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The New Jersey Smoke Alarm Laws

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New Provisions in Construction Code Mandate Alarms in Older Homes

The New Jersey Smoke Alarm LawsAccording to New Jersey state officials, it’s relatively common for firefighters to arrive at the site of a residential fire in the state, only to discover that the fire or smoke alarms in the dwelling are not functioning. In many instances, those firefighters say that the smoke alarm batteries have either been removed or have not been replaced in a timely manner.

Citing concerns about public safety, the New Jersey legislature has enacted changes to the state construction code. Effective January 1, 2019, all residential structures built before 1977 are required to have a 10 year sealed battery smoke alarm installed. The change applies to one and two-story houses, motels and boarding/rooming houses. The new requirement does not apply to homes built since 1977, as existing code mandates that they have a hard-wired smoke alarm. Officials say the requirement for a sealed battery was written into the new law to prevent the removal of batteries. The entire unit will need to be replaced every ten years or when the battery dies.

Under New Jersey law, the owner of any residential rental property must obtain a certificate of Smoke Detector and a Certificate of Carbon Monoxide Detector Alarm Compliance before initially renting property, and before leasing to new tenants. A tenant who is hearing impaired may ask the landlord to install a visual smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alert system.

Under New Jersey law, the owner of any residential rental property must obtain a certificate of Smoke Detector and a Certificate of Carbon Monoxide Detector Alarm Compliance before initially renting property, and before leasing to new tenants. A tenant who is hearing impaired may ask the landlord to install a visual smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alert system.

Contact Attorney Howard D. Popper

To learn about how we can help you with a fire or burn injury claim, contact our office online or call attorney Popper at 973-993-8787. We have offices in Morristown and Newton, but will come to your home or the hospital, if necessary. There is no charge for your first consultation.

We handle all personal injury claims on a contingency basis. You won’t be charged any legal feesunless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

The Duties of Property Owners in New Jersey

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The New Jersey Premises Liability Laws

The Duties of Property Owners in New JerseyIn New Jersey, as in all other states, there’s a duty owed by owners or controllers of real property to anyone legally visiting the real property. That duty applies to landlords, tenants, property managers and others with the authority and power to maintain the property. The duty is not an absolute one—the responsible party must only take reasonable steps to minimize the risk of injury.

The Duty

The duty includes an obligation to reasonably monitor the premises in order to learn of all potentially dangerous situations. The owner or controller may respond in a number of ways:

  • The condition can be fixed
  • The owner may prevent access to the part of the property where the risk of injury exists
  • The owner may provide notice of the risk of injury, but the notice must be reasonable

The Status of the Visitor

The owner’s duty will vary, based on the legal status of the visitor.

  • Trespassers—If the visitor is trespassing—on the property without right or authority—there is generally no duty, unless the trespasser is a minor and there is some “attractive nuisance” on the property, such as a swimming pool
  • Licensees—A licensee is someone who is legally on the property, but who is typically there for his or her own benefit. That includes a party or dinner guest. With respect to licensees, the owner is not required to inspect the premises, but must address any known dangerous conditions.
  • Invitees—An invitee is someone who has come on the property for the benefit of the owner or controller of that property. An example would be a customer entering commercial premises. The owner/controller of property owes the highest duty to an invitee, and must take reasonable steps to discover any dangerous conditions and either remedy them or warn visitors.

Contact Attorney Howard D. Popper

To learn your options when you have been injured because of someone else’s carelessness, contact our office online or call attorney Popper at 973-993-8787. We have offices in Morristown and Newton, but will come to your home or the hospital, if necessary. There is no charge for your first consultation.

We handle all personal injury claims on a contingency basis. You won’t be charged any legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

The Most Common Types of Personal Injury Claims

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The Typical Causes of Needless Injury in New York and Across the Country

The Most Common Types of Personal Injury ClaimsAs a society, we seem to find more and more ways to engage in distraction, whether it’s on a personal device, looking at a billboard or trying to do more than one thing at a time. When we’re distracted, it’s easy for us to cause injury to another person. Here are some of the most common types of personal injury claims in New York City and nationwide.

Motor Vehicle Accidents

The number of motor vehicle accidents in the United States has been steadily climbing for the last decade, with more than 6,000,000 annually. That’s more than 16,000 across the United States every day, making motor vehicle crashes the single biggest cause of personal injury in the United States. The numbers have escalated significantly over the last three years, as consistently low gas prices have put more drivers on the road for more hours. Insurance industry watchdogs say the United States sees about $230 billion in auto accident costs every year.

