Serving Jersey City, Hudson County, and All of New Jersey
A car crash in New Jersey can upend your life in a matter of seconds — your health, your job, your finances, and your family all reshape around an injury you did not choose. At Sarofiem & Antoun, LLC, our New Jersey car accident lawyers represent injured drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and cyclists across Jersey City, Hudson County, and the entire Garden State. We handle the insurance fight so you can focus on healing.
Call (201) 792-3333 for a free, confidential case review. No fee unless we win.
Why Injured New Jerseyans Choose Sarofiem & Antoun
Insurance companies are profitable for a reason: they count on injured people accepting fast, low offers before they understand what their claim is actually worth. We make sure that does not happen. When you retain our firm, you get a focused, locally rooted legal team with the trial preparation of a much larger practice.
- New Jersey focused. We litigate exclusively in New Jersey courts. We know Hudson County Superior Court, the adjusters working this region, and the jury tendencies that move case values.
- Direct attorney access. When you call (201) 792-3333, you speak with a lawyer working on your case — not a call center or an intake-only paralegal.
- Trial-ready from day one. Even cases destined for settlement are built like trial files. Insurers offer more when they see a lawyer who is prepared to try the case.
- True contingency fee. You pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you. Consultations are always free.
- Local office, real accessibility. Our office at 895 Bergen Avenue, Suite 306 is a short walk from Journal Square PATH and Hudson County Superior Court. [If applicable: Multilingual staff serving Jersey City’s diverse community.]
New Jersey Department of Transportation and national sources like NHTSA show persistent crash numbers each year, including thousands of injury crashes. If you were hurt, you’re not alone—and you have rights.
Meet Your Attorneys
Firm Founder & Partner
Whether in the courtroom or negotiating with an insurance company, Mekhail’s goal is to get results. He is an avid traveler who loves to explore new cities, states, and countries.
- Courtroom Excellence
- Results-Driven
- Immediate Response
Firm Founder & Partner
Advocating for the rights of accident and injury victims, Kerollos has the experience and track record of success you want on your side.
- Tireless Advocacy
- Proven Track Record
- Client-Focused
Understanding New Jersey's Unique Car Accident Laws
Few states have a more complicated auto insurance system than New Jersey. Before you can understand what your claim is worth, you need to understand the framework that governs it. Here is what every injured New Jersey driver should know.
Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and Choice No-Fault
New Jersey is a choice no-fault state under N.J.S.A. 39:6A-1 et seq. Almost every New Jersey auto policy includes Personal Injury Protection — PIP — which pays your medical bills regardless of who caused the crash. NJ drivers can select PIP medical limits ranging from $15,000 to $250,000 per person, with $250,000 mandated for the most serious injuries.
PIP coverage is broader than many drivers realize. It typically pays for:
- Emergency room, hospital, and ambulance bills
- Surgery, imaging (MRI, CT, X-ray), and specialist care
- Physical therapy, chiropractic, and pain management
- Prescription medications related to crash injuries
- A portion of lost income, depending on your policy
- Essential household services if your injury prevents you from caring for yourself or your family
We routinely deal with PIP denials, fee-schedule disputes, and improper Independent Medical Examination (IME) cutoffs. If your PIP carrier is refusing to authorize necessary treatment, that is something a car accident lawyer can fix.
The Verbal Threshold (Limited Right to Sue)
When buying New Jersey auto insurance, you choose between the limited right to sue (“verbal threshold,” cheaper premium) and the unlimited right to sue (more expensive). Most NJ drivers carry the limited right without realizing what it means.
Under N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8(a), if you have the verbal threshold you can recover for pain and suffering only if your injury falls within one of six categories:
- Death
- Dismemberment
- Significant disfigurement or scarring
- Displaced fracture
- Loss of a fetus
- Permanent injury (a body part that will not heal to function normally)
Most disputed cases turn on category six — the “permanent injury” threshold — which usually requires objective medical evidence such as MRI findings, positive EMG results, or surgical intervention. Building this proof is among the most important work we do on every verbal threshold case.
