Auto Accident Inury Attorneys Bergen County
Car accidents disrupt lives without warning, leaving victims injured, overwhelmed, and facing financial hardship. Whether you were rear-ended on Route 4, struck by a distracted driver near the George Washington Bridge, or involved in a multi-vehicle pileup on the Palisades Interstate Parkway, the aftermath brings mounting medical bills, lost wages, and insurance companies working to minimize what they owe you.
At Jae Lee Law, our personal injury attorneys have spent nearly 30 years fighting for car accident victims throughout Bergen County and surrounding areas. With over 100 years of combined legal experience, we have secured millions of dollars for clients injured in collisions caused by negligent drivers. Our multilingual team speaks English, Korean, Spanish, Russian, and Ukrainian, ensuring effective communication with New Jersey’s diverse communities. We take a proactive, trial-ready approach that demonstrates to insurance companies we will fight aggressively for the maximum compensation you deserve.
Understanding New Jersey Car Accident Laws
New Jersey’s modified comparative negligence system allows you to recover compensation even if you share some responsibility for the accident, provided your fault does not exceed 50%. Your compensation reduces proportionally to your percentage of fault, making thorough investigation critical to establishing the other driver’s primary liability. Insurance companies exploit this rule by arguing victims contributed to accidents through distracted driving, speeding, or failing to maintain proper lookout.
The state’s serious injury threshold creates an additional obstacle for car accident victims seeking non-economic damages. You must demonstrate permanent injury, significant disfigurement, significant scarring, displaced fractures, loss of a fetus, or permanent loss of use of a body organ or limb to recover compensation for pain and suffering. Our attorneys work with medical professionals to document how your injuries meet these statutory requirements, ensuring insurance companies cannot use the threshold to deny valid claims for the full extent of your suffering.
Common Causes of Car Accidents in Bergen County
Understanding how negligence causes car accidents helps establish liability and strengthens your compensation claim. Bergen County’s high traffic volume, complex intersections, and proximity to major highways create numerous collision risks.
Cell phone use, navigation system adjustments, eating while driving, and other distractions cause thousands of preventable car accidents annually in New Jersey. Despite laws prohibiting hand-held cell phone use and texting while driving, violations remain widespread throughout Bergen County. Drivers checking messages, scrolling social media, or talking on the phone fail to notice stopped traffic, pedestrians in crosswalks, or vehicles changing lanes. We obtain phone records and other evidence proving distracted driving when insurance companies dispute fault.
Excessive speed reduces drivers’ ability to stop or avoid collisions and increases crash severity. Aggressive behaviors including tailgating, unsafe lane changes, weaving through traffic, and road rage create additional dangers on busy Bergen County roads. The George Washington Bridge approaches and Route 4 corridors experience particularly high rates of aggressive driving incidents. Alcohol and drug impairment severely compromises drivers’ reaction times, judgment, and vehicle control. DUI accidents often result in serious injuries or fatalities that devastate families and communities.
Running red lights, failing to yield right-of-way, and making illegal turns cause numerous car accidents at Bergen County intersections. Drivers rushing through yellow lights or misjudging gaps in traffic strike vehicles lawfully proceeding through intersections. Left-turn accidents, where drivers turn across oncoming traffic without adequate clearance, frequently result in serious injuries. We investigate traffic signal timing, sight line obstructions, and witness accounts to establish violation of traffic laws.
Types of Car Accident Injuries We Handle
Car accidents cause a wide spectrum of injuries ranging from minor soft tissue damage to catastrophic permanent disabilities. Whiplash and soft tissue injuries affect muscles, ligaments, and tendons in the neck, back, and shoulders. Broken bones including fractured ribs, arms, legs, and facial bones require surgery, extensive rehabilitation, and may result in permanent limitations.
