Personal Injury

The Different Types of Expert Witnesses in a Car Accident Claim

March 14, 2018 by gwisotsky Leave a Comment

When another driver runs a stop sign or otherwise acts carelessly, and you suffer an injury as a result, it can often seem like an open and shut case. But in most instances, it’s critical to the success of your claim that you bring in expert witnesses. Here are some of the expert witnesses that can be instrumental in conveying all the necessary information to a judge and jury.

Accident Reconstruction Specialists

An accident reconstruction specialist, usually an engineer, will typically visit the scene of the crash, looking for evidence that allows him or her to determine exactly how the accident happened. This expert will measure skid marks, look for gouges or abnormalities in the pavement or roadway, and examine the damage done to both vehicles. In many instances, this expert can then prepare a graphic or even an animation that shows the jury what happened.

Medical Expert

The medical expert will review all medical records and typically conduct a medical examination, identifying all the injuries sustained as a result of the crash. This expert will testify regarding both the injuries already suffered and the short and long-term consequences of those injuries. He or she will tell the judge and jury what medical issues you can expect to experience in the future, as well as what types of medical treatment will be necessary, and for how long.

Financial or Economics Expert

This expert will help the judge and jury understand the full financial impact of the accident on you. The economics expert will calculate lost wages, unreimbursed medical expenses, the value of any pain and suffering, loss of companionship or consortium, property damage and any other costs incurred as a result of the accident.

Contact the Law Offices of Gregg A. Wisotsky

I offer a free phone consultation to every prospective client. For a complimentary evaluation of your case, contact my office online or call me at 973-241-7468. I will come to your home or the hospital to meet with you, if necessary. All major credit cards are accepted.

Slips and Falls on Snow and Ice in New Jersey

December 27, 2017 by gwisotsky Leave a Comment

If you live in New Jersey, ice and snow are a part of your life in the winter months. A fresh snow can be a beautiful sight, a winter wonderland, but it can also pose a significant risk. Far too many people suffer needless injury in New Jersey winters when property owners fail to take reasonable steps to remove snow and ice from sidewalks, steps, and parking lots.

Under New Jersey law, the owner of real property has a duty to monitor and maintain the premises in such way that it minimizes the risk of injury to anyone legally on the property. That duty can also extend to anyone who exercises control over the property, such as a property manager, landlord or tenant. It’s not an absolute duty—the exercise of care must only be reasonable.

When it comes to snow and ice on residential or commercial property in New Jersey, there are generally different standards based on the type of property. With a single family private residence, there’s typically no duty to remove snow or ice, or to warn about any risks associated with snow, ice or freezing rain. Why? Because most people don’t enter single family residential property for commercial purposes or to engage in activity that will provide a financial benefit to the homeowner. However, if the homeowner runs a business out of the home, or if the homeowner takes action that makes the condition worse (pouring hot water on icy steps, for example), there can be liability.

With commercial property, you must typically show that the property owner either knew or should have known of the potential risk of injury due to ice, snow or other winter weather conditions; and that the property owner failed to take reasonable steps to remedy the problem or warn potential visitors. There is an exception to this rule—if the nature of the business was such that the dangerous condition was reasonably foreseeable, there is no requirement that the property owner have actual notice of the risk.

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The Timeline in a Personal Injury Lawsuit – Part Two

November 15, 2017 by gwisotsky Leave a Comment

So you’ve filed your personal injury lawsuit, you’ve had your initial conference with the judge and you’ve completed discovery. There are still a number of steps to complete before a trial can begin.

The Motion Phase of a Personal Injury Lawsuit

Trials can be expensive and time-consuming, so there’s an incentive on everyone’s part to resolve as many issues as possible prior to opening arguments. One of the ways that a court can streamline the trial process, or avoid it entirely, is through pre-trial motions. There are two specific types of pre-trial motions—dispositive motions and evidentiary motions.

