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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 highway crash can leave the vehicles far from the place where the trouble started. A lane change, a truck entering from a work area, or a first collision can trigger impacts that happen seconds later. To pursue compensation, you need to establish that sequence—not simply identify the car nearest yours when traffic stopped.
The Epstein Law Firm represents people injured on the Garden State Parkway, New Jersey Turnpike, interstate highways, and other New Jersey roads. Our highway accident lawyers investigate how the collision developed, who contributed to it, and which insurance policies may respond. We also help you understand how the injury claim fits alongside treatment and immediate insurance needs.
This page focuses on highway collisions, including disputed merges, multiple impacts, and roadway hazards. Our broader Car Accidents practice explains the overall automobile claim process.
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New Jersey Highway Accidents
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Call for emergency help when someone is injured or there is an immediate danger. Give the dispatcher the road name, direction of travel, nearest exit, and mile marker if you know them. A description such as “near the interchange” may leave uncertainty about which roadway, ramp, or lane was involved.
Do not enter moving traffic to collect debris or photograph a hazard. New Jersey Treasury’s roadway-claim guidance specifically warns against risking harm to obtain highway photographs. Describe the location and conditions you remember, and preserve any images already taken safely.
Notify your insurer and keep the responding agency’s report number. Tell treating clinicians about your symptoms and the collision history, including successive impacts. Accurate reporting helps connect the right people, vehicles, injuries, and insurance files before accounts of the crash diverge.
In a highway pileup, the last impact is not necessarily the first negligent act. A driver may have stopped safely before being pushed forward, or may have struck another vehicle before a later collision. A merge dispute can turn on whether a vehicle had entered the lane, where traffic slowed, and what each driver could see.
Useful investigation questions include:
New Jersey DOBI explains that fault investigations consider reports, statements, vehicle laws, and roadway configuration. Preserve an original dashcam file and witness contact details when available. Do not assume a public traffic-camera image proves that a recording exists or can be retrieved.
The Epstein Law Firm’s published highway results include an Interstate 287 case in which responsibility was disputed after a truck entered the roadway from a work area. That experience illustrates why the investigation must examine how the vehicle came into your path, rather than stop at the description “rear-end collision.”
An investigation may need to address another motorist, a commercial operator, or a party responsible for work affecting the roadway. The presence of a truck or construction equipment does not establish liability by itself. The task is to identify the conduct or condition that caused the injury and the party legally responsible for it.
A public-road claim requires separate analysis. Treasury explains that Title 59 limits public liability and provides defenses and immunities. Its roadway guidance emphasizes prior notice and an opportunity to address a hazard; proof that a pothole existed alone does not establish a right to payment.
The responsible agency also matters. Treasury directs Parkway and Turnpike road-condition claims to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, rather than its State claim portal. Tell your lawyer about the precise road, public vehicles, work activity, and suspected hazard early enough to investigate the correct recipient.
For a covered automobile injury, personal injury protection, or PIP, generally provides medical coverage without waiting for a fault decision. The 2026 New Jersey Auto Insurance Buyer’s Guide explains that policy limits, deductibles, and a health-care-primary selection affect how benefits operate. A passenger’s coverage needs review too; the driver’s insurer is not automatically the only source.
Pain and suffering belongs to a different part of the claim. The applicable lawsuit option can limit recovery for those losses to qualifying injuries. Medical records need to document the injury and its connection to the crash; dramatic vehicle damage does not substitute for that proof.
A highway collision involving several injured people can also put pressure on available liability coverage. Ask which policies apply and what their actual limits are. Underinsured coverage depends on your coverage and its relationship to the responsible driver’s limits, not simply on whether your medical bills are large.
A useful file connects the collision history to treatment, time away from work, and continuing limitations. Gather what you have rather than delay contacting a lawyer until every record is available:
Keep repair paperwork and tell counsel where the vehicle is stored before important physical evidence is lost. At the same time, ask about storage charges and necessary insurer inspections. Preserving evidence should be coordinated with practical steps to avoid unnecessary expenses.
New Jersey generally allows two years after an injury claim accrues to bring suit under N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2. Exceptions can affect the calculation, so have the actual crash and claimant circumstances reviewed.
A public-entity claim generally requires notice within 90 days of accrual. Treasury’s notice instructions explain the State process and identify matters that belong with other entities; a police report or maintenance complaint is not the same as presenting the required claim notice.
Use the NJSP crash-report portal to begin a report request. Its help page distinguishes toll-road reports for the Turnpike and Parkway from non-toll reports, and identifies a separate route for Atlantic City Expressway crashes. Have the case number and available identifying information ready, and save the report once delivered. Review it for missing passengers or incorrect details and raise concerns with the investigating agency.
