An injury can upend your life. Spending time in the hospital recovering, trying to get back to work so you can afford expenses, and trying to move on while dealing with pain and suffering can all be too much. Our attorneys are here to help.
We can take your case and fight to get compensation for what happened to you. This can include full payment for reasonable medical expenses, lost earnings, and non-economic damages (e.g., pain and suffering).
For your free case evaluation, call our personal injury lawyers at Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C. today at (201) 777-1111.
What Makes Up an Injury Case?
A personal injury case needs a person who injured you, legal grounds to hold them responsible, and damages. If you have all of these, then you should have a valid case.
At-Fault Party
Someone else needs to have caused your injuries to sue them. In a car crash, fault is often clear: the other driver hit you and caused the accident.
Many other injury cases look like they were your fault, but they can actually be blamed on someone else. For example, if you slipped and “hurt yourself,” it might actually be the property owner’s fault that you slipped in the first place.
Grounds to Sue
Most injury cases are based on “negligence.” This claim involves showing four elements:
- The defendant owed you a legal duty
- They breached that duty
- That breach caused your injuries
- You suffered injuries and damages.
The duty is often based on your relationship to the defendant. For example, if you are sharing the road, there are safety rules they must follow; if you are a guest on their property, they must keep it reasonably safe.
If their mistakes caused your injuries, you have grounds to sue them.
Damages
All injury cases involve damages in the form of the injuries you faced and the pain and suffering that flows from them. Most also involve hard “economic damages” in the form of medical bills, lost wages, and more.
Our personal injury lawyers can help you claim both the economic and non-economic/pain and suffering damages you faced, though the source of payment might vary.
Is My Injury Covered by Insurance?
Most injury cases involve some kind of insurance policy. For example, these policies are incredibly common and cover most places and situations where an accident might occur:
- Car insurance pays for damages in a crash.
- Homeowners and business insurance cover slip and falls and other accidents on covered properties.
- Business liability insurance covers the harms a business causes, such as through defective products or dangers with daily operations.
- Workers’ Compensation covers injuries at work.
With car accidents and work accidents, the insurance that covers you should be no-fault, meaning your policy – or your employer’s policy for work injuries – will cover you regardless of how the accident happened. However, even in these situations, additional images may be available when you file a claim against the at-fault party or a relevant insurance policy.
Other claims are usually filed against the at-fault party’s insurance. For example, a slip and fall at your neighbor’s house should be paid by their homeowners insurance.
Do I Sue or File an Insurance Claim?
While insurance is available to cover many accidents, that does not mean you would necessarily get paid through an insurance settlement. When you file a claim with the defendant’s insurance, it is up to the insurance company to investigate the claim and pay it, if they find the claim reasonable. But these companies are biased, and getting high-dollar damages is often difficult.
No insurance company wants to pay high settlements, and so they will often deny claims altogether or else offer small settlements to try to end cases quickly. Our lawyers can negotiate with them for fair payment, but if they refuse to settle, we can take them to court.
When we sue in court, the insurance company is still contractually obligated to cover the defendant, they just do so after the trial determines fault. This takes the decision of whether or not to pay away from the insurance company and gives it to the judge and jury.
Are There Jury Trials for Injury Cases in North Arlington?
New Jersey allows jury trials in many instances. When a case goes to court, the judge decides the law that applies – e.g., whether to accept objections and what jury instructions to read – but the jury decides the facts.
This gives them the power to answer these questions:
- Who was at fault?
- What damages did they cause?
- How much are those damages worth?
In some cases, it may be better to ask for a “bench trial,” allowing the judge to make these decisions instead of a jury. However, juries are often sympathetic to people with serious injuries, and moving away from a jury might hurt your case.
Does My Case Need to Go to Trial?
As mentioned, many cases can be settled with the insurance company for fair damages. In fact, the vast majority of cases do eventually settle rather than going to trial.
Even after a case is filed in court, it is not too late to settle. Judges typically try to get the parties to negotiate and potentially seek mediation, all to encourage settling.
If you settle, you can skip going to trial. Trials are really only necessary when the insurance company refuses to pay what they owe you.
What is the Deadline to File an Injury Case?
Most injury cases need to be filed within 2 years of the date of injury. There may be some exceptions, but they are often very fact-sensitive.
In any case, you should contact a lawyer well before this deadline, as it takes time to research cases and prepare the court filings.
Call Our Personal Injury Attorneys in North Arlington Today
For injuries in North Arlington or anywhere else in North and Central New Jersey, call Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C.’s personal injury lawyers at (201) 777-1111.