The Ticking Time Bomb – Statute of Limitations require suits to be filed within certain time limits or your claim will be lost.
Personal Injury cases are controlled by laws called Statute of Limitations. Failing to meet the deadline will result in your claim being lost! The Statute of Limitations simply means that there is a time period after the accident in which a lawsuit must be filed with the Court in order to preserve the client’s right to obtain a recovery. For many injury cases in the State of New Jersey, this time limit is two years from the date of the accident or injury. However, there are many exceptions which can make this time period shorter or longer. For example, if your claim is against a public employee or public entity such as the State of New Jersey, a county or city, there is a 90 day notice of claim requirement! If you failed to file the proper forms with the correct party within 90 days from the date of the injury, your claim may be dismissed.
The laws regarding the Statute of Limitations and other time periods in which claims must be filed are very complicated. This is one of the reasons why you need an experienced personal injury lawyer who knows the laws governing these complex time limitations. The failure to hire a lawyer who knows the different time limitations can result in your case being dismissed if it is not brought in a timely fashion.
In NJ, the lawyer you choose can greatly affect the speed with which your case is resolved.
Just because you are generally allowed two years to file an injury lawsuit against a private party does not mean that you should wait two years to do so! Many other lawyers wait until almost the end of the Statute of Limitations time period to file a lawsuit. At Druckman & Hernandez we DO NOT handle our cases this way. Through decades of experience, we have found that by filing a lawsuit early, often within days or weeks of the injury, we are able to settle the client’s case in a much faster time. By filing a lawsuit early, we are often able to settle your claim before the Statute of Limitations has even ended!
Another factor which affects the time within which a case can be settled, involves choosing the fastest court for the case. In New Jersey, each of the counties has its own court, which is part of the NJ Court System. The speed with which a case can be concluded varies greatly between the different counties. Some of the county courts have a shortage of judges and therefore the cases are back logged. This means that the cases move slower in these counties, than in counties which have more judges. At Druckman & Hernandez, we have over 20 years of litigation experience in the various courts and we know which courts are the fastest. Sometimes, by being able to file your case in one of the faster moving courts, we are able to speed up the time it takes to resolve your claim. This is just one of the examples of how our knowledge and experience can help settle your case faster than many other law firms.
If you are injured it is imperative that you know your rights and how to protect yourself before the Statute of Limitations expires on your case. Druckman & Hernandez offers FREE case evaluations and consultations. You can set up an appointment to speak with an attorney by contacting us 24/7 at 908-353-5850.