Qualifying for Workers’ Compensation Benefits
November 24, 2020 by
Was Your Injury Work-Related?
In New Jersey, when you suffer an injury or contract an illness at work, you have a right to workers’ compensation benefits, provided you can prove that the injury or illness happened during the normal course of your duties. In some situations, it may be unclear as to whether you actually were on the job.
Injuries Suffered While on a Break
State and federal labor laws require breaks when employees work a certain number of hours. As a general rule, if you’re taking a break on your employer’s premises at the time you’re injured, you’re entitled to worker’s comp. For example, if you slip on a wet floor in the break room, you’re entitled to workers’ compensation.
There are exceptions, though. If you suffer injury on break while engaging in horseplay, or otherwise violating company rules, you will likely be denied benefits.
Injuries Suffered While at Lunch
If you eat your lunch onsite, whether you bring your own or eat in a company lunch room or cafeteria, you’re eligible for workers’ compensation benefits for any injuries that occur during your lunch break. However, if you leave the premises for a meal, any injuries suffered while you are off the grounds are not covered, unless you also are performing errands at the request of a supervisor. If your boss asks you to get lunch for others or go to the post office, for example, your trip is considered work-related, and you’re be entitled to seek workers’ compensation benefits for any injuries you suffer.
Injuries Suffered During Your Commute
You cannot recover for injuries suffered on your drive to or from work unless you divert from your normal route to take care of business for your employer.
Contact the Law Offices of David J. Karbasian, PC
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The Importance of Wearing a Motorcycle Helmet
October 27, 2020 by
Statistics Show the Need for and Positive Impact of Wearing a Helmet
According to statistics reported by the state of New Jersey, more than half of all motorcycle accidents occur in intersections, with about two of every three caused when other motor vehicle operators fail to see a biker. Excessive speed is a factor in the majority of motorcycle accidents, and lack of experience accounts for one in every five fatal motorcycle accidents.
Safety advocates have long encouraged bikers to wear an approved helmet, urging that such use has can minimize injuries in collisions. New Jersey requires all bikers to wear a securely fitting helmet that complies with federal Department of Transportation (DOT) guidelines, including a neck or chin strap, as well as reflectors on both sides.
A number of other statistics support the use of motorcycle helmets:
- Contrary to popular perception, a helmet won’t impede your view of potentially dangerous situations. In fact, in a study of nearly a thousand bikers, 40% of whom wore helmets, not a single person reported a helmet causing obstruction of surrounding dangers.
- A motorcycle crash can be fatal, even at relatively slow speeds. According to the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, most motorcycle accidents occur when bikers are traveling less than 30 miles per hour. At these slower speeds, helmets can cut both the frequency and severity of head injuries in half.
- Regardless of speed, bikers without helmets are three times as likely to suffer fatal head injuries as those wearing DOT-approved helmets
Contact the Law Offices of David J. Karbasian, PC
Send us an e-mail today or call us at 856-667-4666 to schedule an appointment. We are currently communicating with clients by phone, text message, and videoconference. Evening and weekend consultations are available upon request.
Insurance Settlements and Personal Injury Claims
October 6, 2020 by
Can You Still File a Lawsuit If You Receive an Insurance Payment?
In the aftermath of a personal injury, you typically report the accident to your insurance company and seek coverage for your losses. Often, your insurer will delay or initially deny coverage, hoping you’ll agree to accept less than you should receive. Conversely, an insurer may offer you a quick settlement, also in an attempt to minimize their liability. If you accept a payout from your insurer, can you still pursue damages in a personal injury lawsuit if your losses exceed what the insurance company pays? That depends.
First, it’s important to understand that you cannot recover for the same loss twice. If your insurance company pays all your medical bills, you can’t file a lawsuit seeking reimbursement of those expenses from the party who caused the accident (though your insurance company may do that). In the American legal system, you can seek compensation only for “actual losses.” Once you’re paid for a particular loss, it is no longer considered an “actual” loss.
