Understanding Negligence and New Jersey Personal Injury
Posted on | April 27, 2010 | No Comments
Generally, a negligent action is carelessness that leads to personal injury to another individual. It can be an behavior, like carelessly knocking a rock off a rooftop, or a failure to act, like a landlord who doesn’t fix a worn out stair. A negligent action typically provides the grounds for injuries cases.
To file a legal suit for negligence, the injury victim (the individual filing the legal action) has to prove four points: That the negligent party (the person or entity being sued) owed the plaintiff a duty of due care; that the defendant failed to use due care towards the injured party (i.e. breached the duty); that the defendant’s breach of duty caused the plaintiff’s harm; and that the injured party suffered damages as a end result.
Duty of care: The injury victim needs to demonstrate that the accused had a duty of reasonable care toward the injured party. An individual has a duty to avoid causing injury to another if a reasonable individual in the same scenario could foresee that an behavior (or failure to act) might lead to harm. Some scenarios are very clear. We all know that somebody could be injured if we run a stop light, so we have a duty of reasonable care to follow traffic laws and signals. Other cases are more tricky. If a homeowner has a private swimming pool in a fenced yard, does he have a duty to prevent a neighbor child from climbing the fence and accidentally drowning in the pool? How much care would a reasonable man or woman take in that circumstance? In each case, the issues concerning the injury play a significant role in determining whether or not a defendant had a duty of reasonable care towards the injury victim.
Breach of Duty: The plaintiff has to demonstrate that the negligent parties failed to carry out their duty of care. For example, an ordinary individual could foresee that a van full of explosives could ignite, so a person who parks such a vehicle in a populated parking lot has breached the duty of due care to the other people nearby. If the vehicle blows up, the driver may be guilty of negligence. A person may also foresee that a car that isn’t repaired adequately could malfunction, so if the brakes on a poorly maintained car fail and the car hits a young child, the owner of the car might have breached the duty of care to that child. Every car owner has a duty to maintain the car in a safe condition. Alternatively, if the owner regularly maintains and repairs the car and the brakes failed because the brakes were faulty or the mechanic made a mistake, the owner did not breach a duty of reasonable care, though the brake manufacturer or the mechanic might be to blame.
Cause: The injured party needs to demonstrate that the negligent persons breach of duty triggered the injury for which the plaintiff is suing. Sometimes causation is clear. If you run a red light and hit a person, you obviously caused the injuries. If the pedestrian’s elderly mother has a heart attack and passes away when she hears of her daughter’s injury, did you result in that injury? Not likely, but those are the kinds of difficulties that have to be solved in a negligence lawsuit. There could also be issues about what injury was caused by an accident. People today typically have more than one accident in their lives, so if a person has had two prior back injuries, precisely what injury to the back was caused by the most recent fall down a flight of stairs?
Damages: Damages in a negligence claim try to put the injury victim in the same situation he or she would be in if the accident hadn’t occurred. A plaintiff has to prove the monetary value of his or her injuries. For example, if somebody is disabled and can no longer work, a calculation of damages would consider the profession of the injury victim and the amount he or she would have earned during the time left in a normal working career. Damages would also include medical expenses and estimated costs for medical care, special accommodations, and assisted living.
In some situations negligent parties are at fault for negligence because of the operation of law, and not because they specifically caused an accident. As an example, since an employer is held to blame for injuries attributable to employees during work, UPS may be liable if a UPS driver has an accident while making deliveries. A hospital may be held accountable for injury caused by only one nurse. Injured parties often make claims against several defendants to make sure there will be enough assets (money) to pay a judgment.
If you think you have been the victim of negligence, contact New Jersey injury lawyer Ron Sage at (732) 860-8918.
Tags: negligence > personal injury negligence
New Jersey Personal Injury Information
Posted on | April 27, 2010 | No Comments
New Jersey Personal injury causes of action include a vast assortment of injuries and collisions, including auto collisions, noxious exposure and poisoning, defective goods and many other legal situations. In this article, you will find details on these practice areas in addition to several of the other most common New Jersey personal injury claims. If perhaps you have recently been seriously injured due to another party’s failure, this article will probably be pretty helpful to you.
Injury laws and regulations are influenced by a wide variety of complex federal and state laws. These laws and regulations are developed to protect the individual from the carelessness or deliberate harm of other people and to offer recourse in the event of injury. Considering these laws are different from state to state, they might be really complicated to read, especially in the course of a painful situation. A New Jersey accident law firm can help you to identify your legal rights, give you examples of New Jersey personal injury settlements and provide you an idea of your odds of getting compensation for your damages.
A few of the civil wrongs that can bring about personal injury, such as assault and battery, are also regarded as criminal violations. In these instances, a separate criminal proceeding may well happen to handle the criminal charges. A personal injury attorney can easily help you file a case for compensation irrespective of whether the defendant in the criminal proceeding is found guilty. In the event that you or someone you love has been seriously injured due to the failure of others you really should speak to a New Jersey injury attorney promptly to ascertain your legal rights.