For an unresolved insurance-handling problem, DOBI’s Consumer Assistance page provides written complaint options and the consumer hotline, 1-800-446-7467. Gather the company name, policy and claim numbers, relevant correspondence, and a concise account of the problem. DOBI’s comparative-negligence guidance explains that disputed accident facts may ultimately require a court decision. An agency inquiry does not replace a civil claim or suspend its deadline.
Our published verdicts and settlements include highway cases involving a limousine leaving the Parkway and a truck entering Interstate 287. Those matters involved different evidence and injuries; their results cannot predict yours. They show the importance of examining the actual collision mechanics and the effects on the injured person.
Michael J. Epstein is certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney. When you contact us, explain what happened, what treatment you have received, and what an insurer is asking you to sign or provide. We can discuss the investigation and the records needed to evaluate your options. Use our contact page or call 201-231-7847 to arrange the firm’s free consultation.
Tell our team which highway you were on, how the impacts unfolded, and what information you have about the vehicles involved. Bring available report details, treatment records, and insurer correspondence so we can discuss the investigation and your next steps.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case depends on its own facts, evidence, and applicable law.
These excerpts describe experiences with the firm. They are not identified as cases in this practice area and do not predict another outcome.
“Michael Epstein is a wonderful, smart, caring and intelligent attorney. He was always responsive, supportive and got me dismissed from a high stakes lawsuit. I highly recommend him and the firm.”
— Leslie · Read the full Google review
“I was extremely pleased with the Epstein law firm. Michael Epstein and his co-worker Evelyn were so helpful. They answered all my questions in a timely manner and made me feel at ease from day one. They continuously kept me informed by email and phone calls.”
— Janice · Read the full Google review
These answers provide general information. The collision sequence, policy terms, claimant circumstances, and available evidence can change the analysis.
Start with the New Jersey State Police crash-report portal and select the toll-road option for a New Jersey Turnpike or Garden State Parkway crash. The portal offers searches using identifying information such as a case number, license number, plate number, or involved party’s last name. Its help page identifies separate contacts for toll-road and non-toll reports.
An Atlantic City Expressway report follows a different route listed on that help page. Once you receive a report, save a copy and check the vehicles, passengers, roadway location, and narrative. New Jersey’s NJTR-1 manual explains the report’s fields and diagrams; those entries help organize an investigation but should be compared with the other evidence.
Sources: NJSP crash-report request help; NJDOT 2023 NJTR-1 Crash Report Manual.
You may recover negligence damages if your fault is not greater than the combined negligence of the people against whom recovery is sought, with damages reduced by your percentage of fault. N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1 supplies that rule. In a two-driver case, equal fault can permit a reduced recovery; greater fault on your side can bar it.
A multiple-vehicle collision needs careful analysis of the parties and impact sequence. An adjuster’s percentage is a claim assessment, not a court judgment. Ask what evidence supports it and preserve material showing whether you struck another vehicle independently or were pushed into it. DOBI describes internal review options and acknowledges that unresolved factual disputes may need a court decision.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1—comparative negligence; DOBI comparative-negligence settlement FAQs.
Applicable PIP coverage generally pays covered automobile-injury medical expenses regardless of who caused the crash. You should report the loss to the relevant insurer and ask how to open the injury claim, rather than wait for the drivers’ liability dispute to finish. Benefits remain subject to coverage terms, limits, deductibles, and treatment requirements.
The health-care-primary option can change payment coordination, and not every person or vehicle has the same coverage arrangement. Tell the medical provider that treatment concerns an automobile accident and provide the claim information available to you. Keep any denial or request for additional documentation so it can be reviewed. Paying a treatment bill does not establish another driver’s fault or resolve your separate injury claim.
Sources: DOBI 2026 Auto Insurance Buyer’s Guide—PIP and health-care-primary options; DOBI Everything You Wanted to Know About Auto Insurance—2026.
An injured passenger may pursue a claim against a driver whose negligence caused the injury, including a driver of the vehicle carrying the passenger when the evidence supports it. Riding in a vehicle does not determine which driver caused a crash. Liability coverage and medical-payment coverage serve different purposes and need separate review.
Bring information about your own auto policy, any relevant household policy, and the vehicle you occupied. New Jersey’s insurance guidance describes PIP coverage for covered people and bodily-injury liability coverage for injury claims, but the actual policy determines the available protection. In a pileup, identify all impacts you remember and check that the police report lists you as a passenger. Avoid assuming the host driver’s insurance resolves every part of your claim.
Sources: NJ MVC insurance requirements—PIP and liability coverage; DOBI 2026 Auto Insurance Buyer’s Guide—coverage types; N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1—negligence recovery.