However, if you incur losses in a slip-and-fall, for example, that are not covered by your health insurance, you are not precluded from seeking compensation for those losses directly from the at-fault party. For instance, if your health insurance policy does not cover the costs of surgery, and your injuries require that, you can seek damages from the defendant to pay for those expenses.
With automobile accidents, if your losses exceed the limits of the at-fault party’s insurance policy, you can accept payout of the full amount of their policy and file suit against your insurer to recover the additional losses, as long as you have underinsured motorist coverage that exceeds the at-fault party’s coverage. For example, assume you have $500,000 worth of losses. If the at-fault driver has only $50,000 worth of coverage, and you have $500,000 of underinsured motorist coverage, you can accept $50,000 from the at-fault party’s insurer and file suit against your insurer to recover the additional $450,000.
Contact the Law Offices of David J. Karbasian, PC
Send us an e-mail today or call us at 856-667-4666 to schedule an in-person conference or a conference by phone or video. Evening and weekend consultations are available upon request.
Do I Have a Personal Injury Claim?
September 18, 2020 by
Elements of a Personal Injury Lawsuit
Accidents happen, right? People rarely try to hurt you intentionally, and many mishaps don’t involve a callous indifference to others or reflect that a person simply didn’t care about the consequences of their actions. So how does the law treat those other everyday accidents? To recover damages, do you have to prove that the at-fault party was not only careless but also exhibited a clear disregard for the safety of others? In the American civil justice system, the answer is no.
What, then, must you prove in order to recover for personal injury or property damages stemming from an accident caused by another person? Most personal injury claims are based on a legal theory of negligence. To successfully recover compensation for negligence, you must prove the following elements:
- Another person’s behavior fell short of the conduct reasonably expected of someone engaged in the same activity under the same circumstances. This element is commonly referred to as a “breach of the duty (or standard) of care;”
- The breach caused an accident; and
- As a result of the accident, you suffered actual losses (either physical injury, loss of property, or damage to property).
How does a person know what the expected duty of care should be? There are no specific laws setting forth what constitutes reasonable behavior in a given situation. Traditionally, “reasonable” is construed to be that type of conduct that would be engaged in by an “average person of ordinary prudence” under the same circumstances. As a practical matter, whether or not the defendant’s acts were reasonable is determined by the trier of fact—usually the jury—on a case-by-case basis. To ensure consistency of rulings, juries are required to follow the concept of stare decisis, which gives weight to prior rulings involving similar factual situations.
To establish the element of causation, you must show that the accident would not have happened had the defendant not breached the duty of care. You also must demonstrate that the accident and losses were reasonably foreseeable consequences of the defendant’s conduct.
Finally, you may recover only for uncompensated injuries you actually sustain. If your losses are covered by insurance, you cannot recover for them a second time. Furthermore, if property damage had no meaningful value, you have no right of recovery.
Contact the Law Offices of David J. Karbasian, PC
Send us an e-mail today or call us at 856-667-4666 or 877-HOGLAW1 to schedule an appointment. We are currently communicating with clients by phone, text message, or online videoconference. Evening and weekend consultations are available upon request.
Study Suggests Higher Accident Rate for Early Morning Students
September 4, 2020 by
Authorities Attribute Higher Rate to “Drowsy Driving”
In a report in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, researchers concluded that teen drivers who start school earlier in the day have a more than 25% increased risk of being in an automobile accident on their way to school. The study looked at crash statistics for high school students in Virginia, comparing those who started at 7:20 A.M. with those who started at 8:45 A.M. Data gathered over two years showed a 29% higher accident rate for early starters the first year and a 27% increase the following year. The study also looked at crash rates for adults starting jobs at similar times and found no distinguishable difference.
According to researchers, the most common type of accident involves a student falling asleep or dozing at the wheel and running off the road. The report also found that students with inadequate sleep are more likely to engage in risky behavior behind the wheel and less likely to think before acting. A spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine said that requiring high school students to be in class by 7:20 is essentially contrary to their biological needs, depriving them of necessary rest. “We are asking teens to shine when their biological clocks tell them to sleep,” noted Dr. Timothy Morgenthaler of the National Healthy Sleep Project. He recommends that high school students get at least nine hours of sleep before getting on the roads in a motor vehicle.
