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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 motor vehicle accident can upend your life in seconds. Beyond the physical pain, a serious crash often means mounting medical bills, missed work, and real economic pressure while you recover — and dealing with insurance companies that are not on your side. If another driver’s recklessness or negligence caused your injuries, you have the right to seek compensation, and the steps you take in the first days can shape the outcome.
The Epstein Law Firm, P.A. has represented New Jersey injury victims since 1973. Our New Jersey car accident lawyers investigate the crash, deal with the insurers, and fight for the full compensation your losses deserve. If you were hurt in Clifton or anywhere in Passaic County, call (201) 231-7847 for a free consultation, or start with our broader overview of New Jersey personal injury claims.
Our attorneys handle a wide variety of motor vehicle accident claims for Clifton drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and cyclists, including:
Whatever type of collision you were involved in, you can rely on our firm to protect your rights and pursue maximum compensation on your behalf.
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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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Clifton sits at the crossroads of some of North Jersey’s heaviest commuter traffic. Roughly 90,000 residents share the road with drivers heading to and from New York City, and several high-speed highways cut directly through the city. Local knowledge matters in these cases: where a crash happened often explains how it happened, and which witnesses, cameras, and records exist.
Route 3. The Route 3 expressway runs through southern Clifton toward the Lincoln Tunnel, carrying intense rush-hour volume. Rear-end collisions, sudden lane-change crashes, and multi-vehicle pileups are common where traffic compresses near the Route 21 interchange and the Garden State Parkway merge.
Garden State Parkway exits 153 and 154. Exit 153 connects the Parkway to Route 3 (signed 153A east and 153B west), and Exit 154 serves Route 46 in Clifton. The weaving, toll-plaza approaches, and speed differences between merging and through traffic at these interchanges produce serious side-swipe and rear-end crashes.
Route 46. Route 46 crosses the northern part of the city as a divided highway lined with shopping centers and jug-handle turns. Crashes here frequently involve left turns across traffic, vehicles entering and exiting parking lots, and drivers struck while slowing for retail traffic.
Main Avenue, Allwood Road, and Clifton Avenue. These are the city’s workhorse local roads — Main Avenue through the Botany Village section, Allwood Road past the Allwood retail corridor, and Clifton Avenue through the municipal complex and downtown. Intersection collisions, pedestrian knockdowns near bus stops and schools, and crashes involving delivery vehicles are the recurring pattern on these streets, along with Valley Road on the city’s western side.
Whether your crash happened at highway speed on the Parkway or at a neighborhood intersection, the investigation starts the same way: secure the police report, identify every camera and witness, and document the scene before the evidence disappears.
The first hours and days after a collision are when cases are quietly won or lost. Take these steps as soon as you are able:
If you were taken from the scene by ambulance or the crash involved a fatality, a commercial vehicle, or a hit-and-run driver, speak with a lawyer before you speak with any insurance adjuster.
New Jersey is a no-fault state for auto accidents. That surprises many Clifton drivers: no matter who caused the crash, your own auto policy’s Personal Injury Protection coverage pays your medical bills first. PIP is part of every standard New Jersey policy — at a minimum of $15,000 per person per accident, with options up to $250,000 — and it can also include limited income continuation and essential-services benefits depending on the policy you chose.
PIP has its own rules and paperwork. Treatment must be medically necessary and is subject to New Jersey’s medical fee schedules and decision-point review requirements, which means certain treatments need pre-certification from the insurer. Gaps in treatment and missed PIP deadlines give insurers arguments to deny bills, so open your PIP claim immediately after the crash and follow up on every request for information.
PIP pays medical expenses and a slice of lost income. It does not compensate you for pain, suffering, disability, or the ways an injury changes your daily life. That compensation — called non-economic damages — comes from a claim against the at-fault driver, and whether you can pursue it at all depends on the lawsuit option you selected in your own policy, explained next. Understanding how these two tracks fit together is one of the most valuable things a lawyer can do for you early in the case.
When you bought your auto policy, you chose one of two lawsuit options — and that choice, made long before any crash, controls your rights afterward. If you selected the no limitation on lawsuit option, you keep the unrestricted right to sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering. If you selected the limitation on lawsuit option (often called the verbal threshold), which many drivers pick because it lowers the premium, you can only recover non-economic damages if your injury falls into one of the categories in N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8:
Most verbal-threshold fights are about the last category: permanency. Insurers argue that a disc herniation, torn cartilage, or nerve injury will eventually resolve; proving otherwise requires treating-physician certifications and medical evidence organized with the statute in mind from the start of treatment. Two important exceptions also apply: the threshold does not restrict claims against commercial vehicles, and it does not apply when the at-fault driver is not covered by a New Jersey PIP policy of their own. If an insurer tells you the threshold bars your case, get a second opinion before you accept that answer.