No. When the limitation-on-lawsuit option applies, you must establish a qualifying injury to pursue pain-and-suffering damages against a covered defendant. New Jersey’s insurance guide lists categories including displaced fracture, significant disfigurement or scarring, loss of a body part, loss of a fetus, permanent injury, and death. The severity of vehicle damage alone does not satisfy an injury category.
The no-limitation option removes that particular restriction, but causation, liability, and the extent of your losses still matter. Have the applicable policy choice and medical evidence reviewed. A permanent-injury allegation needs objective medical support; it should not rest solely on your prediction about recovery. The lawsuit option concerns noneconomic losses and does not itself eliminate applicable PIP medical benefits.
Sources: DOBI 2026 Auto Insurance Buyer’s Guide—right to sue; DOBI 2026 auto insurance questions—lawsuit options.
Potentially, but a public roadway claim has significant limits, and identifying a hazard does not automatically establish liability. Treasury’s roadway instructions explain that its investigation considers prior notice of a dangerous condition and sufficient time to address it. Title 59 also provides public entities with defenses and immunities, so the evidence must be evaluated under the applicable public-claim rules.
Identify the highway, direction, location, and work activity as accurately as possible. Claims involving Parkway or Turnpike conditions go to the Turnpike Authority rather than Treasury’s State form; other roads may involve different entities. A contractor’s possible role also needs investigation. Do not return to moving traffic for photographs. Reporting a maintenance problem does not replace the separate claim-notice process or establish that compensation is owed.
Sources: NJ Treasury roadway claims and notice instructions; NJ Treasury Tort and Liability—Title 59 defenses and immunities.
New Jersey generally requires an injury lawsuit within two years after the claim accrues, under N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2. For an ordinary crash claim, that is generally measured from the collision, but exceptions and claimant circumstances can change the calculation. Reporting an insurance claim is different from commencing a lawsuit.
A claim against a public entity generally also requires formal notice within 90 days of accrual. Treasury’s instructions cover State claims and explain that certain road authorities and local entities require a different recipient. Limited late-notice relief requires separate legal analysis; do not assume it will be granted. Have both deadlines reviewed promptly if a public vehicle, highway condition, or roadway agency may be involved, even while you are still receiving treatment.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2—personal injury limitation period; NJ Treasury tort-claim notice instructions.
Applicable underinsured motorist coverage may provide protection when the responsible driver’s liability limits are lower than your UIM limits and covered losses remain. A large injury claim alone does not trigger UIM. The policy, available limits, and relationship between the coverages must be examined. Uninsured motorist coverage addresses a different problem: a responsible driver without the required insurance.
In a highway crash with several injured claimants, determine whether a shared per-accident limit affects the liability coverage. Ask counsel to review your own policies and any other potentially applicable coverage before accepting a settlement. New Jersey’s standard and basic policy options differ, including whether UM/UIM protection is available. Do not assume coverage exists merely because you own an insured vehicle or that policy limits can simply be added together.
Sources: DOBI 2026 Auto Insurance Buyer’s Guide—UM/UIM and policy types; DOBI 2026 auto insurance questions—limits and coverages.
Payment for vehicle repairs does not, by itself, establish that your injury claim has been resolved. New Jersey’s insurance guidance distinguishes property-damage and collision coverage from PIP and bodily-injury liability coverage. Check what the insurer is paying for and whether any document or payment includes a release of additional claims before agreeing to it.
Keep the repair estimate, payment explanation, photographs, and correspondence with the adjuster. Your vehicle claim may proceed while the injury investigation continues, particularly if fault remains disputed. If an offer combines property and injury losses, ask for a clear explanation of the categories and terms. Have the actual release reviewed rather than assume that a document labeled “settlement” covers only the damaged car or preserves every other claim.
Sources: DOBI 2026 Auto Insurance Buyer’s Guide—property, collision, and injury coverages; DOBI 2026 auto insurance questions—claims and coverage.
Bring the report number, crash date and location, available photographs or video, insurance information, treatment records, and insurer correspondence. You can contact The Epstein Law Firm before all those documents are assembled. Tell the team about multiple impacts, a commercial or public vehicle, suspected roadway problems, and any document you have been asked to sign.
The firm’s contact page provides its phone numbers and office information, and its highway practice describes investigation of collision causes and responsibility. Explain how the injuries affect your work and everyday activities, along with what you remember about the crash sequence. The consultation is an opportunity to discuss the evidence and possible next steps; it cannot establish a guaranteed recovery or predict a result from another client’s case.
Sources: The Epstein Law Firm—contact and office information; The Epstein Law Firm—highway accident representation; DOBI 2026 auto insurance questions—after an accident and claim records.
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The Epstein Law Firm
The Epstein Law Firm