Another study, sponsored by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, concluded that drowsy driving is involved in more than 300,000 car accidents annually and that 16-24-year-old drivers are at the greatest risk for drowsy driving.
Contact the Law Offices of David J. Karbasian, PC
Send us an e-mail today or call us at 856-667-4666 or 877-HOGLAW1 to schedule an appointment. We are currently communicating with clients by phone, text message, or online videoconference. Evening and weekend consultations are available upon request.
Motorcycle Accidents and Protective Clothing
August 21, 2020 by
Can You Recover Damages If You Weren’t Wearing Protective Clothing?
One common recommendation to minimize the risk of serious injury on a motorcycle is to wear protecting clothing—helmet, gloves, boots, pants, and a durable long-sleeved shirt or jacket. Many affordable options are available—you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on leathers. But say it’s summer, and you’re only going around the corner to the store. Do you really need to wear all your protective gear?
Unfortunately, accidents can happen at any time. Statistics consistently show that the largest number of motor vehicle accidents happen within a mile from home. So what happens if you get on your bike without safety gear and are injured in an accident caused by someone else’s carelessness? Can that person avoid liability for your injuries on the grounds that you wouldn’t have been injured if you had been wearing appropriate safety gear? Well, maybe.
Here’s how it works. In a personal injury claim, recovery is typically based on the legal theory of negligence, which requires you to show the following:
- that the defendant failed to act as a reasonable person would;
- that the failure to act reasonably caused an accident; and
- that you suffered actual losses as a result.
The defendant can argue that you also failed to act as a reasonable person would, and are therefore somewhat responsible for your injuries, because you wouldn’t have suffered road rash to your hands and arms if you’d been wearing gloves or a long-sleeved jacket. New Jersey, like most states, applies the legal concept of comparative negligence, which requires the jury to determine the degree to which you were responsible for your injuries. Under the New Jersey rule, if you were more than 50% responsible for your own injuries, you cannot recover anything. Accordingly, if the jury determines that your failure to wear protective clothing was the primary cause of your injuries, it may be difficult to recover for your losses.
Contact the Law Offices of David J. Karbasian, PC
Send us an e-mail today or call us at 856-667-4666 or 877-HOGLAW1 to schedule an appointment. We are currently communicating with clients by phone, text message, or online videoconference. Evening and weekend consultations are available upon request.
New Jersey Motorcycle Accidents Involving Drunk Drivers
August 3, 2020 by
Your Right to Recover Compensation
When you’re injured in a motorcycle accident caused by a drunk driver in New Jersey, you can always file a personal injury claim against the impaired driver. Intoxication generally does not excuse a person from liability for negligence. It’s important to understand, though, that you also may be able to pursue damages from other parties under New Jersey’s dram shop law or under a theory of social host liability.
New Jersey’s Dram Shop Law
Dram shop laws establish whether an employee or establishment are liable for serving alcohol to a patron who causes an accident. In New Jersey, a person injured by a drunk driver may seek compensation from the bar, restaurant, or other establishment that served or sold alcohol to the driver, but one of two criteria must be proven:
- The person who was served (and subsequently caused the injuries) was visibly intoxicated when sold or served alcohol; or
- The person served was under the age of 21 at the time, and the server knew or had reason to know that the person being served was a minor.
Social Host Liability
New Jersey’s social host liability law applies the concept of dram shop liability to persons serving alcohol in their homes or at private parties or events. Under the law, a social host may be responsible even if the guest served himself/herself, and even if the guest brought their own alcohol to the event. New Jersey law allows you to sue a social host if:
- The person causing the accident was visibly impaired, and the host knew or should have known
- The alcohol was consumed under circumstances “manifesting reckless disregard for the consequences;”
- Those circumstances involved an “unreasonable risk” of harm to either people or property; and.
- The drunk person caused injury to other persons or property.
