New Jersey car accident law: deadlines, no-fault and your claim

Filing deadlines in New Jersey#

New Jersey's statute of limitationsStatute of limitations. The law that sets the last day to file a lawsuit. After it passes, a court will usually dismiss the case, however strong it is. Glossary for crash injury lawsuits is 2 years, and the clock usually starts on the day of the crash. Property damage has a much longer window.

For an injured child, the deadline does not start until the child turns 18 (N.J.S.A. 2A:14-21). This is a form of tolling.

Claims against the state, a county, a town or another public entity are strict. You must file a written notice of claim within 90 days after the claim arises, and you cannot sue until 6 months after the entity receives it. A late notice of claimNotice of claim. A written notice that must be sent to a city, county or state agency before you can sue it, often within a few months. Glossary is allowed within 1 year, only with a Superior Court judge's permission and a showing of extraordinary circumstances. A claimant who misses these limits, or lets two years pass, is barred from recovering against the public entity.

How fault is shared in New Jersey#

New Jersey uses modified comparative faultModified comparative fault. Comparative negligence with a cut-off: once your share of blame reaches the state's bar (50% or 51%), you recover nothing. Glossary under N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2A:15-5.1. Your damages are reduced by your share of fault, and you recover nothing if your fault is greater than that of the people you are suing.

Fault still matters in a no-fault state: it decides who pays for vehicle damage, pain and suffering, and losses beyond PIP. The fault-rule explainer compares New Jersey with other states.

Insurance in New Jersey#

New Jersey offers two types of policy. A Standard Policy must include liability of at least $35,000 per person and $70,000 per crash for injuries, plus $25,000 for property damage. A Basic Policy offers less coverage and always comes with the Limitation on Lawsuit option.

• PIP. Required: $15,000 per person per accident (up to $250,000 for certain injuries). PIP pays your own medical expenses no matter who caused the crash. You may be able to make your own health insurance the primary source of payment instead, though Medicare and Medicaid cannot be used that way.
• Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. Required in a Standard Policy: at least $35,000/$70,000 bodily injury and $25,000 property damage. The Insurance Information Institute estimates that 14.1% of New Jersey drivers were uninsured in 2023.

The insurance regulator is the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance (DOBI): 800-446-7467 (consumer hotline); 609-292-7272. Our guide on who pays medical bills explains how PIP and health insurance fit together.

After a crash in New Jersey#

New Jersey law requires drivers to tell the police by the quickest means after a crash that injures or kills someone or causes more than $500 in property damage (N.J.S.A. 39:4-130). Notice goes to the local police, the county police or the State Police.

If no officer investigates and files a report, the driver must send a written report within 10 days on forms the state provides. When an officer does investigate, the officer must send the report to the Department of Transportation within 5 days.

You can get a copy of the report from the police department that investigated; the reports are public, and the department must mail or fax a copy on request (N.J.S.A. 39:4-131). The department may ask for a request form and the fee first. Our guide to the police report explains how to read one.

Special rules in New Jersey#

The lawsuit threshold. Every New Jersey driver with a Standard Policy chooses between two options. Under the Limitation on Lawsuit option (often called the verbal thresholdSerious injury threshold. A rule in some no-fault states that lets you sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering only if your injury meets a legal definition of serious, or a dollar level of medical bills. Glossary), you can sue the driver who caused the crash for pain and suffering only for death, loss of a body part, significant disfigurement or scarring, a displaced fracture, loss of a fetus, or a permanent injury. An injury counts as permanent when the body part or organ has not healed to function normally and will not heal to function normally with further medical treatment, based on objective medical proof. Under the No Limitation on Lawsuit option, you keep the right to sue for pain and suffering for any injury. The choice affects what your insurance costs.

If no choice was made on the coverage selection form, the Limitation on Lawsuit option applies by law. Either way, the limitation does not affect your right to sue for economic losses such as medical expenses and lost wages.

Lawyer fee limits. New Jersey court rules cap contingency feesContingency fee. A lawyer's fee paid as a share of what you recover. If there is no recovery, there is usually no fee. Glossary in injury cases at 33 1/3% of the first $750,000, 30% of the next $750,000, 25% of the next $750,000 and 20% of the next $750,000. The fee is computed on the net sum recovered after deducting case costs, and on a recovery above $3,000,000, the court sets the fee on the excess. See our guide to contingency fees.

Crashes on New Jersey roads#

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety counted 670 crash deaths in New Jersey in 2024. That is 7.1 per 100,000 people, well below the national rate of 11.5 per 100,000 people. Speeding was a factor in 23% of deaths, 15% happened on rural roads, and IIHS estimates that 24% of fatally injured passenger vehicle drivers had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 g/dL or more.

Finding a lawyer in New Jersey#

The New Jersey State Bar Association does not refer people to lawyers itself. Instead, it lists the county bar association lawyer referral services with their phone numbers; you must live in the county to use its referral service. The New Jersey Judiciary, not the bar association, licenses and disciplines lawyers. Our guides to lawyer referral services and checking a lawyer's license explain what to ask and look for.