident and a tragedy.

Without the right protection, on top of physical impairment a motorcycle accident could result in enormous financial hardship.  Riders should manage that risk, by protecting themselves and making informed choices about insurance, before an injury occurs.  Feel free to call for a free insurance review now, before you need it.
                                                                                                                                    
Don’t let someone else’s mistake become your nightmare.

Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death from accidental injuries in the United States and the greatest single cause of all deaths between the ages of 1 and 34. Approximately one third of all traffic related deaths in the last two years were caused by alcohol-impaired drivers. While many survive alcohol related traffic accidents, they can cause catastrophic, life altering injuries and survival does not ensure a return to pre-accident health. Recovery for injuries can be crucial to the survivor’s future and can contribute to his or her overall ability to return to a pre-accident level of functioning. The early identification of all parties exposed to liability, as well as the identification of all potential defenses is essential to the ultimate recovery in any case.

In certain circumstances, liability for injuries caused by an intoxicated driver can extend beyond the intoxicated driver, to the establishment(s) that served him or her alcohol.  In New Jersey, it is illegal for a licensed beverage server to serve alcohol to minors or visibly intoxicated persons.  Like many states, New Jersey imposes liability on bars for serving minors who subsequently injure themselves or others.  This allows minors to sue a drinking establishment for their own injuries sustained while intoxicated.  It also allows others that were injured by the intoxicated minor to sue the drinking establishment that served the minor.  
 
In contrast to an injured minor, an injured adult is not permitted to sue for injuries sustained while operating a motor vehicle if his or her blood alcohol level is found to be above the legal limit, regardless of fault.  For example, if an intoxicated person is stopped at a red light and is rear ended by a distracted driver, the intoxicated person cannot sue the distracted driver for his injuries even though the intoxicated driver did not contribute to the collision.
                                        
If you or a family member is injured in an alcohol related traffic accident, early identification of all culpable parties is essential. Contact us to determine how to maximize your potential recovery.

Snow and ice flying from tractor trailers and cars have caused serious and even fatal accidents. How hazardous are those sheets when they land? In some cases, it could be solid ice that's coming at you at 60 miles an hour. 

The American Transportation Research Institute released a study in 2009 titled "Snow and Ice Accumulation on Vehicles" that included a survey in which 35% of tractor-trailer drivers said snow or ice had fallen from their vehicle and caused injury or property damage to another motorist. More than half the truckers surveyed (54%) said they rarely or never removed ice from the top of their vehicles. In these cases, speed is not the issue; negligence is. 

Keeping your vehicle safe for the road is part of your responsibility as an automobile owner. Many would never consider leaving a pile of snow or ice on his or her roof. However, others do not consider that it is unfair, not to mention illegal to leave snow and ice on your vehicle to fall on another driver's car.

The hazards posed to others on the roadway should be enough to encourage every driver to clear all snow and ice from his or her vehicle. If you choose not to and someone is injured as a result, you are exposing yourself to civil liability for those injuries as well as state imposed fines and penalties.