Dispositive Motions

A dispositive motion seeks to preclude the need to resolve some or all of the issues being contested. Such a motion may be filed by the plaintiff (party bringing the lawsuit) or by the defendant. When the plaintiff files a dispositive motion, it’s essentially arguing that the discovery process has produced no evidence to support a viable defense. If the court agrees, the court may issue summary judgment (immediate relief) in favor of the plaintiff.

The defendant can also move to dismiss some or all of the allegations in a complaint. Similarly, the defendant will attempt to show the court that the plaintiff has failed to produce evidence to support a claim. The court may dismiss some claims and allow others to go forward.

Evidentiary Motions

During the discovery process, the rules of evidence are not as rigorously enforced. This is because there’s no possibility of unfairly affecting a jury’s decision with inadmissible evidence, since jurors are not present. However, evidence that may be disclosed during discovery may not be admissible in court—it may be opinion, it may be hearsay, it may be speculation. If that evidence is heard by jurors, it can taint the outcome. Accordingly, the court wants to make determinations of admissibility before trial, so that the rulings aren’t made in the presence of the jury.

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Strict Liability in New Jersey

October 5, 2017 by gwisotsky Leave a Comment

Strict Liability in New Jersey Though it’s possible to bring a personal injury claim for the intentional or reckless acts of another person, in practice the vast majority of claims for damages are based on a legal theory of negligence, where the defendant’s conduct simply didn’t meet the standard expected by a reasonable person. There are situations, however, where a person may be found liable without the need to show negligence—these types of claims fall under a legal concept known as “strict liability.”

As a general rule, strict liability offenses are statutory in nature. That means that the legislature has enacted a written law establishing liability for the specific act. The concept of strict liability is commonly applied to activities that are considered so inherently dangerous that anyone engaging in them must assume all potential liability for injuries resulting from the activity. Accordingly, there’s typically no measure of diligence or care that such a person can employ to avoid liability. Most strict liability statutes have two requirements to establish responsibility for losses:

That the defendant was engaged in the activity described in the statute
That the plaintiff suffered injury as a result of the defendant’s engagement in the activity described therein

There are, however, two potential defenses to a claim of strict liability—contributory negligence and assumption of risk.

An assertion of contributory negligence alleges that the injured party contributed to his or her own injury. Depending on the degree to which the plaintiff contributed to the accident, and the jurisdiction, contributory negligence may absolve a defendant of liability.
Assumption of risk holds that there are certain activities that require that anyone engaged in them assume some of the risk of potential injury.

The types of activities commonly addressed in strict liability statutes include such things as owning or harboring wild animals, transporting or manufacturing explosives or fireworks, or working with hazardous chemicals.

Contact Me

At the Law Offices of Gregg A. Wisotsky, I offer a free phone consultation to every prospective client. For a complimentary evaluation of your case, contact my office online or call me at 973-241-7468. I will come to your home or the hospital to meet with you, if necessary. All major credit cards are accepted.

The Timeline in a Personal Injury Lawsuit—Part One

September 19, 2017 by gwisotsky Leave a Comment

The Timeline in a Personal Injury Lawsuit Part One When the carelessness or negligence of another person causes you to suffer loss, either through personal injury or property damage, you have a right to pursue monetary compensation (known as “damages”). Often, you need the compensation soon, as you may be unable to work or to afford the costs of medical care. Unfortunately, recovering full and fair compensation for personal injury is a process that can take time. In this series, we’ll take a look at the steps along the way to trial.

Commencing a Personal Injury Action

A personal injury lawsuit starts when you file a complaint. The complaint tells the court what happened, as well as what you need to be made whole. The complaint must be filed in the appropriate court and all defendants must be properly served with a copy of the complaint. The complaint should be filed as soon as practicable after the accident, as memories can fade and witnesses can disappear. When you file the complaint, your attorney can use the power of the court to compel witnesses to testify, and to obtain other relevant evidence. You must file the lawsuit within a specific period of time set forth by statute, known as the “statute of limitations.” In New Jersey, the statute of limitations for personal injury is two years from the date of injury or discovery of injury, whichever is later.

Once the complaint is filed, the defendants have a specified period of time—usually 30 days—to file an answer to the complaint. If a defendant fails to do so, you can pursue a default judgment.