If you elected the unlimited right to sue, the threshold does not apply, and you can pursue full non-economic damages regardless of injury category.
Modified Comparative Negligence — The 51% Rule
New Jersey follows a modified comparative negligence rule under N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1. You can recover damages as long as you are not more than 50% at fault. If you are 30% at fault, your recovery is reduced by 30%. If you are 51% or more at fault, you recover nothing.
Insurance adjusters routinely inflate the injured party’s share of fault — sometimes by 20 to 40 percentage points — to drive settlement values down or escape liability altogether. Pushing back is core legal work, and a strong reconstruction file is the most effective response.
Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UM/UIM)
Uninsured Motorist (UM) and Underinsured Motorist (UIM) coverage protect you when the at-fault driver has no insurance or not enough to cover your damages. We strongly recommend every New Jersey driver carry UM/UIM at the same limits as their bodily injury liability coverage. If you were hit by an uninsured or hit-and-run driver, your own UM coverage is often the primary source of recovery.
Types of New Jersey Car Accident Cases We Handle
Our practice covers the full range of New Jersey motor vehicle injury claims:
- Rear-end collisions and stopped-traffic pile-ups
- Intersection and left-turn crashes
- T-bone (side-impact) collisions
- Highway and rollover accidents on the NJ Turnpike, Garden State Parkway, and Routes 1&9
- Drunk and impaired driving crashes
- Distracted driving and texting-while-driving collisions
- Commercial truck and tractor-trailer crashes
- Motorcycle accidents
- Pedestrian and bicyclist injuries
- Uber, Lyft, and rideshare accidents
- Hit-and-run and uninsured motorist claims
- Underinsured motorist (UIM) claims against your own carrier
- Multi-vehicle pile-ups
- Crashes involving NJ Transit buses, government vehicles, or municipal employees (subject to the NJ Tort Claims Act)
The Most Common Causes of NJ Car Accidents
According to the New Jersey Department of Transportation, New Jersey averages more than 270,000 reported crashes per year, with Hudson County consistently among the higher-rate counties given its traffic density and proximity to the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels.
Driver behavior most often at fault:
- Distracted driving (texting, GPS programming, in-car screens)
- Speeding and aggressive driving
- Impaired driving (alcohol, marijuana, prescription medication)
- Failure to yield, especially on left turns
- Following too closely (tailgating)
- Running red lights and stop signs
- Drowsy or fatigued driving
Conditions and equipment failures:
- Wet, icy, or poorly maintained roadways
- Defective tires, brakes, airbags, or seat belts
- Inadequate signage or traffic signal failures
- Construction zone hazards
- Commercial driver hours-of-service or maintenance violations under FMCSA rules
When a crash involves more than one cause — a distracted driver on a poorly maintained road during a storm, for example — multiple parties may share liability. Identifying every responsible party is essential to maximizing your recovery.
What to Do After a Car Accident in New Jersey
The steps you take in the first hours and days after a crash directly affect your case value. Here is what we tell every potential client:
- Call 911. The police report creates an official, time-stamped record. Even if injuries seem minor, request that officers respond and document the scene.
- Get medical care immediately, even if you “feel fine.” Adrenaline masks injuries — concussions and disc herniations often do not surface for hours or days. Delayed treatment is the single most common reason claims lose value.
- Document the scene. Photograph vehicles, license plates, road conditions, traffic signals, skid marks, and visible injuries. Get the names and phone numbers of every witness.
- Exchange information with all involved drivers — but do not admit fault. Avoid casual “I’m sorry” statements that can be misused later.
- Report the crash to your insurance company, but keep the conversation factual and short. Do not give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurer before speaking with a lawyer.
- Save everything — medical records, bills, prescriptions, lost-wage documentation, repair estimates, and a daily symptom journal noting pain levels and limitations.
- Stay off social media. Defense attorneys monitor injured parties’ Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok accounts looking for content to use against them.
- Call a lawyer before signing anything. Insurance releases are usually permanent — once signed, you cannot reopen the claim.
We strongly recommend Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) to protect you if the at-fault driver has no coverage or too little.
