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Knowledge, experience, and dedication have brought the lawyers of The Epstein Law Firm to the forefront of their profession. From personal injury to civil litigation, they have built a strong record of success in achieving justice for their clients.
Our practice is diverse and well-established. Recognizing that every case is unique, we always begin by listening to you.
The Epstein Law Firm, P.A. has been successfully representing clients throughout New Jersey since 1973
A car accident can leave you facing medical treatment, missed work, vehicle repairs, and insurance questions at the same time. If another driver may have caused your crash in Fort Lee NJ, you may have claims under that driver’s liability coverage, your own auto policy, or both.
The Epstein Law Firm, P.A. has represented clients throughout New Jersey since 1973. The firm’s attorneys can investigate the collision, identify available insurance, document your injuries and losses, and handle communications with insurers. For broader information about injury claims, visit the firm’s Fort Lee NJ Personal Injury Lawyer page. The firm’s New Jersey motor-vehicle accident practice addresses serious crashes statewide.
Injured in a Fort Lee NJ car accident? Call The Epstein Law Firm at (201) 231-7847 or request a free case evaluation.
The Epstein Law Firm
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The Epstein Law Firm can review your car accident claim and explain the evidence, deadlines, and next steps that may apply.
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Your health and immediate safety come first. Call 911 when someone may be injured, vehicles are creating a hazard, or emergency assistance is otherwise needed. Once urgent needs have been addressed, consider these steps:
The New Jersey MVC Driver Manual provides official crash-reporting guidance, while N.J.S.A. 39:4-130 states the underlying reporting requirements.
New Jersey’s no-fault system generally uses Personal Injury Protection, or PIP, to pay covered medical expenses without first deciding who caused the crash. The applicable policy, available limits, deductible, treatment requirements, and any health-primary election can affect how bills are processed.
PIP does not resolve every loss. When another driver or entity was negligent, an injured person may also have a liability claim for losses such as income not replaced by insurance, future care, reduced earning ability, and qualifying pain and suffering. The New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance Standard Auto Policy guide explains the principal types of coverage.
A person subject to New Jersey’s limitation-on-lawsuit option generally must prove death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement or scarring, a displaced fracture, loss of a fetus, or a permanent injury to recover noneconomic damages. A permanent injury must be supported by the medical proof required by N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8.
The no-limitation option does not impose this injury threshold, although fault, causation, damages, and insurance coverage still must be established.
More than one person can contribute to a collision. Under New Jersey’s comparative-negligence statute, an injured person may generally recover when that person’s negligence was not greater than the negligence of the person—or combined parties—from whom damages are sought. The award is reduced by the injured person’s percentage of fault.
An insurer’s initial fault decision is not necessarily the final answer. Reports, photographs, video, vehicle damage, witness accounts, traffic laws, and expert analysis may support a different allocation.
Responsibility depends on how the collision happened. Potentially responsible parties may include:
A traffic ticket, police report, recall, or government finding can be relevant, but none automatically proves civil liability.
You do not need to investigate the crash by yourself. Preserve what is reasonably available and allow your lawyer to seek additional records before they are lost.
A lawyer may also pursue surveillance video, electronic vehicle data, commercial driving records, phone records when legally appropriate, and evidence concerning vehicle ownership or employment.
Questions about evidence or insurance after a Fort Lee NJ crash? Call (201) 231-7847 or contact The Epstein Law Firm online before important records disappear.
Depending on the injuries, insurance coverage, and evidence of fault, a car accident claim may include compensation for:
No category is automatic. The amount that may be recovered depends on the documented losses, medical evidence, policy limits, responsibility for the crash, lawsuit threshold, and other case-specific facts. The New Jersey Courts Model Civil Jury Charges address issues such as auto-related medical expenses, lost earnings, disability, future care, and noneconomic harm.
New Jersey generally requires a personal injury lawsuit to be filed within two years after the claim accrues under N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2. Exceptions may change that calculation.
A claim involving the State, a municipality, a public authority, or a public employee may also require a Tort Claims Act notice within 90 days. The New Jersey Treasury’s tort-claim guidance explains the notice process for claims against the State and notes that claims against county or municipal entities must be filed directly with the appropriate entity.