The Discovery Period

If the complaint and answer have been filed in a timely manner, the judge will typically schedule a first meeting with the parties. The function of this meeting is to allow the judge to learn a bit about the case, to determine the likelihood of a settlement, and to establish rules and a timeline for discovery. Discovery is a legal term that refers to the gathering of evidence. It’s typically done in three ways:

Depositions—Oral examination of witnesses, transcribed by court reporters
Interrogatories—Written questions submitted by one side, which typically must be responded to in writing
Requests for production of documents

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New Jersey Statute of Limitations on Personal Injury

May 8, 2017 by gwisotsky Leave a Comment

When you’ve suffered injury because of someone else’s wrongful act, whether it’s the failure to perform according to the terms of a contract, or a lawsuit for injuries sustained in an accident, you have to file a claim for damages within a specific period of time or it will be barred. This rule, known as the statute of limitations, serves a number of purposes. It ensures that evidence doesn’t get lost and that witnesses don’t forget what they saw or heard. It also prevents a person from living for a long period of time with a potential claim hanging over his or her head.

The statute of limitations can vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and are typically different for various types of lawsuits. In New Jersey, the statute of limitations for personal injury—the time in which you must file your complaint— is "two years after the cause of any such action shall have accrued." The statute covers cases involving injury and/or death, although the clock for filing a claim for a wrongful death does not start until the actual date of death.

There are, however, situations where your injury may not be readily apparent, or where symptoms don’t become apparent for months or even years. What happens then?

New Jersey, like many other states, applies the discovery rule with respect to when the statute of limitations starts to run on a personal injury claim. Under that rule, the clock does not start to move on the statute of limitations until the injured party discovers, or by the exercise of reasonable diligence and intelligence should have discovered the injury. Accordingly, if your injury took some time to develop or was not apparent through reasonable observation, you will have two years from the date that you first became aware of the injury.

Contact My Office

I offer a free phone consultation to every prospective client. For a complimentary evaluation of your case, contact the Law Offices of Gregg A. Wisotsky online or call me at 973-241-7468. I will come to your home or the hospital to meet with you, if necessary. All major credit cards are accepted.

Establishing Causation in a Personal Injury Action

March 16, 2017 by gwisotsky Leave a Comment

If you have been hurt because of the wrongful act of another person, you will most likely file a lawsuit alleging negligence. In a classic negligence action, one of the key elements that you must prove is “causation,” i.e., that the defendant’s breach of duty of care “caused” your injuries. Under the common law of negligence, two different types of causation have evolved-actual, or “but for” cause, and proximate cause. To successfully prosecute a personal injury claim, you must show the existence of both types of causation.

Actual (“But For”) Cause

Actual cause is pretty much as the name suggests – it asks the question “did the defendant’s negligence “actually” cause the accident and ensuing injury. In other words, if the defendant had not breached the duty of care, would the injured party have been hurt. If the answer is no, then you have established actual cause. For example, if a homeowner fails to repair a pothole in the sidewalk and you trip on the pothole, there’s actual cause for any injuries you suffer.

Proximate Cause

Proximate cause can be much more difficult to determine. Essentially, proximate cause looks at the specific injury and asks if it was reasonably foreseeable, based on the defendant’s actions. In the example above, let’s assume you tripped on the pothole and fell onto a wasp’s nest. The wasps swarmed out, traveled down the block and stung your neighbor 50 times. That neighbor went into anaphylactic shock and was hospitalized for two weeks, causing him to miss a trip to the Super Bowl, for which he’d already purchased tickets, at $2,000 per ticket. The neighbor would probably be unsuccessful in an attempt to recover the costs of the trip from you because there was no proximate cause.

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Watch Out for Products with Button Batteries

March 2, 2017 by gwisotsky Leave a Comment

When was the last time you put one of those big, clunky D-sized batteries in any kind of a product? Instead, you probably put a wafer or "button" battery in your remote control, camera, key fob, hearing aid or other product. But these batteries can pose a serious health risk, especially to children who may do what children do with lots of things—put them in their mouths.