Compensation You Can Recover
The value of a New Jersey car accident claim depends on liability, injury severity, treatment duration, long-term impact, and your insurance election. Recoverable damages typically include:
Economic damages — out-of-pocket and verifiable losses:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Lost wages and lost earning capacity
- Property damage (vehicle and personal items)
- Costs such as transportation to and from medical appointments
- Household services you can no longer perform
- Future life-care costs for catastrophic injuries
Non-economic damages — subject to the verbal threshold if it applies:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress, anxiety, and PTSD
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Disfigurement and permanent scarring
- Loss of consortium for spouses
Punitive damages are reserved for cases involving intentional or egregious misconduct — such as a drunk driver with prior DUI convictions — and are governed by the New Jersey Punitive Damages Act (N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.9 et seq.).
How much your case is worth varies enormously. A soft-tissue injury that resolves within six weeks may settle in the $10,000 to $40,000 range. A herniated disc requiring surgery often reaches six figures. Catastrophic injuries — traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, severe burns — can reach seven figures and beyond, depending on liability and available insurance coverage. We give you a candid valuation after we review your medical records, not before.
Statute of Limitations and Tort Claims Notice
Two-year filing deadline. Under N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2, you generally have two years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit in New Jersey. Miss the deadline and your case is gone — exceptions are narrow.
90-day Tort Claims Act notice. If your crash involves a government vehicle, a municipal employee on duty, NJ Transit, a county or state road defect, or any other public entity, the New Jersey Tort Claims Act (N.J.S.A. 59:8-8) requires you to file a Notice of Claim within 90 days of the accident. Miss that window and you usually cannot sue the public entity at all.
These time-sensitive realities are why calling a lawyer within the first week or two matters — even if you have not yet decided whether to file a claim.
Serving Jersey City, Hudson County, and All of New Jersey
Our office sits at 895 Bergen Avenue, Suite 306, in the heart of Jersey City — minutes from Journal Square PATH and a short walk from Hudson County Superior Court. We represent injured clients from across Hudson County and statewide, including crashes on this region’s highest-volume roadways:
- The Pulaski Skyway (Routes 1 & 9)
- The Holland Tunnel approach and helix
- The New Jersey Turnpike Hudson County Extension (I-78 spur)
- Routes 1 & 9, 440, and 139
- Kennedy Boulevard and JFK Boulevard
- Tonnelle Avenue
- The Lincoln Tunnel approach
- Communipaw Avenue and Grand Street corridors
We frequently work with care teams at Jersey City Medical Center (RWJBarnabas Health), Christ Hospital, and the CarePoint Health network, and we represent injured clients throughout Hudson County — Bayonne, Hoboken, Union City, North Bergen, Weehawken, Secaucus, Kearny, Harrison, and West New York — as well as throughout Essex, Bergen, Union, Middlesex, and surrounding counties.
How We Build a Winning Car Accident Case
Strong car accident cases are not won by sending demand letters. They are won by the work done in the first 30 to 60 days after we are retained. Here is what that work looks like at Sarofiem & Antoun:
Scene investigation. We dispatch investigators to photograph the crash scene under conditions similar to the collision, canvass for surveillance video (gas stations, businesses, residential doorbell cameras), and submit Open Public Records Act requests for 911 audio and dispatch logs.
Evidence preservation. We send formal spoliation letters to the at-fault driver’s insurer, the at-fault driver’s employer (in commercial vehicle cases), and any third-party vehicle owners — requiring them to preserve the vehicle, EDR (“black box”) data, driver logs, telematics, and maintenance records. Delay equals lost evidence.
Medical record assembly. We collect every record from every provider, identify gaps in treatment, and work with your treating physicians to document permanency and causation — especially critical under the verbal threshold.
Expert retention. Depending on the case, we retain accident reconstruction engineers, biomechanical experts, life-care planners, vocational economists, and treating-physician experts to testify to permanency and future care needs.
Liability and coverage analysis. We identify every available insurance policy — the at-fault driver’s, an employer’s policy in commercial cases, your own UM/UIM, household member policies that may stack, umbrella coverage, and (in rare cases) product liability claims against vehicle manufacturers.
