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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
After a serious fall, the place where it happened can change faster than your injuries improve. A spill is cleaned, a mat is moved, or a broken step is repaired. The important question becomes what the property was like when you fell—and who had a responsibility to make it reasonably safe.
The Epstein Law Firm represents people injured in New Jersey slip and fall accidents. We investigate the condition, the people responsible for the area, and the records that explain how the hazard developed. Medical care comes first. Preserving the facts gives us a way to evaluate the claim while you focus on recovery.
A photograph of a wet floor is a starting point. A stronger investigation asks where the water came from, whether anyone knew about it, what inspections occurred, and how the condition caused your injury.
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A business generally must use reasonable care to make its premises safe for invited customers. That duty does not make every accident the business’s fault. The claim must connect an unreasonable condition and a failure of care to the injuries and losses you suffered.
Often, the dispute concerns notice. Actual notice means the responsible party knew about the condition. Constructive notice concerns whether it existed long enough that reasonable care should have discovered it. A recurring leak, maintenance request, or inspection record can tell a different story from an unexplained puddle. New Jersey’s premises-liability jury instructions explain these distinctions.
Notice is not identical in every case. A condition created by the defendant’s own negligence may be analyzed differently. A limited rule for certain self-service businesses can also affect the proof required. We identify the applicable duty before deciding which evidence will matter; we do not assume that a fall or a missing warning sign establishes liability.
The Epstein Law Firm’s fall-injury practice includes these situations:
Describe the exact spot where you fell, including which entrance, stair, aisle, or section of the lot. Small differences in location can determine who maintained the area and which records should be requested.
Get appropriate medical attention and explain accurately how the fall happened. If it is safe, photograph the condition from close up and from the direction you approached. Include lighting, surrounding surfaces, and any warning signs. Do not move objects or recreate the accident for a picture.
Report the event to the owner or manager and ask for a copy of any report. Save witness names, your receipt or appointment confirmation, and communications about the incident. Keep the shoes and clothing you wore. If someone else takes photographs, ask them to preserve the original files.
Our investigation can include a request to preserve relevant video, inspection logs, repair records, and earlier complaints. Record the time as accurately as possible so a camera search covers the right period. Businesses have different retention practices; there is no universal guarantee that footage will remain available until you finish treatment.
For commercial landowners, New Jersey generally allows a reasonable time after a storm ends to remove snow and ice. Exceptions during a storm are limited. They include a pre-existing risk and unusual circumstances in which the owner’s conduct increases the danger. The Supreme Court established that framework in Pareja v. Princeton International Properties.
The Court’s July 2026 decision in Gallardo v. Walmart reinforces that unsuccessful salting during a storm does not automatically establish an exception. On the facts there, salting a minimal accumulation without pretreating did not create the required unusual circumstances.
That makes the history important: when precipitation began and ended, whether older ice remained, and what the owner or contractor did. Different rules may govern residential and public property. We evaluate the actual setting rather than promising that every untreated patch supports a claim.
A fall in a managed or leased property can involve an owner, tenant, manager, or maintenance contractor. Each party’s role must be established. We examine control of the area, inspection and repair obligations, and the conduct that may have caused the hazard. A contract can be important evidence without automatically deciding everyone’s legal duty to an injured visitor.
The injury evidence needs the same care. Keep medical bills, treatment records, work restrictions, and documentation of missed income. Describe concrete limitations: difficulty climbing stairs, an inability to perform a work task, or help needed with daily activities. Avoid estimating permanent effects before your medical providers can assess them.
Compensation may include proven medical expenses, earnings losses, and pain or impairment attributable to the accident. New Jersey’s medical-expense instructions require a connection between the treatment and the injury. A settlement figure from another case cannot establish the value of yours, and insurance availability does not prove fault.
A New Jersey personal-injury lawsuit generally must be filed within two years after the claim accrues, often the fall date. Exceptions can change that calculation. The general rule appears in N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2.
A claim against a public entity generally requires a formal tort-claim notice within 90 days of accrual. Reporting a hazard to a municipal employee is not necessarily that notice. The State’s notice instructions distinguish claims against the State from claims that must be sent directly to county or municipal entities.
Do not assume that every sidewalk belongs to the same party or that insurance discussions extend a deadline. Give us the location and dates early so responsibility and the correct process can be checked.
