✔  Statute of Limitation: In New Jersey, personal injury cases must be filed in court within two years of the date the injury occurred. This two-year time limit is legally called the statute of limitations (SOL). Anyone seeking damages for injuries sustained in an accident must file a lawsuit against the responsible party before this two-year period expires. Failure to comply with the SOL will likely result in New Jersey courts refusing to hear the case.

✔  Shared-Fault Law: Assuming that your case is filed with the appropriate NJ SOL term, and assume further that your case makes it to court, that NJ court must follow NJ rule called Modified Comparative Negligence Rule for your personal injury case. So, if the jury finds that the person you sued (the person who injured you) is 100% at fault for your injury, you win all the damages (amount the court finally decides).

If the jury finds you partially at fault for the accident that caused your injury - for example, 20% at fault - then under the "shared fault law," any damages awarded to you will be reduced by the percentage of your fault. However, if the jury determines you are more than 50% to blame for the accident, you will not be able to recover any damages.

✔  No-Fault Rule: As complicated as this rule may sound to an ordinary person, some important things to remember here are: (1) that this rule only applies to injuries from car accidents, and (2) that you must make your personal injury claim from the car accident against your own insurance policy, except in cases of serious injury (which may be difficult to prove). This is not all, but these are important to know.

✔  Caps on Damages: It is less important to know that New Jersey limits how much money you get as punitive damages in injury cases because punitive damages are rarely awarded in such cases.

✔  Dog Bite Injuries: The New Jersey Dog Bite Statute states: “The owner of any dog” [which bites someone] “in a public place, or lawfully on or in a private place, including the property of the owner of the dog, shall be liable for such damages as may be suffered by the person bitten, regardless of the former viciousness of such dog or the owner’s knowledge of such viciousness.”

In short, this law states that the dog owner is strictly liable for the victim's injuries, regardless of whether the owner knew the dog was vicious.

✔  Injuries Caused by Government: If a New Jersey government employee injured you, special rules apply for seeking compensation, as you cannot directly sue the state. Instead, you must formally notify the New Jersey government of your injuries within 90 days. If after 6 months the state has not resolved your complaint, you can file a lawsuit, but ensure you do so within 2 years of the injury date, which is the statute of limitations.