Auto accidents in New York and New Jersey.
A crash turns into medical appointments, missed work, a damaged car, and an insurance adjuster calling before you’ve had time to think. We represent injured people across New York and New Jersey. We’ll look at how the crash actually happened, deal with the insurer for you, and tell you honestly what we think your options are.
Get care first. Then keep whatever you can.
Some crash injuries don’t show up straight away — whiplash, nerve pain, headaches that start days later. See a doctor before you worry about paperwork. When you’re able, hold on to anything that helps explain how the crash happened and what it has done to you.
You won’t get all of this right, and you don’t have to. Do what you can, and we’ll work with what you have.
See a doctor, and keep going
Get checked over and keep the records. Follow the treatment plan you’re given. A gap in treatment is the first thing an insurer points to when they want to argue the injury wasn’t serious.
Save what the crash left behind
Photos of both vehicles and the road, the police report number, the other driver’s insurance, witness names and numbers, and anything about the weather, the lights, or what you could see. Cars get repaired and memories fade, so save what you can now.
Don’t sign anything yet
The other driver’s insurer will call quickly, and they may sound helpful. Before you give a recorded statement, sign a release, or accept an offer, find out exactly what you’re agreeing to. Asking us costs nothing and takes one phone call.
Most New Jersey injury claims have to be filed within two years, and most New York claims within three. If a city, a state agency or a public authority is involved, formal notice can be due within 90 days. Miss the deadline and the claim is usually gone, however strong it was.
How long you have to bring a claimThis page is general information. It is not medical or legal advice for your situation.
Most crashes have more than one cause.
How the vehicles came together
Rear-end, intersection, head-on, sideswipe, merging, blind spot, rollover — each one raises different questions. Where the impact landed, which lane you were in, what the lights were doing, and what happened in the seconds before all help explain who was at fault.
The road and the vehicles
Brakes, tires, steering. Debris, black ice, a blind corner, a dead streetlight, a badly designed junction. When the facts point at something beyond the other driver, we look at it, because it can change who is responsible.
What the crash has cost you
The repair bill is the easy part. The harder part is the treatment that keeps going, the work you can’t do, and the things you used to handle at home and can’t now. That is the part insurers value lowest, and the part we press hardest on.
If someone else was responsible, these are the losses a claim is meant to put right.
Medical treatment
The care you have already had, and the care the evidence says you are still going to need.
Lost income
Time off work now, and the earnings you lose if you cannot go back to what you did before.
The effect on your life
Pain, the things you can no longer do, and how long that is expected to last. This is the part with no invoice attached, and the part an insurer values lowest.
What any individual claim is worth depends on its own facts, and no one can tell you that from a web page.
Your own insurer pays the first bills, whoever caused the crash.
New York and New Jersey are both no-fault states. Your own policy covers your early treatment and some lost earnings even when someone else caused the crash — and separately, there is a second question about whether you can claim for the injury itself. The two states answer it differently, and we handle both.
New Jersey
Your own policy pays for your medical treatment after a crash, up to the limit you chose, whoever was at fault. Tell your insurer what happened promptly — waiting can cause problems with your own benefits before anyone has argued about the other driver.
New Jersey policies come with a choice between a limitation on lawsuit option, often called the verbal threshold, and a no limitation option. Under the limitation option you can only claim for pain and suffering if your injury falls into a defined group, such as a displaced fracture, a permanent injury, or significant scarring or disfigurement. Most people do not know which option they picked. It is on your policy, and it matters.
You can still recover, as long as you were not more than half responsible. What you recover is reduced by your share.
New York
Your own policy pays for medical treatment and part of your lost earnings, whoever was at fault. There is a short window to put in the application — far shorter than the deadline for bringing a claim — and missing it can cost you the benefits entirely.
To claim for pain and suffering on top of no-fault benefits, the injury has to meet the definition of a serious injury set out in the Insurance Law. Fractures, significant disfigurement, permanent loss of use and a long spell where you cannot carry on your usual activities are among the categories.
Being partly at fault does not stop you claiming in New York. What you recover is reduced by your share of the blame.
If the driver who hit you had no insurance, or nowhere near enough to cover what happened, your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage may be where the recovery comes from. It is part of most policies in both states and it exists for exactly this. It is worth checking even when it feels like there is nobody to claim against.
We know how the other side builds an auto accident claim.
Jim Hunt trained at one of the largest law firms in the world. Our attorneys came from the other side of claims like yours — corporate defense and insurance defense in New York City — and they know where a defense lawyer looks to cut a claim down.
We take on fewer cases than most firms, on purpose. That means you deal with an attorney rather than a case handler, your calls get returned, and the person answering knows your file. We’ll handle the insurer so you don’t have to, and we’ll work on getting your medical bills sorted out while the claim runs. You pay nothing unless we recover money for you.
What happens when you call.
Questions people ask after an injury.
Every situation is different. If yours isn’t here, ask us. There’s no cost to ask.
I don’t have a police report. Is that a problem?
No. Start with what you do have — what you remember, any photos, the other driver’s details, your medical records, a witness name. A police report helps, but it isn’t the only record of a crash and it isn’t always right. Call us and we’ll work out what exists.
Could more than one person be responsible?
Often, yes. Another driver, a vehicle defect, an employer whose driver was working at the time, a poorly maintained road. It depends on the facts, and it is exactly the sort of thing that gets missed when a claim is handled quickly and cheaply.
Should I talk to the insurance company?
You usually have to report the crash to your own insurer, and there are deadlines for that. The other driver’s insurer is a different matter — they work for the person who hit you. You are allowed to say you’ll call back, and you are allowed to have a lawyer speak to them instead.
What if the crash was partly my fault?
You can still have a claim. New York reduces what you recover by your share of the blame. New Jersey does the same, but stops you recovering at all if you were more than half responsible. Insurers know this, and will often push more of the blame onto you than the facts support — which is a reason to get the evidence early rather than argue about it a year later.
What if the driver who hit me had no insurance?
You may still have a claim, through the uninsured or underinsured motorist cover on your own policy. It is part of most policies in both states and it exists for this situation. Send us your own policy documents and we will tell you what is in them.
How much is my case worth?
Nobody can answer that honestly before looking at your injuries, your treatment, the time you have lost and how the crash happened. Anyone who gives you a number up front is guessing. We will give you a straight assessment once we have seen the details, and it costs nothing to ask.
Shortly after the accident, I contacted Jim not knowing what to do or where to turn… The amount of support, communication, advice, and personal attention they provided made me feel like I had a full-time team in my corner.
— Patrick K., Google review
Read more client reviewsPrior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstance. Testimonials are reviews left by actual clients on the firm’s public Google profile, in the client’s own words and shortened in places; clients are not compensated for reviews. A testimonial is not a guarantee or prediction about your case. Read our full disclaimer.
Not an auto accident?
If yours is closer to one of these, start there instead.