Personal Injury Law Journal

I recently received an inquiry from a woman who was driving her car with a lapsed insurance policy. As such, she had no automobile insurance in effect on the date that she was hit by another vehicle. She restored her policy on the day after the collision and wanted to know if she could bring a lawsuit against the person who hit her.

The New Jersey Compulsory Motor Vehicle Insurance Law requires every owner of a vehicle registered or principally garaged in the state to carry motor vehicle liability insurance coverage. If you operate an uninsured vehicle that is involved in an accident, you will not be able to bring a lawsuit for damages, even though the accident is not your fault. Even if the reason for being uninsured is due to a missed insurance payment and you have been notified of the lapse in coverage, you cannot bring a claim for economic (i.e., medical expenses) or non-economic (i.e., pain and suffering) damages. You will likely also receive a ticket for driving without insurance. 

There is no grace period for paying premiums on an automobile insurance policy. Make sure you pay it on time, so you do not find yourself without recourse if you are involved in a motor vehicle accident.

Lara Lovett is a member of Stark & Stark’s Lawrenceville, New Jersey office, specializing in Accident & Personal Injury Law. For more information, please contact Ms. Lovett.

As the mother of a child in a 5 point harness car seat, I have been struggling to get my son snugly strapped in while he's wearing his winter coat. After doing a little research, I quickly learned that it is not safe to buckle little ones into their car seats when they are wearing their puffy winter coats.

You can even do your own case study to see if your child's winter coat is inhibiting him/her being safely buckled in. First, put your child in the car seat without a winter coat on and buckle him/her up. Next, take your child out and put on that winter coat. Put him/her back in the car seat and try to buckle the straps. Are you able to still secure that 5 point harness without adjusting the straps? Those winter coats (especially the puffy ones) require you to loosen the car seat straps by inches just to get the child comfortably buckled in.

So, what’s the problem? If your child is firmly buckled up in his/her 5 point harness, isn’t he/she safe?

Not necessarily.

If you are in an accident, or have to suddenly slam on your brakes, those few extra inches you lengthened the harness straps will give your child room to move. In an accident, the puffy coat will compress and your child will be given enough room with the loosened harness straps to possibly fly out of the car seat, or be slammed back and forth within the seat.

Worried your child will be cold without his winter coat? Keep a blanket in the car, or put a lightweight fleece on your child. There is no legislation in New Jersey prohibiting the wearing of winter coats in car seats. However, removing the coat in order to firmly and safely buckle your child into his/her seat is an easy way to keep him/her as safe as possible in the car.

Lara Lovett is a member of Stark & Stark’s Lawrenceville, New Jersey office, specializing in Accident & Personal Injury Law. For more information, please contact Ms. Lovett.

If you weren’t taken to an Emergency Room from the scene of a motor vehicle accident, but are in pain, you should seek immediate medical attention. If the pain is severe and it is either after-hours or you cannot get in to see your primary care physician right away, take yourself (or have someone take you) to the hospital. Depending on your complaints, the ER will likely take x-rays, prescribe medication and recommend that you follow up with a doctor if you aren’t feeling better in a few days.

So, with whom should you follow up? The answer depends on whether or not you have selected PIP (Personal Injury Protection) as primary on your automobile insurance, or whether your health insurance is primary.

If PIP is primary coverage on your policy, call your family doctor and find out if he/she will see you for automobile accident-related injuries. Many primary care doctors do not accept PIP as the insurance and will advise you to go elsewhere. The good news, however, is that if PIP is primary, you do not need a referral from your primary to go see another family doctor or any sort of specialist. You can choose who you’d like to go see, and so long as that medical provider accepts PIP, you can schedule an appointment. And, your first visit for any specialty does not need to be pre-certified by your automobile insurance carrier.

If you elected to have your health insurance as primary on your insurance policy, try to get into your family doctor’s office as soon as possible. If you are experiencing neck and/or back pain and do not have a family doctor, you should contact a chiropractor or an orthopaedist.

