Personal Injury Lawyer, Barnegat Township NJ

You have 90 days to serve a written notice of claim, not two years, because the dock on East Bay Avenue is township property and the Tort Claims Act, N.J.S.A. 59:8-8, governs claims against a public entity. The notice goes to Barnegat Township itself, since the township owns the dock and its recreation department runs it; telling a dockmaster what happened, or filling in a form at the recreation office, is not a notice of claim. A court may allow a late notice within a year of the injury, but only on extraordinary circumstances. If you were hurt on the dock, at the boat ramp or on the township's grounds, call now rather than after treatment ends, and we will get the notice served.

A claim is possible, but it is harder than a claim against a private owner. The trail is an Ocean County facility, so the Tort Claims Act applies: notice within 90 days, and proof that the condition was dangerous, that the county knew or should have known about it, and that the county's failure to fix it was not merely careless but plainly unreasonable, a higher bar than a private owner faces. If another person caused the fall instead, a rider who cut you off or a driver at a road crossing, that is an ordinary negligence claim against that person and their insurer. Photograph the exact spot and what caused it the same day, note the nearest cross street, and call us while the condition still exists.

The medical bills are paid through PIP under N.J.S.A. 39:6A-4, and it makes no difference that you were on foot or that it happened on private property. Look first to an auto policy of your own; if you have none, to the policy of a relative in your household; and only after that to the policy on the car that backed into you. Who was careless decides a different question, namely the claim against that driver for pain, lost earnings and any permanent injury. Ask the store whether its cameras cover the lot, get the names of anyone who saw it, and call us before you speak with the driver's insurer.

Against the dog's owner, not the county. A leash rule on a county trail does not by itself make Ocean County answerable for another visitor's dog, so the 90-day notice that governs a defect in the trail is not the issue here. The owner answers under N.J.S.A. 4:19-16, which does not ask whether the dog was known to be dangerous or whether the owner was careless; a bite on a public trail is enough. Get a name and phone number, or a photograph of the person and the dog, ask any witness to stay a moment, and have the bite examined the same day so a medical record exists. Then call us, and we will find the insurance that stands behind the owner.

Often he is right about the sidewalk itself. New Jersey does not make an owner-occupied home answerable for the public sidewalk beside it merely because a slab is worn or lifted, unless the owner created the hazard, with a bad repair for instance. Two things change that. A building that is rented out or used for business can count as commercial even when it looks like a house, and the old village has both kinds side by side. And if the township bears responsibility for the condition, a notice of claim under N.J.S.A. 59:8-8 is due within 90 days. So do not wait: send us the address and photographs, and we will check who owns and uses the property at no charge.