Traumatic brain injuries from head impacts can cause cognitive impairments, personality changes, and long-term disabilities even when no skull fracture occurs. Spinal cord injuries may result in partial or complete paralysis that requires lifetime care and assistance. Internal injuries to organs often go undiagnosed immediately after accidents but can cause life-threatening complications. Our attorneys understand the medical evidence needed to prove injury severity and long-term prognosis when insurance companies minimize your damages.
Compensation Available in Car Accident Cases
New Jersey law provides multiple categories of compensation for car accident victims who suffer injuries due to another driver’s negligence. Economic damages compensate for quantifiable financial losses including medical expenses for emergency treatment, hospitalization, surgery, and rehabilitation; future medical care costs for ongoing treatment and long-term care needs; lost wages from missed work during recovery; lost earning capacity when injuries prevent returning to previous employment; property damage to your vehicle and personal belongings; and out-of-pocket expenses for transportation, home modifications, and assistive devices.
We work with medical professionals, financial analysts, and vocational experts to calculate the full value of your economic losses. Insurance companies often undervalue future costs, making thorough documentation essential to securing adequate compensation. Non-economic damages address the physical pain, emotional trauma, and life changes caused by serious injuries. These damages compensate for pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress, and loss of consortium. New Jersey’s serious injury threshold restricts non-economic damages to cases involving permanent or significant injuries. Our attorneys gather medical evidence, testimony from treating physicians, and documentation of how injuries affect your daily activities to demonstrate you meet the threshold requirements.
The Claims Process After a Car Accident
New Jersey requires drivers to carry Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage that pays initial medical expenses and lost wages regardless of fault. Standard policies provide $15,000 in PIP benefits, though higher limits may apply depending on your policy selections. PIP covers emergency treatment, hospitalization, rehabilitation, and a portion of lost income during the first phases of recovery.
We handle all PIP paperwork and communications with your insurance company to ensure you receive benefits promptly. Once you exhaust PIP benefits or when your injuries meet the serious injury threshold, we pursue additional compensation through third-party liability claims against the at-fault driver. Liability claims against negligent drivers require proving they breached their duty of care and directly caused your injuries. We gather evidence of traffic violations, distracted driving, impaired operation, or other negligent conduct that led to the collision.
Insurance companies defending these claims dispute fault, minimize injury severity, and argue accident victims contributed to collisions through their own negligence. Our trial-ready approach puts pressure on insurers to offer fair settlements. We prepare every case as if it will go to trial, conducting thorough discovery, deposing witnesses, and retaining qualified medical professionals who testify about injury severity and permanence. This preparation demonstrates our willingness to fight for maximum compensation in court when insurance companies refuse reasonable settlements.
How Our Investigation Strengthens Your Case
Thorough accident investigation separates successful claims from denied or undervalued settlements. We begin investigating immediately to preserve critical evidence before it disappears. Our team photographs accident scenes, documents road conditions and traffic control devices, and identifies surveillance cameras that may have captured the collision. We obtain police reports, interview witnesses, and preserve physical evidence including vehicle damage patterns and skid marks.
When fault disputes arise, we retain accident reconstruction professionals who analyze evidence and provide court testimony supporting your version of events. We also investigate drivers’ histories, including prior traffic violations and accidents that establish patterns of negligent behavior. Insurance company adjusters conduct their own investigations aimed at minimizing payouts. Our proactive approach ensures we control the narrative with objective evidence rather than allowing insurers to shape case facts in their favor.
Contact Jae Lee Law for Your Car Accident Case
Jae Lee Law brings nearly 30 years of personal injury experience to every car accident case. Our founder is one of only 3% of New Jersey attorneys certified by the state Supreme Court, demonstrating our commitment to the highest professional standards. We have secured millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts for injured clients throughout Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Middlesex counties. Our investment in your case includes advancing costs for investigation, medical records, accident reconstruction, and qualified witnesses.
We work on a contingency fee basis, collecting fees only when we recover compensation for you. This arrangement ensures you receive quality legal representation regardless of your financial situation. Contact us today for a free consultation about your car accident claim.