Several clocks start running the day of the crash, and missing any of them can end a valid claim:
Two years to file suit. Under N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2, you generally have two years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury lawsuit. New Jersey’s discovery rule can delay the start of that period when an injury was not reasonably discoverable right away, and the clock is tolled for injured minors until they turn 18 — but neither exception is a reason to wait, because evidence degrades and witnesses scatter.
90 days for claims involving a public entity. If a government vehicle, a public employee, or a dangerous public roadway contributed to your crash — a municipal truck, an NJ Transit bus, or a negligently maintained public road — the New Jersey Tort Claims Act generally requires a formal notice of claim within 90 days of the accident, long before the two-year lawsuit deadline. This deadline catches families off guard every year.
PIP notice deadlines. Your own insurer must receive notice of the accident and a completed PIP application promptly under your policy’s terms; delays jeopardize the medical benefits you have been paying for.
Because these deadlines overlap and interact, the safest course is a case review in the first weeks after the crash — not the first year.
Do not assume a shared-blame crash is a lost cause. New Jersey follows a modified comparative negligence rule under N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1: you may recover compensation as long as your share of fault is not greater than the combined fault of the drivers you are suing — in practice, you must be 50 percent or less at fault. Your recovery is then reduced by your percentage. If a jury values your damages at $200,000 and finds you 20 percent responsible, you recover $160,000. Cross the line to 51 percent, however, and you recover nothing.
That threshold is why fault percentages are fought so hard. An adjuster who can push you from 20 percent to 51 percent turns a strong claim into a zero. Skid marks, vehicle data recorders, traffic-camera footage, and the physical damage pattern are the evidence that keeps your percentage where the facts say it belongs.
The Epstein Law Firm can review the evidence, insurance issues, and next steps that may matter in your car accident claim.
Some Clifton crashes involve a driver with no insurance at all, a hit-and-run driver who is never identified, or a driver carrying only minimum limits that cannot begin to cover a serious injury. Your protection in those situations is your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UIM), which every standard New Jersey policy must include under N.J.S.A. 17:28-1.1.
For standard policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2026, New Jersey’s minimum bodily injury liability limits rose to $35,000 per person and $70,000 per accident — and UM/UIM minimums track those liability limits. Even so, minimum coverage is quickly exhausted by a single surgery or a few months of lost wages, which is why experienced lawyers investigate every available layer of coverage: the at-fault driver’s policy, policies in the driver’s household, employer coverage for drivers working at the time of the crash, and your own UM/UIM benefits. Our dedicated page on uninsured and underinsured motorist accidents explains how these claims work in detail.
UM claims carry their own notice requirements and deadlines against your own insurer, so treat a hit-and-run or uninsured-driver crash as urgent even though the claim runs through your own policy.
A successful claim compensates you for the full harm the crash caused, not just the bills that have already arrived. Depending on the facts, recoverable damages can include:
Case value turns on the severity and permanence of the injuries, the clarity of fault, and the insurance available. That is why the early work — complete medical documentation, proof of lost income, and investigation of every coverage layer — matters more than any number an adjuster floats in the first phone call.
Serious Clifton crash cases are filed in the Passaic County Superior Court — the Passaic Vicinage of the New Jersey Superior Court, Law Division — at the Passaic County Courthouse, 77 Hamilton Street in Paterson. That is where a Passaic County jury would hear the case if it does not settle. Our attorneys try cases in that courthouse and know its judges, procedures, and juries.
Medical care after a Clifton crash typically begins at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson, the regional trauma center minutes from Clifton, or at Hackensack University Medical Center for the most serious injuries. Your treatment records from those first hours anchor the medical proof in your case, which is one more reason to be seen immediately even when you hope the pain will pass.
The agencies that matter in a Clifton case are the Clifton Police Department (crash reports for collisions on city streets), the New Jersey State Police (Garden State Parkway crashes), and the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (state crash reporting and driving records). We obtain and review each of these records as part of the investigation.
When you hire our firm, we move quickly to build the strongest possible case:
Managing partner Michael J. Epstein is certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney — a designation held by a small fraction of New Jersey lawyers — and our firm remains deliberately focused so each case receives personal attention from the lawyers handling it.
Selected motor vehicle results obtained by The Epstein Law Firm:
$10 Million · $4.25 Million · $4.195 Million
The Epstein Law Firm obtained a $10 million settlement working as local counsel with a Baltimore law firm on behalf of a Maryland woman who lost both of her legs after being struck by a New Jersey Transit bus in Lakewood, New Jersey.