Demand and negotiation. Once the medical picture is clear, we build a detailed demand package supported by records, expert reports, wage documentation, and a damages narrative — then negotiate from a position of strength.
Litigation. If the insurer will not pay fair value, we file suit in the appropriate vicinage of New Jersey Superior Court and prepare the case for trial.
Recent Case Results
We work on a contingency fee—you pay nothing unless we win.
$ 900,000.00
Car Accident
$ 510,000.00
Rideshare Accident
$ 495,000.00
T-Bone Collision
What Our Clients Say
“After my car accident, I was overwhelmed dealing with insurance companies. NJCrash took over everything and kept me informed every step of the way. They got me a settlement that covered all my medical bills and more.”
Maria G.
Jersey City, NJ
Real Client
James T.
Hoboken, NJ
Real Client
Sarah M.
Newark, NJ
Real Client
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a lawyer for a “minor” accident?
Often, yes. Many injuries — concussions, soft-tissue tears, disc herniations — do not show symptoms until days or weeks later. Once you sign an insurance release, you cannot reopen the claim. A free consultation costs nothing and protects your options.
How much does it cost to hire your firm?
Nothing up front. We work on a contingency fee, meaning our fee comes out of the settlement or verdict only if we win. If we do not recover money for you, you owe us no legal fee.
The other driver is uninsured. What now?
We pursue UM/UIM benefits through your policy and explore third-party liability (e.g., roadway defects, vehicle defects, employer liability).
What if the other driver was uninsured or fled the scene?
You can usually file a claim under your own Uninsured Motorist (UM) coverage. We also investigate other potentially liable parties — employers in commercial cases, roadway authorities for dangerous conditions, vehicle manufacturers for defects.
Will PIP cover all of my medical bills?
PIP pays your medical bills up to your selected limit (typically $15,000 to $250,000). For serious injuries that exceed PIP, the balance is pursued from the at-fault driver, with health insurance often providing secondary coverage subject to liens.
How long does a New Jersey car accident case take?
A straightforward soft-tissue case may resolve in 6 to 12 months. Cases involving surgery, permanent injuries, or contested liability typically take 12 to 24 months. Cases that go to trial can take 2 to 3 years.
What if I was partially at fault?
You can still recover under New Jersey’s modified comparative negligence rule as long as you are 50% or less at fault. Your recovery is simply reduced by your share of fault. If you are 51% or more at fault, you cannot recover.
How much is my car accident case worth?
It depends on injury type, medical treatment, permanency, lost wages, available insurance, and how comparative fault plays out. We give you a realistic valuation after we review your records — not a number designed to win your business.
Will my case go to trial?
Most NJ car accident cases settle, but we prepare every file as if it will not. Insurers offer more when they see a lawyer who is ready to try the case.
What if I already gave a recorded statement to the insurance company?
Call us anyway. The damage may be less than you think, and statements can sometimes be clarified or limited in scope. The sooner we speak, the more options you have.
What is the deadline to file a NJ car accident lawsuit?
Two years from the crash date for most claims (N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2). Only 90 days if a government entity is involved (N.J.S.A. 59:8-8). Call now to protect your deadline.
Do you handle cases outside of Jersey City?
Yes. We represent injured clients across New Jersey, with a particular concentration in Hudson, Bergen, Essex, Union, and Middlesex counties.
Does it cost anything to talk to a lawyer about my case?
No. Consultations at Sarofiem & Antoun are always free and confidential. Call (201) 792-3333 — there is no obligation.
Talk to a New Jersey Car Accident Lawyer Today
If you or someone you love was hurt in a New Jersey car accident, every day matters. Evidence disappears. Witnesses move. Surveillance footage is overwritten. Statutes of limitations and Tort Claims Act notice periods run quietly in the background. Sarofiem & Antoun, LLC is ready to step in and protect your case from day one.
Call (201) 792-3333 for a free, no-obligation case review, or visit our office at 895 Bergen Avenue, Suite 306, Jersey City, NJ 07306. There is no fee unless we recover compensation for you.
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