These periods are not extended simply because an insurer is evaluating the claim or settlement discussions are underway. Prompt review is particularly important when a roadway condition, government vehicle, unidentified driver, minor, or delayed-discovery issue may be involved.
A Fort Lee NJ car accident lawyer can examine the crash report, insurance policies, photographs, vehicle damage, medical documentation, and witness information. The investigation may include determining who owned each vehicle, whether a driver was working, whether additional coverage applies, and whether potentially useful electronic or video evidence still exists.
The firm can also coordinate insurer communications, evaluate PIP and health-primary issues, calculate documented losses, address the lawsuit threshold, negotiate a potential resolution, and prepare a lawsuit when necessary. A free evaluation allows you to discuss what happened without committing to proceed.
If you were injured in a Fort Lee NJ collision, The Epstein Law Firm can review the crash, insurance coverage, medical documentation, and deadlines that may affect your options.
Request a free Fort Lee NJ car accident case evaluation. Call (201) 231-7847 or contact The Epstein Law Firm online.
The Epstein Law Firm can review the evidence, insurance issues, and next steps that may matter in your car accident claim.
These answers provide general information about New Jersey car accident claims. The facts, applicable policy, parties, jurisdiction, and available evidence can change the analysis.
Call for help, address medical needs, report the collision, and preserve information without putting yourself in danger. Exchange driver and insurance details, obtain witness information, and photograph the vehicles and surrounding conditions if it is safe to do so.
New Jersey requires prompt police notice for crashes involving injury, death, or more than $500 in property damage. If you develop new or worsening symptoms, seek appropriate medical attention rather than trying to diagnose the problem yourself. The CDC advises that some concussion symptoms may appear hours or days after an injury.
Sources: New Jersey MVC Driver Manual—Reporting Crashes; N.J.S.A. 39:4-130—Immediate Notice and Written Crash Reports; CDC—Symptoms of Mild TBI and Concussion.
A Fort Lee Police Department motor-vehicle accident report is ordinarily available after five business days. The borough’s official FAQ explains that reports may be picked up through the Records Bureau or requested for delivery by following its stated procedures.
If another agency investigated the collision, request the report from that agency. The New Jersey State Police records page directs requesters to the state’s crash-report portal for qualifying reports and explains the separate process for records associated with serious or fatal crashes.
Sources: Borough of Fort Lee—Police Report Request Instructions; New Jersey State Police—Criminal Justice Records Bureau and Crash Reports; New Jersey State Police Crash Report Request Portal.
PIP coverage generally pays covered accident-related medical expenses without first deciding who caused the collision. The controlling policy may depend on whether you were driving, riding as a passenger, living with an insured household member, or injured under another covered circumstance.
The available PIP limit, deductible, copayment, treatment requirements, and any health-primary election can affect payment. Liability for the collision is a separate issue, and another driver’s insurer does not ordinarily replace the need to submit medical bills under the applicable first-party coverage.
Sources: NJDOBI—Standard Auto Insurance Policy and PIP Coverage; NJDOBI—Selecting Your Health Insurer for the PIP Option; 2026 New Jersey Auto Insurance Buyer’s Guide.
It means the policyholder elected to have qualifying health insurance pay eligible auto-accident medical expenses before PIP. The auto insurer then generally provides secondary PIP coverage according to the policy and coordination rules.
This election can affect deductibles, copayments, provider networks, authorization requirements, and responsibility for expenses the health plan does not cover. New Jersey’s consumer guidance states that Medicare and Medicaid cannot be selected as the primary health insurer under this option. Review the auto declarations page and health-plan terms before assuming which carrier must pay.
Sources: NJDOBI—Selecting Your Health Insurer for the PIP Option; 2026 New Jersey Auto Insurance Buyer’s Guide—Health Care Primary Option.
Possibly, but you generally must prove one of New Jersey’s six qualifying injury categories. They are death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement or scarring, a displaced fracture, loss of a fetus, or a permanent injury supported by the medical proof required by law.