The Epstein Law Firm obtained a $4.25 million confidential settlement in a wrongful death and survival action for a Teaneck husband and father who died after a tire fell off his car, causing it to flip and catch fire. A major mechanic operations company was at fault for failing to attach the tire properly.
The Epstein Law Firm obtained a $4.195 million jury verdict for a 59-year-old Oradell resident who suffered multiple leg fractures as a passenger of a drunk driver who had been served while visibly intoxicated at a bar in South Hackensack. The jury found the driver 80 percent at fault and the bar 20 percent at fault.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case depends on its own facts, evidence, and applicable law.
“Michael and his team were incredibly responsive, always keeping us informed and addressing any questions or concerns promptly.”— Steven, Google review
“This was a very stressful time for us and Mr. Morton helped alleviate a lot of the stress by making the process so smooth. He was responsive, considerate, and very accommodating of my father’s schedule, injury, and language barriers.”— Yoomin, Google review
Read more client reviews on our Google profile.
Clifton is a city in Passaic County, New Jersey, with a history dating back more than 100 years. A diverse suburb of New York City with a wide range of local and national retailers, Clifton is home to NJ Transit stations at Clifton and Delawanna and is crisscrossed by two of New Jersey’s busiest highways — Route 46 and the Garden State Parkway — along with Route 3 and Route 21. That combination of commuter traffic and dense local roads is exactly why crash cases here demand a firm that knows the roads, the courthouse, and the insurers on the other side.
From our offices in Rochelle Park, Montclair, and Englewood Cliffs, we represent crash victims throughout Passaic County and the surrounding area, including Passaic, Paterson, Nutley, Montclair, Little Falls, Woodland Park, Bloomfield, and Garfield. If your crash happened in a neighboring community, our Nutley motor vehicle accident lawyers and the attorneys behind our other community pages can help as well.
The Epstein Law Firm serves clients from three New Jersey locations:
Tell The Epstein Law Firm what happened and get clear guidance about your injury claim and legal options.
Recognition applies to the named attorneys and selection years. See the linked profiles for details.
No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Rating methodology
Below are answers to common questions about motor vehicle accident claims in Clifton and throughout New Jersey. This information is general and not legal advice — the facts of your crash, your injuries, and the insurance policies involved can change the analysis, so contact our office for guidance about your situation.
In most cases you have two years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury lawsuit in New Jersey, under N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2. That deadline applies to car accident cases in Clifton just as it does across the state, and filing after it almost always means dismissal, no matter how strong the underlying claim is.
Two qualifications matter. New Jersey’s discovery rule can delay the start of the two years when an injury was not reasonably discoverable right away, and the period is generally tolled for injured children until they turn 18. Neither is a reason to wait — the investigation a case needs is far easier in the first months than in the last.
Sources: NJ Courts — Appellate Division opinion quoting N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2 (two-year injury limitation); New Jersey Legislature — N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2 (two-year injury limitation)
Call 911, get medical care the same day, and make sure the crash is reported to the Clifton Police Department — or to the New Jersey State Police if it happened on the Garden State Parkway. New Jersey requires crashes involving injury, death, or more than $500 in property damage to be reported, and if no officer completes a report at the scene, the drivers must submit a written report to the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission within 10 days.
Then protect the claim: photograph the vehicles, the scene, and your injuries; exchange insurance information with every driver; get witness names; notify your own insurer to open your PIP claim; and decline any recorded statement to the other driver’s insurer until you have legal advice. The paperwork created in the first 48 hours is what the rest of the case is built on.
Sources: New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission — crash reporting and driver records; National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — Distracted Driving
New Jersey is a no-fault state, which means your own auto policy’s Personal Injury Protection coverage pays your medical bills after a crash regardless of who caused it. Every standard policy includes PIP starting at $15,000 per person per accident, with options up to $250,000, and PIP can also carry limited income continuation and essential-services benefits.
PIP has strict practical rules: treatment must be medically necessary, billing follows state fee schedules, and some care requires pre-certification under decision-point review. PIP does not pay for pain and suffering — that compensation comes from a claim against the at-fault driver, subject to the lawsuit option in your policy.
Sources: New Jersey Legislature — P.L. 1998, c.22 (Automobile Insurance Cost Reduction Act); New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance — Auto Insurance Consumer Information
If your auto policy carries the limitation on lawsuit option — commonly called the verbal threshold — N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8 bars you from recovering pain and suffering damages unless your injury fits a listed category: death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement or scarring, a displaced fracture, loss of a fetus, or a permanent injury that will not heal to normal function. Drivers who chose the no limitation on lawsuit option face no such barrier.