The firm’s reported results include a verdict involving a roof leak and workplace fall, an ice-related apartment-complex settlement, and a settlement after a fall on food on a ramp. Those results reflect different hazards and proof; they do not predict the outcome of another claim. The approved case summaries and links appear below.
Michael J. Epstein is certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney. That courtroom background matters when responsibility is disputed and the case depends on presenting maintenance records, medical evidence, and witness accounts clearly.
Bring the information you have, even if it is incomplete. We can discuss what happened, what remains uncertain, and what evidence may help resolve those questions. Use our contact form or call 201-231-7847 to arrange a consultation.
Tell our team where the fall happened, what you noticed about the surface, and whether you reported it. Bring available photographs, incident information and medical records so we can discuss the hazard, the timeline and the parties who may be responsible.
Selected results reported by The Epstein Law Firm.
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.
“They took the time to explain everything clearly, making sure I understood my options and felt comfortable with each step of the process.”
— R. S. · Read the full Google review
“Michael and his team were incredibly responsive, always keeping us informed and addressing any questions or concerns promptly.”
— s. v. · Read the full Google review
These answers are general information. Property ownership, the reason for your visit, the hazard, and the available evidence can change the analysis.
No. A store generally owes invited customers reasonable care, but a fall alone does not prove that the store violated that duty. A claim must establish the relevant duty, a breach, a causal connection to the injury, and actual losses. The kind of hazard and how it arose affect what must be shown.
For many conditions, evidence of actual or constructive notice matters. Different proof may apply when the defendant created the condition or a qualifying self-service operation produced the risk. Preserve the exact location, photographs, witness details, and report information. Those facts help distinguish a preventable maintenance failure from an accident for which the business is not legally responsible.
Sources: New Jersey Model Civil Jury Charge 5.20F—Duty Owed: Condition of Premises; Gallardo v. Walmart—Negligence Elements and Duty.
Proof can include direct knowledge or evidence that the condition existed long enough to be discovered through reasonable care. A prior complaint or employee’s observation may support actual notice. The age, appearance, location, and history of a defect can help establish constructive notice, but speculation about how long it existed is not enough.
Inspection records, repair requests, witness accounts, and video may help reconstruct the timeline. Write down what you personally observed and who said what after the fall. Avoid presenting an assumption as something you saw. The notice issue also depends on whether the defendant created the condition and whether a recognized exception applies; those questions should be evaluated before deciding that missing proof of an earlier complaint defeats the case.
Sources: Model Civil Jury Charge 5.20F—Notice of Particular Danger; Jeter v. Sam’s Club—Notice and Mode of Operation.
No. The rule is limited to qualifying risks associated with a business’s self-service operation; it is not a general exemption from proving notice whenever a customer falls in a store. There must be a sufficient connection between the way customers serve themselves and the hazard involved. The business is not automatically liable even when the rule applies.
In Jeter v. Sam’s Club, the New Jersey Supreme Court declined to apply the rule to grapes sold in closed clamshell containers. How products were packaged, displayed, and handled mattered. Preserve photographs and descriptions of the actual display and the substance involved. A leaking refrigerator, loose produce, and rainwater at an entrance may require different legal and factual analyses.
Sources: Jeter v. Sam’s Club, decided March 17, 2022; Model Civil Jury Charge 5.20F—Business Premises and Notice Exceptions.
Possibly. New Jersey comparative-fault rules allow recovery when your share of fault is 50 percent or less, with damages reduced by your percentage. More than 50 percent bars recovery under the general rule. An insurer’s allegation about attention or footwear does not establish the percentage; evidence must connect the alleged conduct to the accident.
Preserve your shoes and explain the route you took, lighting, obstacles, and what you could see. An obvious condition can matter, but obviousness does not automatically settle every premises claim. The owner’s conduct and your conduct must be evaluated in context. Do not assume that briefly looking away either eliminates your claim or is irrelevant to how the fall happened.
Sources: Model Civil Jury Charge 7.31—Comparative Negligence/Fault: Ultimate Outcome; Model Civil Jury Charge 5.20F—Obviousness of Defect.
Sometimes, but New Jersey’s ongoing-storm rule generally postpones a commercial landowner’s snow-and-ice removal duty until a reasonable time after the storm. Limited exceptions concern pre-existing risks and unusual circumstances in which the owner increases the danger. Ordinary unsuccessful remediation does not automatically create an exception.