Contact the Law Offices of David J. Karbasian, PC
Send us an e-mail today or call us at 856-667-4666 to schedule an appointment. We are currently communicating with clients by phone, text message, or online videoconference. Evening and weekend consultations are available upon request.
Time-on-the-Road Restrictions for Commercial Truck Drivers
July 9, 2020 by
State and Federal Regulations Designed to Minimize Driver Fatigue That Can Cause Accidents
A commercial truck, such as a semi, big rig, 18-wheeler, or tractor-trailer, can carry a payload of up to 80,000 pounds. Because of the inherent danger associated with a vehicle carrying that much weight on our highways, there are state and federal regulations requiring truck drivers to log their time on the road. This monitoring requirement is intended to minimize the risk that drivers will suffer fatigue from spending too much time behind the wheel. Unfortunately, because most truck drivers are paid by the mile, they have an incentive to drive for too many hours a day. This incentive, coupled with the fact that their employers expect them to reach a destination by a certain time, can lead to driver fatigue, inattention, and diminished capacity, all of which can cause accidents.
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), commercial truck drivers are subject to the following hours-of-service limitations:
- The 14-hour “driving window” limit—After being off for a minimum of 10 consecutive hours, a truck driver has a 14-hour window within which he or she cannot exceed 11 hours on the road. At the end of the 14-hour window, the driver must be off duty for at least 10 consecutive hours. The driver may not carry over unused hours and may not extend the 14-hour window by going off duty.
- The 11-hour driving limit—A driver may not be on duty more than 11 hours during the 14-hour window and cannot drive if more than 8 hours have elapsed since his or her last 30-minute break from driving.
- The 7-day/8-day limit—A commercial driver may not be on the road more than 60 hoursover any 7-day period or more than 70 hours over any 8-day period. The period measured is not fixed, but floating.
Contact the Law Offices of David J. Karbasian, PC
If you have been injured by a commercial truck, send us an e-mail or call us at 856-667-4666 or 877-Hoglaw1 to schedule an appointment. We are open with safety precautions and also can communicate with clients by phone, text message, and videoconference. Evening and weekend consultations are available upon request.
Motorcycle Accidents Involving Roadway Hazards
July 3, 2020 by
Common Types of Roadway Hazards | Recovering Compensation for Your Injuries
Though the vast majority of motorcycle accidents are collisions with other vehicles, a significant number of crashes are single-vehicle accidents. One of the most frequent causes is some type of roadway hazard that causes a biker to lose control and crash.
The Most Common Types of Roadway Hazards for Motorcyclists
- Potholes, rough roads, or uneven surfaces (such as edge breaks between lanes), which can cause a sudden shift in balance;
- Sand, gravel, water, oil, or other slippery substances on the road, causing loss of control in a turn or difficulty stopping;
- Roadway debris, including branches, construction cones, rebar, trash, tools, or tire treads;
- Trees, shrubs, signs, or other objects that limit or obscure your view of vehicles coming from side roads;
- Stalled vehicles with no hazard lights on; and
- Dead animals on the road.
Recovering Compensation for a Motorcycle Accident Caused by a Roadway Hazard
In the aftermath of a motorcycle accident, one of the first things you should do is retain an experienced attorney to represent you. At my office, I will immediately start investigating how the accident happened and who caused it. I have been representing injured clients for 28 years and riding motorcycles for over 45 years. I know how roadway hazards are dangerous to motorcyclists. Any legal action we take is based on negligence. To succeed with a claim, we will need to show that:
- The defendant (the person or company you sue) failed to meet the standard of care expected (for example, their truck recently spilled gravel on the road, and they failed to put up warning signs to alert those on the roadway, including motorcycle riders);
- That failure to meet the standard of care caused your accident; and
- As a result of your accident, you suffered actual losses and injuries
Contact the Law Offices of David J. Karbasian, PC
Send us an e-mail today or call us at 856-667-4666 or 877-Hoglaw1 to schedule an appointment. We are open with safety precautions and can also communicate with clients by phone, text message, and videoconference. Evening and weekend consultations are available upon request.
