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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
Union City packs more people into each square mile than any other city in New Jersey, and its injury profile follows from the density: pedestrians everywhere, buses and jitneys working Bergenline Avenue and Kennedy Boulevard, delivery vans double-parked on narrow streets, older multifamily buildings with shared stairs and landings, and the Lincoln Tunnel approach traffic of Route 495 cutting across the city’s southern edge. Injuries here are rarely solitary events on empty roads; they happen in crowds, on camera, and in buildings and vehicles owned by someone else. That density is, paradoxically, an advantage for the injured person who acts quickly: witnesses are plentiful, footage exists, and the paper trails of buildings, buses, and businesses are deep.
The Epstein Law Firm represents injured people in Union City and across Hudson County, in Hudson County Superior Court in Jersey City. We handle pedestrian and vehicle crashes, bus and jitney accidents, falls in apartment buildings and stores, dog bites, and workplace third-party claims. This page explains how Union City injury claims work, including the 90-day deadline that applies when a government defendant is involved. For a free consultation, call (201) 231-7847 — the consultation is free, confidential, and available in Spanish.
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The statewide framework applies: negligence proven on the evidence, fault allocated comparatively under N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1, PIP paying the first auto medical bills, the verbal threshold (N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8) gating pain-and-suffering recovery in auto cases, and a two-year filing deadline under N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2. Recoverable damages include medical expenses and future care, lost wages and earning capacity, pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment, and wrongful death damages in fatal cases.
The overlay that decides Union City cases early is the Tort Claims Act. NJ Transit, the City of Union City, Hudson County, and public housing are public defendants, and claims against them require written notice within 90 days under N.J.S.A. 59:8-8, plus heightened proof for dangerous conditions of public property (substantial risk, actual or constructive notice, and a palpably unreasonable failure to act). In a transit-and-municipal city, identifying the public defendant in the first days of the case is not a detail; it is the case’s first deadline, and our intake treats it that way.
Bergenline Avenue’s continuous retail frontage generates a distinctive crash pattern: pedestrians crossing to and from buses mid-block, doors opening into traffic, double-parked delivery vehicles forcing merges, and turning drivers focused on gaps rather than crosswalks. Sight-distance and conspicuity (lighting, parked-car obstruction) are litigated in nearly every corridor case, and the corridor’s dense storefront and municipal camera coverage means the event is very often on video — if the footage is requested before the retention cycle runs.
Union City’s housing is predominantly multifamily and substantially older. The premises docket follows: common-area stairs and railings, inadequate lighting, defective sidewalks and tree wells, ceiling and fire-safety failures. Landlords owe tenants and their guests reasonable care in common areas, and the proof is the paper trail: tenant complaints, city inspection and code records, and the owner’s repair history. Our investigation assembles that trail from public records and discovery, because notice is the crux of nearly every building case.
Union City is a city of commuters and of the service workforce that supports the waterfront and Manhattan-facing economy. Its workers are injured in the retail and restaurant corridors, in building maintenance, in delivery and driving work, and on the construction sites of Hudson County’s continuing redevelopment — claims that combine workers’ compensation with third-party negligence against drivers, property owners, and contractors.
E-commerce has added a layer to Union City’s streets: step vans and box trucks working routes on streets never designed for them, couriers on e-bikes and scooters threading traffic, and app drivers stopping wherever the pin drops. The injury consequences run in every direction: couriers struck by cars, pedestrians struck by couriers, drivers injured in the sudden stops the double-parked city imposes. The claims analysis sorts out status (employee, contractor, app driver) and coverage (commercial, personal, rideshare-period) for each participant, and our delivery driver injuries and rideshare accident pages cover those configurations in depth.
The injuries in Union City’s docket reflect its mechanisms: pedestrian strikes produce leg and pelvis fractures, head injuries, and the secondary-impact injuries of being thrown to pavement; bus and jitney events produce the seated-passenger pattern of neck, back, and shoulder injuries, punctuated by the standing passenger thrown in a sudden stop; building falls produce the wrist, hip, and spine injuries of stair-height drops onto hard surfaces. None of that is unusual. What decides the value of these injuries, here as everywhere, is the documentation discipline in the months after the accident.
Three rules from our Hudson County practice. First, start care immediately and keep appointments: the emergency visit at Palisades or the nearest hospital opens the record, and the follow-up pattern (orthopedics, neurology, physical therapy, imaging) builds it. Gaps in treatment are read by insurers as recovery, whether or not that is true. Second, report every symptom at every visit, specifically: the headache mentioned once and never again is treated as resolved; the radiating pain documented consistently becomes the permanency case. Third, understand the threshold fight: in auto and pedestrian cases, pain-and-suffering recovery must satisfy the verbal threshold’s categories, most often through a documented permanent injury — which is a medical conclusion that treating specialists must be positioned to give. Our firm coordinates with treating providers (without directing medicine) so that the records answer the legal questions the case will pose.
