New Jersey Personal Injury Cases & Accident Info

New Jersey statutes online

This is where you’ll find New Jersey's revised statutes. The website has details about how long you have to bring a case, monetary limits on personal injury cases (which are also known as damage caps), and other important information.

New Jersey Revised Statutes

To read:

• Do I have a legal case after my accident?
• What is personal injury law?
• What are damage caps?

New Jersey's car accident statutes of limitation

In New Jersey, you have six years to bring both a personal injury and a property damage claim. That means you have six years to file your paperwork with the court, not that your case has to be completed in that time frame.

New Jersey's Statute of Limitations

To read:

• What is the statute of limitations?
• The claims process and how long a personal injury lawsuit takes

Hiring the right New Jersey lawyer

The first meeting with a personal injury attorney is normally free of charge. (Note that other legal specialties, such as estate planning law or intellectual property law, are different.) After that, lawyers work on a contingency basis, which means that they will take a third of the eventual reward or settlement, plus whatever office expenses they incur along the way.

If your case ends up going to trial, the percentage could rise to 40% of the eventual reward or judgment. These numbers aren't determined by law, so don't be surprised if your lawyer suggests something else.

Find a lawyer in New Jersey

Want to hire a lawyer and need some help? Check out some of our best articles:

• Choosing a personal injury attorney – interview questions
• Why might a personal injury lawyer deny my case?
• Preparing to meet with a personal injury attorney
• Negotiating lawyers fees - how do accident lawyers charge? Are there any hidden costs?
• When do you NOT need an attorney after an accident?
• Jurisdiction: Accidents that involve multiple states

Cases of interest in New Jersey

These are some cases of legal significance that came out of New Jersey's courts:

• City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey, 437 U.S. 617 (1978): Somehow, New Jersey had become the repository for other states' toxic waste. This was because of its very convenient location between New York and Philadelphia, which meant that it became very heavily industrialized. When it tried to close itself off to the dumping of toxic waste by passing a Waste Control Act, Philadelphia filed suit and complained to the courts. The Supreme Court said that New Jersey could not isolate itself from problems common to all states: "whatever New Jersey's ultimate purpose, it may not be accomplished by discriminating against articles of commerce coming from outside the State unless there is some reason, apart from their origin, to treat them differently."


• Lewis v. Harris, 188 N.J. 415 (2005): This was New Jersey's same-sex marriage case. They became the fifth state in the country to allow same-sex marriage after seven couples (ten women and four men) sued for either the right to marry or for an equal package of some sort that would allow them the same legal rights as heterosexual couples.


• New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325 (1969): This case led to more reasonable searches in schools under the Constitution. A teacher searched a student's purse after she found her smoking cigarettes; the teacher found marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and records of drug sales. The student argued that this violated her Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches. The Supreme Court disagreed. As the cigarettes were in plain view, that was an exception to needing a warrant. She had reasonable cause to suspect that a rule had been broken.

Data and statistics

Here is some intriguing data about New Jersey:

• Bureau of Labor Statistics: Statistics
• Department of Health: Statistics
• InfoPlease: Statistics
• U.S. Census: Data

New Jersey law libraries

There are a large number of issues you can solve without the help of a lawyer. If you don't know where to start, a law librarian can help you. They are usually legally trained, and they can help you both with texts or online research engines like LexisNexis or Westlaw.

• Seton Hall Law: Law Library
• Rutgers Law Library
• New Jersey State Law Library

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