New Jersey Motor Vehicle Accidents. Motor vehicle accidents, which include auto, bus, and boating accidents, are a major cause of death among Americans. Negligence or carelessness is usually the root cause of car incidents, with preoccupied drivers making up an estimated 80 percent of auto accidents. Distracted conduct such as texting and driving incidents are very closely associated. If you or someone you know was harmed in a automobile incident or other incident involving moving vehicles, you should consider speaking with an injury attorney.
Faulty Drugs. Substandard drugs have side effects that can harm people. Even though drugs undergo extensive clinical trials and the FDA recalls those that are considered threatening, some prescriptions are found to be harmful even after launch to the public. Pharmaceutical providers that knowingly withhold facts regarding a drug’s possibly harmful effects may be held accountable in a court of law. FDA authorization does not remove a drug organization of its responsibility to inform consumers and their physicians of a drug’s dangerous potential. Drugs that may be substandard include Vioxx, Fen-phen and Paxil. In the event that you have used any of the prescriptions that have been recalled and have endured an injury, contact a substandard medication legal professional without delay.
Defective Goods. A defective good presents an unreasonable risk of causing harm to customers. Merchandise that have been determined defective include certain types of airbags, seatbelts, tires and medical devices, as well as consumer merchandise such as appliances, clothing and toys. Product suppliers tend to be held to strict liability standards. This suggests that the injured party in a defective products lawsuit need not prove carelessness or intentional wrongdoing on the part of the manufacturer. Proving that the product is substandard and that the plaintiff was harmed is usually enough to win the case.
Freehold, NJ injury attorney, Ronald Sage, provides free consultations to those that have been injured. Contact him today at (732) 860-8918.
5 Questions To Ask Your New Jersey Injury Lawyer
Posted on | April 23, 2010 | No Comments
Picking the right New Jersey personal injury lawyer to represent you is crucial and might actually help to make or break your case. Whenever consulting with an injury attorney for the very first time, there are lots of questions that have to be asked to discover if legal counsel is a sensible match for your scenario, and for you individually.
The following are five issues that need to be reviewed in your initial meeting with an accident legal representative:
1. What number of years have you practiced law, specifically New Jersey personal injury?
Your prospective New Jersey injury attorney probably should not be inexperienced, but a properly trained, seasoned professional. Younger attorneys, while they may well be utilized to carry out some of the work on your situation, ought not be provided with full case-management authority until they’ve got a little bit more practical knowledge under their belt.
2. Have you prosecuted scenarios such as mine to jury trial or negotiation, and if so, what number?
An expert accidental injury law firm typically has worked numerous scenarios similar to yours to trial and/or settlement. This response is demonstrative of the future lawyer’s talent and accomplishment rate.
3. What amount of your work focuses on accidental injury situations similar to mine?
A New Jersey personal injury lawyer really should center a big part of his or her time on the subject matter involved in your case. Though an attorney at law who practices in general, like a family doctor practices generally, can be a very excellent attorney, it is important the lawyer is competent to represent you in your unique issue.
4. Will you utilize other legal professionals or paralegals on my situation?
Additional lawyers and paralegals are normally chosen to carry out essential responsibilities, but should play a constrained purpose. It is important that you ask to meet them and apply your own personal intelligence to examine them. While the subject matter and law governing your scenario can be unfamiliar to you, you should not discount your capacity to size-up future law firm staff.
5. What is your opinion pertaining to returning my phone calls?
Probably the most regular criticism of legal services consumers is response. Your law firm ought to have a 24-hour turnaround on client phone calls, taking into account unforeseeable instances. It’s a great notion to have this policy drafted into your retainer agreement with your attorney to ensure compliance.
Contact attorney Ron Sage at 732-860-8918 for a free consultation. He will be happy to review your case and answer your questions.
New Jersey Car Accident Lawyer: What To Do After An Accident
Posted on | April 23, 2010 | No Comments
The fact is that, at some time in our lifetime, almost all of us will suffer from a car accident. Any time you are in an automobile accident, even when you are not seriously injured, there are certain things that you should and really should not do.
If you are engaged in personal injury litigation stemming from a car accident, you will profit from visiting a accidental injury law firm.
In the event you are involved in a major accident involving personal injury, or major damage to property, stay at the accident scene until the police tell you that you may leave. In the event that you have any uncertainty regarding whether or not the damage brought on by the incident is considerable, err on the side of extreme care. If the law calls for you to wait for the police, leaving the scene of a vehicle accident can result in driver’s license revocation and even criminal fees.
In the event anyone is injured, and you are qualified in conducting first aid, try to help. You should never move an seriously injured individual. Have another person call the police to report the mishap. The person who notifies the police should explain to the police that individuals are injured, if doable also giving the number of injured persons, so that sufficient emergency personnel respond to the scene. If you are on the roadway, turn your flashers on, or use flares to notify approaching motorists of the mishap.