Slips and Falls, also known as Premises Liability

Right up there with motor vehicle accidents are slips and falls, leading to nearly nine million ER visits every year. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) says that slips and falls are the leading cause of non-fatal injury in individuals under the age of 20, as well as those over 65—about one third of all slip and fall hospital visits involve seniors.

Dog Bites and Animal Attacks

The CDC also reports nearly five million dog bites every year, with about one in every six requiring some type of medical treatment.

Contact Our Office

For a free initial consultation, contact our office online or call us at 973-993-8787. We have office locations in Morristown and Newton, but will visit you in your home or the hospital, if necessary.

We take all personal injury claims on a contingency basis. You will not incur legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

General Electric to Recall Thousands of Infant Warmers

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FDA Announces Action after More than 300 Complaints

General Electric to Recall Thousands of Infant WarmersThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has disclosed that multinational conglomerate General Electric (GE) must immediately recall around 25,000 units of its Panda i-Res and Giraffe Infant Warmers, in response to nearly 350 complaints from consumers, including two involving infants who suffered skull fractures. Thus far, no children have died because of defects associated with the products.

The infant warmers are used to provide additional heat for infants who have difficulty maintaining their own body temperatures. Most of the devices are used exclusively in hospital settings, such as neo-natal intensive care units. The warmers are designed with a flat surface on the top and panels on the sides to keep the infant from rolling out. The flat surface is integrated into the whole unit and cannot be moved or set in place separately.

According to reports, the unit weighs more than 200 pounds and is extremely difficult to move. It has handles specifically designed to help move the unit, but, in a number of situations, hospital workers have used the bedside panels (rather than the handles) to move the unit, causing damage to the latches that hold the panels shut. The injuries have been suffered when compromised latches malfunctioned and infants rolled out of the warmer onto the floor.

GE first started manufacturing the warmers in 2007. In 2019, GE sent an urgent notice to all hospitals, warning of the potential danger. GE has also indicated that it will be issuing new and improved “instructions for use” to all customers.

GE may have potential liability under a legal theory of product liability. In a product liability claim, any party within the chain of distribution may be responsible for injuries sustained as a result of dangerous and defective design, dangerous and defective manufacture or negligent marketing of a product.

Contact Attorney Howard D. Popper

To learn about how we can help you with a motor vehicle accident injury claim, contact our office online or call attorney Popper at 973-993-8787. We have offices in Morristown and Newton, but will come to your home or the hospital, if necessary. There is no charge for your first consultation.

We handle all personal injury claims on a contingency basis. You won’t be charged any legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

Manhattan Family to File Wrongful Death Claim for Elevator Death

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Victim Killed at Kips Bay Luxury Apartments

Manhattan Family to File Wrongful Death ClaimThe family of a 30-year-old New York man says they will file a lawsuit, seeking compensation for the Manhattan man’s accidental death on August 22, 2019. The victim, Samuel Waisbren, a native of the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area, lived at the Kips Bay apartment building, on Third Avenue in Manhattan.

According to police reports, Waisbren was in the elevator with six other passengers at the time of the accident. The others departed the elevator without incident just before it suddenly dropped, pinning Waisbren between the elevator and the shaft wall.

Other residents at the luxury apartments say there had been problems with the elevators for months. One neighbor told reporters that the elevator had a history of breaking down, that the owners were continually having it serviced, or replacing parts. City records show that, at the time of the accident, the building had an unresolved code violation related to the elevator, indicating that a component of the elevator had been tampered with and was inoperative. The city fined the property owners, but it apparently wasn’t enough for them to remedy the problem.

In New York, as in other states, the owner or controller of residential or commercial property has a duty to monitor and maintain the premises in such a way as to minimize the risk of injury to persons on the property. That duty includes a requirement to remedy all dangers about which the owner knows or should reasonably know.

Mr. Waisbren’s father and brother have indicated that there are seeking maintenance and inspection records for the elevator.

Contact Attorney Howard D. Popper

To learn your options when you have been injured because of someone else’s carelessness, contact our office online or call attorney Popper at 973-993-8787. We have offices in Morristown and Newton, but will come to your home or the hospital, if necessary. There is no charge for your first consultation.

