Hurt on a snowy or icy road in New Jersey because another driver was going too fast or didn’t properly clean off his windshield? Slippery roads and poor visibility are the two most common causes of winter car accidents. Call Howard Popper at 973-993-8787 for proven representation.
Under the laws of negligence, which have evolved over the past millennia, every person in society must exercise reasonable care in all actions, so as to minimize the risk of injury to others. Accordingly, if a person gives you a ride to or from somewhere, even if the ride is free, the driver must exercise reasonable care to avoid a possible car crash.
When you pay money to travel on a motor coach, train, passenger boat, taxi or airplane, though, you expect a higher degree of care and a higher level of safety. In fact, the law imposes a duty on individuals and entities that transport either people or goods from one place to another for a fee. They are known under the law as “common carriers,” and typically must adhere to higher legal standards than other motorists.
Under the law, a common carrier must exercise “the highest degree of care” when transporting individuals or property for a fee. With respect to people, a common carrier must take “all reasonable steps” to prevent injury to passengers. Note that the duty actually may extend to individuals in a waiting area who may subsequently become passengers upon the arrival of a train, bus, truck or other vehicle. However, in most instances, the duty arises once the passenger purchases a ticket.
To learn about how we can help you with a Social Security disability 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.
One of the arguments commonly made to promote buses, light rails, commuter trains and other forms of mass transit is the belief that they offer a safer ride. While mass transit accidents may not be as common as motor vehicle accident, they still happen too often and can result in serious injury and death.
As a general rule, negligence is a contributing factor in most public transportation accidents. Negligence involves the failure to act reasonably in a given situation. Under the laws of personal injury, every person in society has a duty to exercise a reasonable degree of care in all actions. That includes individuals who own or operate mass transit vehicles.
Among the most frequent causes of mass transit accidents are:
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 mass transit accident and injury claims on a contingency basis. You won’t be charged any legal fees unless attorney Popper recovers compensation for your losses.
In the aftermath of a personal injury, you have the right to pursue damages for all your losses, from wages and income to medical expenses, from loss of companionship or consortium to pain and suffering. In an earlier blog, we looked at the different types of pain and suffering, and briefly discussed the concept of a “multiplier,” where the court calculates “out-of-pocket” losses and multiplies by a factor to calculate the award for pain and suffering. In New Jersey, that amount might be one to three times out-of-pocket damages or it can be ten times that amount.
We noted in the earlier blog that courts customarily instruct juries to use common sense and experience when calculating damages for pain and suffering. In this blog, we look at some of the concrete factors that we know juries take into consideration when assessing pain and suffering. There are many, including:
To learn your options after a car accident during work hours, 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 New Jersey workers’ compensation laws were enacted to provide an alternative to the civil courts when workers suffered injury because of the carelessness or negligence of employers or fellow workers. Accordingly, when an employer fails to properly maintain equipment, or does not provide adequate training and supervision, and you suffer injury, you can file a workers’ compensation claim and, if your claim is approved, start receiving benefits within a few weeks.
The reality, though, is that many people travel as a part of their jobs and many “work-related” injuries are suffered in motor vehicle accidents while employees are on company time. Can you file a workers’ compensation claim for injuries suffered in a car accident while on the clock? If so, are you limited to seeking benefits through a workers’ compensation claim?
The rules governing eligibility for workers’ compensation for motor vehicle accident injuries are pretty clear:
It’s important to understand, however, that you can file a workers’ compensation and a personal injury lawsuit simultaneously, provided at least one at-fault party was neither your employer nor a co-employee. You cannot, however, recover twice for the same loss. If you received workers’ compensation benefits to cover lost wages and income, you cannot recover the same lost wages and income in a separate proceeding before a judge and jury.
To learn your options after a car accident during work hours, 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 news continues to be bleak for New Jersey motorists looking to buy motor vehicle insurance—the Garden State is once again among the five most expensive states in which to purchase a policy for coverage on your automobile, joining Florida, Michigan, New York and Louisiana as the priciest places to insure a vehicle.
According to studies, the principal reasons New Jersey consistently ranks among the costliest states for car insurance are:
To learn your options when you have been injured because of the negligence or carelessness of another person, 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.
After a car crash, one of the first things you’ll typically do is look to get reimbursement and/or payment for any medical expenses. How that happens in New Jersey depends on the type of motor vehicle accident insurance you bought.
Like every other state, New Jersey has a no-fault system to recover for certain motor vehicle accident losses. With a no-fault policy, you turn to your own insurer (not the at-fault party’s insurance provider) to seek reimbursement of your losses. Your insurance company will pay you pursuant to policy limits, and may also seek reimbursement from the at-fault party’s insurer through a legal process known as subrogation. You can expect, though, that your insurance provider will pay most or all of the losses you have suffered.