For a permanent-injury claim, the statute requires an appropriate physician certification after a lawsuit begins, subject to its timing and evidentiary requirements. The threshold applies to noneconomic losses such as pain and suffering; it does not automatically eliminate every potential claim for economic losses.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8—Limitation on the Right to Recover Noneconomic Loss; NJDOBI Standard Auto Policy—Limited and Unlimited Rights to Sue.
Possibly. New Jersey generally permits recovery when your negligence was not greater than the negligence of the person or combined parties from whom you seek damages. Your compensation is then reduced by your percentage of responsibility.
For example, a person found 20% responsible would generally receive 80% of the proven damages. Fault is determined from the available evidence, not merely from who received a ticket or what an adjuster initially decided. Reports, witness accounts, vehicle damage, photographs, video, and applicable traffic laws can affect the allocation.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1—Comparative Negligence and Reduction of Damages; NJDOBI—Auto Comparative Negligence Settlement FAQs.
Many New Jersey personal injury lawsuits must be filed within two years after the claim accrues. The accrual date and available exceptions can be fact-specific, so a person should not assume that every claim follows an identical calculation.
Claims involving a state agency, municipality, public authority, or public employee may also require a Tort Claims Act notice within 90 days. This can matter when a government vehicle, employee, traffic-control device, or roadway condition may be involved. Insurance negotiations do not necessarily pause either deadline.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2—Two-Year Personal Injury Filing Period; New Jersey Treasury—Tort and Liability Notice Requirements.
Your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage may apply if it is included in the controlling policy. Uninsured motorist coverage addresses qualifying losses caused by a driver without applicable insurance. Underinsured motorist coverage may apply when the responsible driver’s insurance is insufficient and your policy provides higher applicable limits.
Do not settle with the other insurer or sign a release without reviewing your policy’s notice and consent requirements. Basic and standard policies provide different protection, and any recovery remains subject to fault, documented damages, exclusions, deductibles, and policy limits.
Sources: NJDOBI—Filing an Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist Claim; NJDOBI Standard Auto Policy—Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage; 2026 New Jersey Auto Insurance Buyer’s Guide—UM and UIM Coverage.
Preserve the crash report, photographs, videos, witness details, medical records, insurance correspondence, and proof of lost income. Keep original electronic files when possible, record where each item came from, and avoid altering or annotating potential evidence.
Federal health-privacy rules generally allow patients to inspect and obtain copies of medical and billing records held by covered providers and health plans, subject to limited exceptions. A lawyer may separately seek surveillance footage, electronic vehicle data, commercial records, and other information that an injured person cannot reasonably obtain alone.
Sources: HHS—Your Right to Access Medical and Billing Records; Borough of Fort Lee—Police Report Request Instructions; New Jersey State Police—Crash and Serious-Accident Records.
There is no reliable universal settlement formula. A claim’s value depends on the nature and duration of the injuries, medical evidence, lost income, future needs, fault allocation, lawsuit threshold, available insurance, and the effect of the injuries on the person’s daily life.
Potential damages may include qualifying medical expenses, future care, lost earnings, reduced earning capacity, property damage, and legally recoverable pain and suffering. Each claimed loss must be supported by evidence, and applicable policy limits may restrict the practical recovery even when documented losses are greater.
Sources: New Jersey Courts—Model Civil Jury Charges for Medical Expenses and Damages; N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8—Noneconomic-Loss Threshold; NJDOBI Standard Auto Policy—Coverage and Right-to-Sue Options.
Tell The Epstein Law Firm what happened and get clear guidance about your injury claim and legal options.
We want to express our deepest gratitude for the exceptional work you did to insure that our father’s unfortunate accident did not go unrecognized; my dear dad would have appreciated your professionalism, unstoppable work ethic and most of all your compassion every step of the way. Please know we have the highest regard and the utmost respect for you.
Thank you again for all of your help, support and advice. You’ve made a trying and difficult time much easier to deal with for my family and myself. You will never have any idea how much your efforts were, and will forever be appreciated.
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The Epstein Law Firm
The Epstein Law Firm