Most threshold disputes are about permanency, and they are won or lost on medical proof: treating-physician certifications and records that document the injury’s lasting effect. The threshold also does not apply to claims involving commercial vehicles. If an adjuster says the threshold ends your case, that conclusion deserves a lawyer’s review before you accept it.
Sources: New Jersey Legislature — P.L. 1998, c.22 (AICRA, creating the limitation on lawsuit option); Rawle & Henderson — New Jersey Law Summary: No-Fault Verbal Threshold
Usually yes. New Jersey’s Comparative Negligence Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1, reduces your recovery by your percentage of fault but only bars recovery entirely when your negligence is greater than the negligence of the parties you are suing — the so-called 51 percent rule. At 20 percent fault on $200,000 in damages, you recover $160,000; at 51 percent, you recover nothing.
Because a few percentage points can decide the case, insurers work hard to inflate your share. Physical evidence — damage patterns, skid marks, event data recorders, and camera footage — is what keeps fault percentages honest, and it is perishable, which is why early investigation matters.
Sources: NJ Courts — Model Civil Jury Charge 7.10: comparative negligence (N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1); New Jersey Legislature — N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1 (Comparative Negligence Act)
Your own policy steps in. Every standard New Jersey policy must include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage under N.J.S.A. 17:28-1.1, and it applies to hit-and-run crashes, drivers with no coverage, and drivers whose limits are too small for your injuries. For standard policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2026, the minimum bodily injury limits are $35,000 per person and $70,000 per accident, and UM/UIM minimums track those amounts.
UM/UIM claims are made against your own insurer, but they are not automatic: the policy imposes notice requirements, and hit-and-run claims in particular have short reporting windows. A coverage investigation also checks the at-fault driver’s household and employer policies before treating the minimum limits as the ceiling.
Sources: New Jersey Legislature — N.J.S.A. 17:28-1.1 (uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage); New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance — Auto Insurance Consumer Information
A claim against the at-fault driver can recover the losses PIP does not: medical expenses beyond PIP, lost wages and diminished earning capacity, property damage, and — where your policy’s lawsuit option allows — pain, suffering, disability, scarring, and loss of enjoyment of life. In fatal crashes, the family may pursue wrongful death and survival damages as well.
The realistic value of a case is driven by the severity and permanence of the injuries, how clear fault is, and how much insurance is actually available. Complete medical records and documented wage loss, assembled early, are what convert those factors into a full-value settlement demand instead of an adjuster’s guess.
Sources: NJ Courts — Model Civil Jury Charge 7.10: comparative negligence and damages (N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1); Rawle & Henderson — New Jersey Law Summary
Serious motor vehicle accident cases arising in Clifton are filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, in the Passaic Vicinage — the Passaic County Courthouse at 77 Hamilton Street in Paterson. If the case does not settle, it is a Passaic County jury that decides fault and compensation.
Where a case is filed shapes how it is litigated: local filing deadlines, court scheduling, and jury tendencies all matter, and our attorneys regularly handle cases in the Passaic Vicinage. Smaller property-damage-only disputes follow a different track, and we will tell you plainly if your case belongs there instead.
Sources: NJ Courts — Passaic Vicinage, 77 Hamilton Street, Paterson; NJ Courts — Appellate Division opinion quoting N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2
Claims involving public entities — a municipal or NJ Transit vehicle, a public employee driver, or a dangerous condition of public property — fall under the New Jersey Tort Claims Act. That law generally requires a formal written notice of claim within 90 days of the accident, a far shorter fuse than the standard two-year lawsuit deadline.
Missing the 90-day notice can bar the claim entirely, and late-notice relief is narrow and never guaranteed. Because 90 days passes quickly while a family is focused on medical care, any crash involving a government vehicle or a roadway defect should be reviewed by a lawyer immediately.
Sources: New Jersey Legislature — N.J.S.A. 59:8-8 (Tort Claims Act 90-day notice); NJ Courts — Appellate Division opinion quoting N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2 (two-year injury limitation)
Our firm handles motor vehicle accident cases on a contingency-fee basis: you pay no attorney’s fee unless we recover compensation for you, and the initial consultation is free. We advance the costs of investigation and, where needed, expert witnesses, so a family’s finances never decide whether a valid claim gets built properly.
Before you sign anything, we explain the fee agreement in plain language — the percentage, how case costs are handled, and what happens at settlement or verdict — so there are no surprises at the end of the case.
Sources: New Jersey Courts — Contingent Fee; NJ Division of Consumer Affairs — Consumer Information
$31,000,000
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*Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances. *No aspect of the advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court. View Rating Methodology
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