We handle all personal injury claims on a contingency basis. You won’t be charged any legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

The Different Types of Losses in a Personal Injury Claim

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Economic and Non-Economic Damages | How Potential Claims are Valued

The Different Types of Losses in a Personal Injury ClaimWhen you have suffered injury in any type of accident, and you can show both a breach of the duty of care and causation, the focus turns to damages. Damages represent the losses suffered as a result of the carelessness or negligence of the defendant(s).

When evaluating your case, your attorney will typically look at a number of criteria to determine how much you can reasonably expect to recover in a settlement or judgment:

  • The full measure of your injuries—Will the injury prevent you from working and how long? What type of medical care or rehab will you need? Will you be forced to discontinue in activities that give you joy and fulfillment?
  • The extent to which insurance will cover your losses—This may include health, auto or casualty insurance
  • The witnesses for and against you—How credible are they? Will they be available if you go to trial? What kind of physical impression will they make?
  • Are you experiencing regular pain and suffering?

Your lawyer will typically refer to the compensation you seek as either economic or non-economic damages. Economic damages are those that are fairly concrete and usually easy to calculate. Lost wages and income, medical expenses and property damage are generally considered to be economic damages.

Non-economic damages, on the other hand, are much more subjective, but still very real. They can include the monetary value of pain and suffering, loss of companionship or consortium, or loss of enjoyment of life. Different courts take different approaches to the calculation of non-economic damages. Some judges will simply instruct the jury to be reasonable and fair, whereas others may allow the jury to take the amount of economic damages and multiply it by a factor (anywhere from one to ten) to assess non-economic damages.

Contact Our Office

For a free initial consultation, contact our office online or call us at 973-993-8787. We have office locations in Morristown and Newton, but will visit you in your home or the hospital, if necessary.

We take all motor vehicle accident claims on a contingency basis. You will not incur legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

Determining Liability in a Multi-Car Crash

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What Are Your Rights When There’s More than One Driver at Fault?

Determining Liability in a Multi-Car CrashIt’s fairly common, especially when there are more than two cars involved in a motor vehicle accident, that more than one of the parties engaged in conduct that caused the accident. If you have been hurt in a multi-vehicle wreck, what are your rights and responsibilities? Will you need to name all parties as defendants? Will you have to allocate financial responsibility for your losses? What happens if you were partially responsible?

The Doctrine of Comparative Negligence

New Jersey has adopted the legal principle of comparative negligence (which replaced the old rule of contributory negligence). New Jersey is a modified comparative negligence state. That means that, in New Jersey, a person seeking compensation for losses suffered in an accident will only be allowed to recover damages if his or her fault was 50% or less. Accordingly, if you are involved in a motor vehicle accident, the court will look first at the extent of your responsibility for the accident. If it’s greater than 50%, your lawsuit will be dismissed.

Suing Multiple Parties in New Jersey

New Jersey also has a law that allows an injured person to seek full compensation from any defendant who was at least 60% responsible for the accident. If the court fails to find any one party to have that degree of liability, all defendants must then pay their pro rata share. If, however, you are able to collect the full measure of damages from a single party, that party may seek reimbursement from other at-fault parties in a separate legal action.

Contact Attorney Howard D. Popper

To learn about how we can help you with a motor vehicle accident injury claim, contact our office online or call attorney Popper at 973-993-8787. We have offices in Morristown and Newton, but will come to your home or the hospital, if necessary. There is no charge for your first consultation.

We handle all personal injury claims on a contingency basis. You won’t be charged any legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

Your Options When Injured by an Uninsured Motorist

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Strategies for Recovery for Your Losses

Your Options When Injured by an Uninsured MotoristIn the aftermath of a motor vehicle accident, one of the first things you typically do is gather insurance information from the at-fault driver. In New Jersey, with its no-fault insurance laws, motorists are required to purchase uninsured and underinsured motorists coverage, even though all claims in the state are filed through the injured party’s insurer. Typically, your insurer will cover your claims and then seek reimbursement from the at-fault party’s insurer through a process known as subrogation. If you have coverage for uninsured motorists, you can even recover benefits under the policy if you are hurt by a hit and run driver.

There are also other avenues that you may be able to pursue, based on the circumstances of the crash:

  • If the other driver was impaired or under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash, and you can identify who served the alcohol, you may have a dram shop or social host liability claim
  • Were there defects in the roadway, such as potholes, loose gravel or wet/slippery surfaces? Were there traffic signs that were down, not functioning or blocked by trees or shrubs? Was the roadway poorly designed, with improper banking, turns that are too sharp or improper drainage? You may have a claim against the municipality responsible for maintaining the roads.
  • Was the accident caused by a breakdown of one of the vehicles, or by a dangerous or defective part? If so, you may be able to pursue damages based on a theory of product liability.