In any car accident, you should acquire the following facts about: The other driver: Name, address, driver’s license number, insurance information, and license plate number. Witnesses: Name, address, and telephone details. Police officers: Ask the police officers who examine the traffic scene to supply you with a business card, with the “incident details,” so that you can obtain a car accident report. Most officers will give this information to you, even if you don’t ask. The location: You may wish to take notes about where the incident happened, the road conditions, speed limits, traffic control devices, the weather, and the lighting. The incident: You may wish to take notes about how the incident transpired, such as the direction of travel of the cars or trucks involved in the accident, and what the automobiles were doing at the time of the accident.
Remember that if litigation arises from the accident, you may have to share your notes with someone that you are suing, or an individual who is suing you.
Even in the event that you believe that you are responsible, do not admit legal responsibility. There might be factors which you don’t know, which played a function in the accident, and it may turn out that the other individual was more responsible than you.
Do not make claims to anybody at the automobile accident scene, except for the police. When you speak to the police, tell them only the facts of what occurred. Let the officers draw their own conclusion from the facts.
In the event you are in a state, where no fault insurance law covers medical treatment necessitated by an automobile collision, and don’t try to get medical treatment, you may later see that you are unable to obtain “no fault” benefits for your injuries. Your insurance company may state that your injuries arose from something that happened after the accident.
In the event that you are hurt in the crash and sue the other driver, you may similarly find that the other driver argues that your injuries were not related to the crash.
Moreover, the adrenaline from the mishap can mask your symptoms — a physical examination may reveal injuries that you do not yet feel.
Tell the medical professionals when you have any loss of memory, headache, blood or fluid in your ear, dizziness, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), disorientation, nausea, confusion, or any other unusual physical or mental feelings. Many people hit their heads, or suffer brain injuries in vehicle accidents, and don’t appreciate that they are injured. It is best to be safe, by communicating your symptoms so that the physician can rule out the chance of a concussion or brain personal injury.
New Jersey Personal Injury Law & Understanding Comparative Negligence
Posted on | April 23, 2010 | No Comments
New Jersey personal injury law allows you to seek money for damages you sustained in an accident even if you are partly at fault for the accident. This is what is known as the concept of comparative negligence.
New Jersey is a comparative negligence state and not a contributory negligence state. The concept of contributory negligence states that any contributory negligence bars all recovery. This means that if you were at all responsible for the accident then you would not be entitled to money damages.
Contributory negligence was founded on a court case years ago in England where a many driving his carriage at nighttime was injured because a man living near the road left a log out. The man did not see the log in the road, which was supposed to have been removed by the man living nearby, and crashed and suffered injury and damage to his carriage and horses.
The court awarded the carriage driver money damages, but the appeals court overruled the case. The appeals court said that the carriage driver was partly at fault because he did not have his lamp on.
The carriage driver’s lamp was not operating properly so the man did not have it lighted. The court said that if the light was on the man would have been able to see the log and avoid it and avoid the accident. His contribution to the accident, his negligence in not having repaired his lamp, prevented him from collecting money damages.
Contributory negligence has long been determined to be a harsh concept. Under this theory, any amount of fault, even on percent could bar all recovery. Therefore, the law of comparative negligence evolved which allows a person to recover damages according to the percent of his or her negligence.
So you can still sue successfully even if you are partly at fault for the accident. A jury will determine levels of fault for both parties and adjust the award accordingly.
Supreme Court suspends lawyer from Egg Harbor Township – Press of Atlantic City
Posted on | April 14, 2010 | Comments Off
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Supreme Court suspends lawyer from Egg Harbor Township
Press of Atlantic City Charles Stephen Bartolett may not practice law in New Jersey for three months and must repay any money owed to the Gloucester County Board of Social … |
Merck Hid Vioxx’s Risks From Louisiana, Official Says – BusinessWeek
Posted on | April 13, 2010 | Comments Off
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Merck Hid Vioxx's Risks From Louisiana, Official Says
BusinessWeek Lawyers for Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck, the second-largest US drugmaker, contend Louisiana officials knew about Vioxx's health risks and … |
Pa. lawmakers hear pleas to restrict teen drivers | Philadelphia Inquirer | 04 … – Philadelphia Inquirer
Posted on | April 13, 2010 | Comments Off
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Pa. lawmakers hear pleas to restrict teen drivers | Philadelphia Inquirer | 04 …
Philadelphia Inquirer Starting May 1, New Jersey, which already limits teen passengers, will become the first state in the nation to require all probationary drivers under age 21 … |
Reducing Distracted Driving Regulation and Education to Avert Traffic Injuries … – Journal of American Medical Association (subscription)
Posted on | April 13, 2010 | Comments Off
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Reducing Distracted Driving Regulation and Education to Avert Traffic Injuries …
Journal of American Medical Association (subscription) Corresponding Author: Lawrence O. Gostin, JD, O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law Center, 600 New Jersey Ave NW, … |
U.S. v. CLARK – Leagle.com
Posted on | April 13, 2010 | Comments Off
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U.S. v. CLARK
Leagle.com On appeal, Clark argues that the district court erred in finding that his prior New Jersey conviction for theft from a person was a crime of violence within … |