The important thing is to be seen by a medical professional as soon as possible, if you are in pain after an accident, or are still in pain after a trip to the ER. Navigating the waters of the automobile insurance industry can be tricky business, so do not hesitate to contact me for a free consultation if you have any questions.

Lara Lovett is a member of Stark & Stark’s Lawrenceville, New Jersey office, specializing in Accident & Personal Injury Law. For more information, please contact Ms. Lovett.

Most people these days are blogging, Tweeting and/or FaceBooking every day occurrences regarding the weather, their children’s antics or how their favorite sports team has performed. It is only natural that an event such as a car accident, work accident or other type of personal injury would also be shared with one’s nearest and dearest on a social networking site.

The problem is, however, that most people are not limiting their audience to immediate family members. Online “friends” tend to include people you have not had any personal contact with since high school, people you have never met in real life, or co-workers. While you are innocently posting pictures of your wrecked car, or updating your status to reassure everyone you’re “fine” (when in fact you may have a permanent injury that is not diagnosed until months after the accident), you have no control over what any of your “friends” do with that information after you have posted it. While you may keep a close eye on who your online friends are, you cannot stop any of them from downloading photos, re-tweeting or blogging that same information.

It is important to realize this because years later, if you have a lawsuit, those same photos and status updates can be discovered by the defense insurance company and used against you at trial. The Court Rules are slow to keep up with the ever-changing technology and there is currently nothing to stop the defense from seeking out information about you that you have made public online.

Be wary of any new “friend” requests if you have filed a lawsuit or are currently in trial. More importantly, do not post any photos or updates about your physical or mental condition, related to your accident. Even the most innocent of comments could be used against you at trial, when taken out of context or skewed by the defense.

If you are injured in a motor vehicle accident and have filed a lawsuit in New Jersey, your case will be sent to mandatary Arbitration. Arbitration takes place at the Superior Court your case is filed in and is held in a conference room, not a court room. The purpose of the arbitration is to help the parties come together to settle the case before it is listed for trial.

When Does My Case Get Listed for Arbitration?
After the “discovery phase” of your case expires, your attorney will receive a notice in the mail, from the court, giving the time and date of the arbitration. Your attorney’s office will contact you about when to appear at court for your arbitration.

Who is the Arbitrator?
The arbitrator is an attorney who has extensive experience in motor vehicle accident cases. In some counties there are two arbitrators - one arbitrator will be a plaintiff’s attorney and the other will be a defense attorney. Other counties have only one arbitrator and he/she can be either a plaintiff or defense attorney. In either situation, the arbitrator will know nothing about your particular case until the attorneys for both sides of your case are called in to explain their side. Attorneys for both the plaintiff and defense prepare packets of information to give the arbitrators to review - these packets include the police report, your medical records, photographs and any other information the attorney feels is necessary to help prove your case.

Who Attends the Arbitration?
Attorneys for both the plaintiff(s) and defendant(s) will be there. If liability is not an issue, like in most rear-end collision cases, only the plaintiff(s) will attend the arbitration. It is up to the arbitrator(s) whether or not you will give testimony at the arbitration. Usually, your testimony will be about how the accident happened, if liability is an issue, any prior medical conditions you may have had and how you are feeling presently. You are placed under oath before giving testimony and can be questioned by all attorneys and the arbitrators.

Will My Case Resolve at Arbitration?
After the arbitrator(s) have heard from both attorneys and the plaintiff, they will ask everyone to leave the room so they can put a value on the case. This value represents what the arbitrator thinks the case should settle for. The Award is the arbitrator’s opinion and is based on his/her experience as a trial attorney in this field of law. In other words, there is no chart that says a specific injury is worth “x” amount of dollars. Each case is unique and each plaintiff adds his/her own value to the case based on the effect the injuries have had on their life.

Each party has 30 days to reject the Arbitration Award. If neither side rejects, the case is settled for the amount of the award. If one side rejects the Award, by filing a form with the court called a Trial de Novo, the case will be placed on the trial list. Most cases do not settle at the actual arbitration, but arbitrations can be helpful in bringing the parties together to talk about what the case is worth.