There’s a wrinkle, though, in the New Jersey insurance laws. You can choose no-fault insurance or you can opt for a traditional policy. When you purchase a traditional policy, you retain the right to sue the other party directly, although that can be a lengthy and costly process.
There’s also a clause in the New Jersey insurance statute that allows you to file a lawsuit directly against the at-fault party and/or his/her own insurer. You must, however, show that you have sustained serious injury, defined to include dismemberment, displaced fractures, significant scarring or disfigurement, or the loss of a fetus.
To learn your options when you have lost a loved one in an accident, 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.
With gas prices still at some of their lowest points in years, transportation officials anticipate that more people will choose to hit the road for Thanksgiving this year. In fact, the American Automobile Association estimates that more than 40 million Americans will drive at least 50 miles from home at some point during the Thanksgiving weekend. Unfortunately, with more folks on the road, the risk of accident and injury escalates. Here are some tips to help make this holiday a safe one.
If you don’t know exactly where you are going, it’s best to study the route before you go and know when and where you’ll change course. Even though you’ll probably have GPS on your phone and may even have Siri to guide you in, experts say that one of the principal causes of motor vehicle accidents is unfamiliarity with a specific roadway. Your GPS can only give you a little bit of advanced warning of a turn or change in direction. Trying to make that sudden turn can put you in harm’s way.
Your car will tell you how much weight you can carry. The more you haul, the more difficult you vehicle may be to handle, especially in an emergency. Furthermore, don’t pack things loosely throughout the vehicle. In a sudden stop, loose items can become projectiles.
You know in advance that there will be a lot more traffic on the road, so you need to put a cushion in if you need to be somewhere at a specific time. In addition, prepare for traffic slowdowns or even traffic jams.
One of the principal causes of motor vehicle accidents is distracted driving. Let one of the passengers do anything that needs to be done on a device, including adjusting music, taking phone calls or looking up directions. Make certain your traveling companions, especially children, have plenty to keep them occupied, so they don’t pull your attention off the road.
To learn your options when you have suffered a personal injury, 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.
A Vernon man was awarded $2 million by a Morristown jury for injuries he received when the car he was riding flipped over and hit a tree. Brian Birchenough, 20 years old at the time of the accident, was a passenger in a car driven by Matthew Hurban, another resident of Vernon. Birchenough was represented by attorney Howard Popper.
According to testimony introduced at trial, Birchenough had accompanied Hurban to the Fone Booth Bar in Hardyston in 2006 for what the tavern advertised as “Poker Night.” The bar had a poker game running all night long, with the grand prize winner taking home a color TV. Attorney Popper argued that the “Poker Night” was simply a marketing ploy to get people to come to the bar and drink. Popper also produced evidence showing that Hurban’s BAC (blood alcohol content) was somewhere between .15 and .19 at the time of the crash, approximately twice the legal limit.
Investigators said that Hurban and Birchenough left the bar and traveled about a mile before Hurban failed to negotiate a turn, rolled the vehicle and struck a tree. Birchenough sustained numerous injuries, including a broken nose, leg, ankle and vertebra. He needed surgical implants in his legs, including rods and plates, so that he could walk again. Hurban suffered severe and permanent brain damage.
The jury, in returning its verdict, concluded that Hurban was 65% responsible for the accident and the Fone Booth was 35% liable. Birchenough settled with Hurban before trial for $100,000.
To learn your options when you have suffered a personal injury, 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.
Four soldiers from the 533 Brigade Support Battalion at Fort Totten, in Queens, were injured on April 14 when the Humvee in which they were traveled rolled over on the New Jersey Turnpike in South Brunswick, New Jersey. Authorities say they were traveling in a two-vehicle caravan traveling south on the turnpike when a tire came off the Humvee. Police located the tire about 40 feet from where the vehicle came to a stop. The second vehicle was not involved in the accident.
All four of the injured were in the vehicle that overturned. Three soldiers were taken to the hospital—one female and two male soldiers. A fourth G.I., a male soldier, appeared to be dazed, but did not require any medical treatment. Witnesses say that three of the four soldiers were trapped under the vehicle and personnel in the second vehicle had to jack up the overturned Humvee to pull them out.
Transportation officials say it’s more common than you think for a tire to come off a vehicle in transit. More often than not, the injuries sustained are to a third party. Mark Bailey, an engineer with MEA Forensic, says that wheel separation if very underreported in the United States. He estimates that there may be as many as 50,000 incidences per year in North America where a tire comes off a car while the vehicle is moving down the road. His research shows that the greatest tendency for wheel separation is approximately two to three weeks after tires have been changed, or brakes have been worked on. He says the common cause—mechanics or car owners don’t properly tighten the lug nuts.
For a free initial consultation, contact attorney Howard D. Popper 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. We won’t charge attorney fees unless we recover compensation for your losses.