Union City claims are resolved in the shadow of the Hudson County vicinage in Jersey City, and their settlement values reflect that jury pool and that bench. Practically, three features distinguish the negotiation. First, the video: insurers defending Hudson County pedestrian and transit cases know the footage environment, and a case with preserved video negotiates from a different tier than a case without it. Second, the medical record: the density of providers cuts both ways — treatment is accessible, but gaps and provider-hopping are visible in the records and are priced. Consistent treatment at documented facilities is worth money. Third, the lien and coverage audit at the end: with municipal defendants, transit carriers, commercial policies, and UM/UIM layers in the same file, the settlement structure (which defendant pays what, which liens attach to which fund) changes the client’s net materially. Our closing process models the net, not just the gross, before any client is asked to approve a number.
Few New Jersey cities document accidents as thoroughly as Union City does, almost none of it for long. Municipal cameras watch the commercial corridors; NJ Transit buses carry multiple onboard cameras and event recorders; storefronts, bodegas, and building lobbies record their frontages; doorbell cameras cover the residential blocks. Every one of those systems overwrites on its own schedule, most within weeks. Our investigation opens with preservation letters and records requests aimed at the specific block, bus, and building involved, and pulls the public-records layer (police reports, 911 audio, inspection and complaint histories) alongside. Cases here are frequently won by the party that asked for the video first.
The same principle applies to the physical scene. Union City’s streetscape changes constantly (construction fencing goes up, scaffolding comes down, the sidewalk is repoured), and a defect photographed with measurements in week one may be unrecognizable by month three. Where a roadway, sidewalk, or building condition is part of the claim, our investigators document it immediately, because the dangerous-condition proof the Tort Claims Act requires is built from the condition as it existed on the day of the accident, not as it exists when the case is filed.
Damages follow the standard New Jersey categories: past and future medical costs, lost income and earning capacity, pain, suffering, and loss of life’s enjoyment, out-of-pocket losses, and wrongful death recoveries for families. Union City valuation is shaped by two local facts: the coverage mix (minimum-limits and uninsured drivers, plus commercial and municipal policies at the other end, make the coverage map outcome-determinative), and the public-defendant rules, which reward cases built to the Tort Claims Act’s standards from the start. Fatal cases proceed as paired survival and wrongful death claims for the family, as described in our personal injury practice overview.
Union City’s workforce profile adds one more compensation feature: many of the city’s injured are hourly workers in retail, food service, building trades, and care work, whose wage losses are documented through pay records and employer verification rather than salary letters. A proper wage claim assembles those records (including regular overtime and shift differentials) rather than accepting an insurer’s base-rate estimate, and the same records support the earning-capacity analysis when an injury ends a physical career.
The Epstein Law Firm can review the evidence, insurance issues, and next steps that may matter in your personal injury claim.
The Epstein Law Firm has represented injured New Jersey clients for decades from our Rochelle Park office, a short drive from the Hudson waterfront. Michael J. Epstein was selected to the New Jersey Super Lawyers Top 100 list for 2026 and holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, and TopVerdict ranked the firm’s results at the top of New Jersey lists, including the Number 1 Medical Malpractice Settlement in the state in 2024 and a Top 10 New Jersey Personal Injury Settlement that year. Read the PR Newswire release on the firm’s Top 20 U.S. medical malpractice settlement recognition, and see the firm’s post on Michael Epstein’s 2026 Personal Injury Lawyer of the Year recognition.
Our attorneys have recovered substantial verdicts and settlements for clients injured across New Jersey, including:
Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. What they do show is the level of preparation and persistence our firm brings to serious injury claims. Read more about our case results, or call (201) 231-7847 to talk about what your own claim may involve.
Client reviews describe the responsiveness and care our team aims to deliver in every case:
“Ms. Gilmore was very attentive with my case and walked me through it with ease. We had lots of laughter and even tears at times because I felt she put everything into achieving the best possible outcome for my benefit. I was able to relax and depend on her knowledge and expertise of the law.” — Patricia, Google review
“George Morton, Esq. of the Epstein Law Firm is a brilliant attorney who helped my wife after a traumatic, near-death incident when we were pedestrians struck by a car on the sidewalk.” — Esad, Google review
Read more from our clients on our Google reviews for the Rochelle Park office.
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.
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Below are answers to common questions about personal injury claims in Union City and Hudson County, New Jersey. This information is general and not legal advice — contact our office for guidance about your specific situation.
