Personal Injury Lawyer, Seaside Heights NJ

Yes, and it is much shorter: a written report of the accident has to reach the amusement park's operator within 90 days, because N.J.S.A. 5:3-57 makes that report a precondition to any lawsuit against the operator. It covers water slides and wave pools as well as mechanical rides. The report identifies you, the location in the park, what you think caused the injury, the attendant and any witnesses. If the 90 days have already gone, the Superior Court may allow a late report within one year of the accident when the operator has not been substantially prejudiced, but that takes a motion supported by sworn statements. Send us the date, the ride and your photographs, and we will prepare and deliver the report.

No, in most cases it does not. New Jersey's Supreme Court has held that a parent cannot sign away a child's injury claim against a commercial recreation business in advance, although a clause sending the dispute to arbitration can still be enforced. What does bind you is the reporting rule: a water park counts as an amusement ride under the Carnival-Amusement Rides Safety Act, so the written report to the operator is due within 90 days, and we do not lean on a child's age to stretch that. Money recovered for a child is paid only after a court hearing approves the amount. Keep the wristband, the receipt and whatever you signed, and call us this week.

Often yes, because a business answers for the force its employee uses while doing the work he was hired for, and removing a customer is a bouncer's work. The real question is whether the force was reasonable, and that gets decided from video, witnesses and your injuries, not from two competing stories. If another customer hurt you instead, the bar can still be responsible when it kept serving that person while visibly intoxicated, N.J.S.A. 2A:22A-1 et seq., or ignored trouble it watched build. A simple assault complaint is a separate matter, heard at Seaside Heights Municipal Court, 116 Sherman Avenue, Seaside Heights, NJ 08751, (732) 830-2202. Report it to the police, get examined, and call us before any video is recorded over.

Usually the Borough of Seaside Heights, which maintains the boardwalk, and that makes the first deadline 90 days: a written notice of claim under N.J.S.A. 59:8-8, served on the borough, long before the two years that apply to a private owner. There is a local wrinkle. Part of the oceanfront, including the amusement pier and boardwalk and beach around it, is privately owned, so we check the tax map for the exact spot before the notice goes out, and where there is doubt we serve the borough anyway. A claim against a public body also needs proof that it knew or should have known of the hazard. Photograph the board with a landmark in the frame and note the nearest street.

Yes, a claim does not depend on an incident report having been written, but you now have to rebuild the record yourself, and quickly. Your phone is the best witness: photographs carry a time and often a location, and a card receipt, a ride wristband, a beach badge or a parking stub places you at a particular spot at a particular hour. See a doctor within a day or two and say exactly where and how it happened, because that chart becomes the first written account. Then report it in writing to the business, or to the borough if it was public property. Send us what you have and we will handle the notices.