In Gallardo v. Walmart, decided in July 2026, the Supreme Court held that salting the minimal accumulation involved in that case, without pretreating the lot, did not establish the required unusual circumstances. Preserve the weather timeline, evidence of earlier ice, treatment records, and any directions employees gave you. The decision does not make every winter fall identical; the condition’s origin and the property setting still need careful review.
Sources: Pareja v. Princeton International Properties, decided June 10, 2021; Gallardo v. Walmart, decided July 30, 2026.
No. A claim against a New Jersey public entity is governed by the Tort Claims Act, which imposes special requirements and provides immunities. For a dangerous-property claim, the statutory analysis includes the dangerous condition, causation, foreseeable risk, and the entity’s creation of or notice of the condition. The applicable conduct standard is more demanding than ordinary negligence.
A formal notice requirement may also apply well before a lawsuit is due. Identify the exact agency or local entity connected to the location rather than assuming the State handles every public-property claim. Save photographs and any report, but do not treat a maintenance complaint as a completed tort-claim notice. A lawyer should assess both the filing process and the substantive limits on recovery.
Sources: Model Civil Jury Charge 5.20A—Dangerous Condition of Public Property; New Jersey Division of Risk Management—Tort-Claim Notice Instructions.
The general personal-injury lawsuit period is two years after accrual, often the accident date. A claim against a public entity generally requires a formal notice within 90 days of accrual. These are different requirements, and exceptions or special circumstances can change the analysis. Do not use either period as a reason to postpone investigating the event.
Give your lawyer the date, location, age of the injured person, and any information about ownership or government involvement. Include prior filings and correspondence. A store incident report, a complaint about a broken sidewalk, or ongoing insurer negotiations does not necessarily preserve the right to sue. If a deadline may already have passed, seek prompt review rather than assuming an extension is available.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2—General Personal-Injury Limitation Period; New Jersey Tort-Claim Notice Instructions.
You may have a workers’ compensation claim and a separate claim against a responsible third party. Workers’ compensation generally does not require proof of employer negligence, while the third-party case requires its own legal basis and evidence. Working at someone else’s property does not automatically establish that the other company caused your fall.
Report the work injury promptly and preserve the property and incident details. Identify your employer, who directed your work, and who maintained the area. Compensation benefits and a civil recovery must be coordinated because the employer or carrier may have a statutory reimbursement or credit interest. Receiving benefits does not eliminate the need to investigate the other company’s responsibility or the civil claim’s deadline.
Sources: New Jersey Workers’ Compensation—Injured Worker Protections; Frequently Asked Questions for Workers—Third-Party Recoveries.
A successful claim may compensate proven medical expenses, lost earnings, and pain, impairment, or loss of enjoyment of life caused by the injury. The amount depends on evidence and applicable law, not a fixed multiplier or a standard value for a particular diagnosis. Future losses require support rather than an assumption that every symptom will be permanent.
Keep bills, treatment records, wage information, and specific examples of changed daily activities. Medical expenses must be reasonably necessary and connected to the injury; income losses also need documentation. Liability disputes, comparative fault, and special rules for public entities can affect recovery. The amount a defendant or insurer ultimately owes cannot be established solely by adding up bills or comparing another person’s settlement.
Sources: Model Civil Jury Charge 8.11A—Medical Expenses; Model Civil Jury Charge 8.11C—Loss of Earnings; Model Civil Jury Charge 8.11E—Disability, Impairment, Loss of Enjoyment of Life, Pain and Suffering.
No. A maintenance or housing-code complaint can help document a condition, but it does not itself file a personal-injury lawsuit or guarantee compensation. New Jersey’s Bureau of Housing Inspection oversees covered hotels and multiple dwellings; the appropriate enforcement office depends on the property and the issue. A code concern and civil responsibility require separate evaluation.
Keep dated copies of repair requests, photographs, inspection communications, and the owner’s responses. Explain whether the condition existed before the fall and where it was located. Those records may help establish knowledge and responsibility, but a complaint made afterward does not prove the owner knew beforehand. Ask about the correct inspection route while separately checking the deadlines and evidence needed for your injury claim.
Sources: New Jersey Bureau of Housing Inspection; Model Civil Jury Charge 5.20F—Condition of Premises and Notice; N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2—Personal-Injury Filing Period.
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The Epstein Law Firm
The Epstein Law Firm