It depends on the operator. NJ Transit claims proceed under the Tort Claims Act with its 90-day notice. Private jitney and shuttle operators are commercial defendants with commercial insurance, sued on the ordinary two-year clock.
Record the vehicle number, route, and operator name at the scene if you can. Operator identity determines the entire claims channel, and it is much easier to establish on day one than month two.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 59:8-8 – 90-day notice of claim (New Jersey Legislature); N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2 – two-year limitations period (New Jersey Legislature)
Not automatically. New Jersey allocates fault comparatively: drivers owe pedestrians duties of care that include anticipating crossings in dense commercial districts, and a pedestrian’s share is weighed against the driver’s speed, attention, and opportunity to avoid the impact.
You recover if your fault does not exceed the defendants’ combined share. Corridor camera footage usually decides these allocations, which is why preservation is our first step.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1 – comparative negligence (New Jersey Legislature); New Jersey Courts – Civil Division overview
If any defendant is a public entity (NJ Transit, the city, the county, public housing), New Jersey’s Tort Claims Act requires a written notice of claim within 90 days of the accident. Without it, the claim against that entity is ordinarily barred.
Because Union City accidents so often involve transit or municipal property, we evaluate the notice question at intake in every case. Late-notice relief exists but is narrow and never assumed.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 59:8-8 – 90-day notice of claim (New Jersey Legislature); New Jersey Courts – Civil Division overview
Yes, where the landlord’s failure to maintain common areas (stairs, handrails, lighting, walkways) caused the fall. Landlords owe tenants and guests reasonable care over the parts of the building they control.
Photograph the condition, report it in writing, and keep any prior complaints. If the building is owned by a housing authority, the Tort Claims notice deadline applies to that claim as well.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2 – two-year limitations period (New Jersey Legislature); N.J.S.A. 59:8-8 – 90-day notice of claim (New Jersey Legislature)
Typically through the PIP coverage of the vehicle involved (as a pedestrian or passenger) or a household family member’s auto policy. If no policy applies, New Jersey’s Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund is the backstop in defined circumstances.
Identifying the right PIP source is intake work we do in the first days; treatment should not wait for the coverage answer. Tell your providers the injury was in a motor vehicle accident so records are coded correctly.
Sources: New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance – consumer information; N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8 – limitation on lawsuit option (New Jersey Legislature)
Hudson County Superior Court in Jersey City, for accidents occurring in Union City. Venue follows the accident location and the defendants’ residences.
Our firm litigates in the Hudson vicinage regularly. Settlement conferences and trials occur in Jersey City, a short trip from Union City.
Sources: New Jersey Courts – Civil Division overview; N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2 – two-year limitations period (New Jersey Legislature)
Not necessarily. Your own underinsured motorist coverage responds above the at-fault driver’s limits, and other defendants (the vehicle’s owner, an employer, a rideshare company) may carry their own policies.
The UIM claim has procedural conditions, including your carrier’s consent before you settle with the underinsured driver. Sequencing is handled by counsel; do not sign the first release you are offered.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 17:28-1.1 – UM/UIM coverage requirement (New Jersey Legislature); New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance – consumer information
Often decisive. Between municipal cameras, transit systems, storefronts, and doorbells, a large fraction of Union City street incidents are recorded, and the footage resolves the fault disputes insurers otherwise manufacture.
The catch is retention: most systems overwrite in days to weeks. A preservation letter from counsel in the first week is the difference between a video case and a swearing contest.
Sources: New Jersey Courts – Civil Division overview; N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1 – comparative negligence (New Jersey Legislature)
Two years from the accident against private defendants (N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2); 90 days for the Tort Claims notice against public entities; workers’ compensation carries its own notice and petition deadlines.
The evidence deadlines are shorter than any of these. An early consultation maps every clock in your specific case before any of them can expire.
Consultations at The Epstein Law Firm are free, and injury cases are handled on a contingency fee: no legal fee unless we recover compensation for you, at a percentage set by New Jersey court rules and explained in writing at the start.
The firm advances records, expert, and litigation costs. Language access matters in Union City, and our office works with Spanish-speaking clients and families as a matter of routine.
Sources: New Jersey Courts – Rules of Court (including contingency fee rules); New Jersey Courts – Civil Division overview
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Fax: 201-845-5973 201-231-7847
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560 Sylvan Avenue, Suite 1000-A Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 (By Appointment Only)
201-734-3763
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18-20 Lackawanna Plaza, Suite 200 Montclair, NJ 07042 (By Appointment Only)
973-381-8410
The Epstein Law Firm
The Epstein Law Firm