Injuries can have a lasting impact on a New Jersey resident’s ability to get income and take care of themselves. Because of that, residents that have suffered an injury as a result of someone else’s inaction or action might be eligible for compensation.
What counts as a personal injury claim?
An injury will usually fall under the guidelines for a personal injury claim if it meets three criteria: duty of care, breach of duty, and causation. In this criteria, you’ve established that not only did the defendant have a duty to keep you safe, but something they directly did/didn’t do to fulfill that duty caused your injury.
For example, a bus driver has a very obvious duty to keep passengers safe. But if the bus driver drives recklessly and gets into an accident, then he’s breached that duty and put the passengers in harm’s way.
As a result, any passengers injured in that bus accident would have a personal injury claim against the bus driver or the bus company. Other examples of incidents that might fall under personal injury claims are:
- Auto accidents
- Truck accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Slip and fall accidents
- Drunk driver accident
- Wrongful death
This is just some of what might qualify as a personal injury claim. At the end of the day, as long as you can prove that the person had a responsibility to keep you safe and caused your injury, your injury would count under personal injury claims.
What are the steps to filing a personal injury claim?
You’ll want to go to a doctor and get a statement as to your injuries. After that, you’ll want to work closely with witnesses and your attorney to start building your personal injury claim.