Contact Attorney Howard D. Popper

To learn your options when you have been injured because of someone else’s carelessness, contact our office online or call attorney Popper at 973-993-8787. We have offices in Morristown and Newton, but will come to your home or the hospital, if necessary. There is no charge for your first consultation.

We handle all motor vehicle accident injury claims on a contingency basis. You won’t be charged any legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

Accepting a Settlement after a Car Accident

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Always Consult an Attorney before Signing Anything

Settlement after a Car AccidentWhen you’ve been hurt in a motor vehicle accident, your first course of action will typically be to contact your automobile insurance provider. That’s particularly true in New Jersey, where the no-fault auto insurance laws mean that your own carrier has responsibility for many of the damages, regardless of who is at fault. But don’t be misled—your auto insurance carrier is a for-profit business. One of the ways they maximize their profits is by paying as little as possible to settle a claim. As a consequence, you can expect that they’ll look for ways to delay, deny or diminish your injury and loss claims.

One of the more subtle ways an insurance company can take advantage of you is by offering a fairly quick settlement. You may be impressed that they’ve acknowledged responsibility so expeditiously, but you need to be careful. The dollar amount may seem significant, but it’s important to take a careful look at what’s being reimbursed. The insurance company has extensive experience with all types of motor vehicle accidents, and knows both the obvious and the potentially hidden costs of a car crash. Often, the more debilitating injuries that arise out of a motor vehicle accident are the ones that take a bit more time to develop—muscle, ligament, and other connective tissue injuries are a good example. You won’t have that experience or knowledge to fully protect your interests, but a proven personal injury attorney will. In addition, an attorney won’t have any vested interest, other than maximizing your recovery.

Accordingly, before you sign, agree to, or accept anything from an insurance provider, retain experienced and effective legal counsel.

Contact Our Office

For a free initial consultation, contact our office online or call us at 973-993-8787. We have office locations in Morristown and Newton, but will visit you in your home or the hospital, if necessary.

We take all motor vehicle accident claims on a contingency basis. You will not incur legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

Are You Limited to Workers’ Compensation after an Injury on the Job?

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Filing a Third-Party Claim for a Work Injury

Filing a Third-Party ClaimWhen you’ve suffered any type of injury in the workplace, your first course of action is typically to notify your supervisor or employer and seek benefits through a workers’ compensation claim. Under New Jersey law, there are only two requirements—you must have suffered and injury and you must have been working at the time. Though a workers’ compensation claim can bring you benefits within a few weeks, if quickly approved, you will be limited with respect to the amount you can recover. Is a workers’ compensation claim your only option? Can you file a personal injury lawsuit after an injury on the job?

The answer—it depends. The workers’ compensation laws were enacted to provide an alternative to a civil lawsuit after a work injury caused by the carelessness or negligence of an employer or co-worker. An injured worker has access to benefits more quickly (a lawsuit may take months or years to resolve) and the employer avoids the possibility of an exorbitant damage award from a sympathetic jury.

However, the workers’ compensation laws only apply to injuries caused by the wrongful act of the employer or a co-employee. If you can show that your injuries were caused by an unrelated third party, you can still file a personal injury lawsuit in a civil court. In fact, you can file a workers’ compensation claim and a personal injury lawsuit simultaneously.

Examples of valid third-party claims include:

  • Product liability actions, where an injury is caused by the breakdown or malfunction of a tool, machine or other device manufactured by a third party
  • Claims for injuries suffered in a job-related motor vehicle accident, where the at-fault driver was neither the employer nor a co-worker
  • Injuries caused by workers on adjoining sites

There are advantages and disadvantages to filing a third party claim. You may be able to recover more than the amount set forth in the workers’ compensation laws, but you’ll likely have to wait a long time to see any actual damage award, unless you settle your claim before trial.

Contact Attorney Howard D. Popper

To learn about how we can help you with a work injury claim, contact our office online or call attorney Popper at 973-993-8787. We have offices in Morristown and Newton, but will come to your home or the hospital, if necessary. There is no charge for your first consultation.

We handle all personal injury claims on a contingency basis. You won’t be charged any legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.

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