According to published reports, over 3,000 small children required emergency care last year after swallowing a button battery. Medical professionals warn that ingesting a battery of any kind can have serious consequences, from suffocation to choking, even causing death. Furthermore, because batteries carry an electrical current, they can cause a chemical reaction with liquids, including saliva, resulting in serious internal burns. The small batteries can also become lodged in a nasal passage or an ear.

Warning Signs that Your Child May Have Swallowed a Battery

Here are some telltale signs that your child has ingested a button battery:

Excessive drooling
Hoarseness
Vomiting, gagging or any difficulty swallowing
Complaints of chest or abdominal pain
Sudden crying
Bloody saliva or stools

Doctors advise against giving your child anything to eat or drink if you suspect that the child has swallowed a battery. Don’t try the Heimlich, either—take the child to an emergency medical facility as soon as possible.

Contact the Law Offices of Gregg A. Wisotsky

The Standard of Care in a Negligence Lawsuit

February 8, 2017 by gwisotsky Leave a Comment

When you suffer a needless injury because of the careless acts of another person, there are a number of different legal theories that may be used to pursue compensation for your losses. In most instances, however, your claim will be based on an allegation of “negligence.” Negligence is a legal term, with specific elements that must be proven in court:

You must show that the defendant breached an accepted “standard of care”
You must show a causal link between the defendant’s conduct and your injury
You must show that you suffered actual losses as a result of the accident

The Standard of Care

As the common law of negligence has evolved, the courts have established and reinforced the concept that everyone has a duty, in everything they do, to exercise a certain level of care. Whether you are behind the wheel of a motor vehicle, maintaining steps or stairs, designing or operating a power tool, or manufacturing a consumer product, it is expected that you will exercise a certain minimal level of care, so as not to pose an unreasonable risk to others. The standard in New Jersey, as in other states, is fairly general – you must act as a “reasonable person” would.

Some states have narrowed that definition a little, holding that a reasonable person is an “average person of ordinary prudence.” The ultimate determination of whether a defendant breached a duty of care rests with the jury, though. Juries are tasked with determining the facts in a case, and whether or not the defendant acted reasonably is considered an issue of fact.

Click here to learn about causation in a personal injury lawsuit.

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The Common Types of Construction Site Injuries

January 5, 2017 by gwisotsky Leave a Comment

Though the common perception is that medical errors are few and far between, recent studies seem to indicate otherwise. One report found that nearly every American will receive an incorrect diagnosis at some point in their lives. Medical industry watchdogs say the factors that most often contribute to misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose are:

Negligence or carelessness caused by fatigue or understaffing
Miscommunication between doctors, nurses and patients
An unwillingness by doctors to acknowledge or discuss errors that are made

Far too often, according to much research, doctors and nurses don’t include the patient in critical discussions, and make diagnostic assessments without gathering adequate information from the patient. They stress the need to talk directly to the patient and learn about symptoms, rather than simply relying on medical tests.

Critics also point to what they call a “culture of silence” among medical professionals—the idea that, when mistakes are made, they cannot be discussed. They say that just the opposite approach is necessary—that the best way to learn from mistakes is to fully discuss them, so that others don’t end up making the same errors.

The studies have not been limited to misdiagnoses, though. One report found that in one of every 10,000 surgeries, some tool or product is wrongfully left in a body cavity, and that surgeons perform the wrong surgery or operate on the wrong body part in one of every 100,000 cases. Critics say the reasons for such errors mirror those for misdiagnosis—poor communication, overworked doctors and a "hush-hush" atmosphere about mistakes.

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The Different Types of Expert Witnesses in a Car Accident Claim

Accident Reconstruction Specialists

Medical Expert

Financial or Economics Expert

Contact the Law Offices of Gregg A. Wisotsky

Slips and Falls on Snow and Ice in New Jersey

Contact the Law Offices of Gregg A. Wisotsky

The Timeline in a Personal Injury Lawsuit – Part Two

The Motion Phase of a Personal Injury Lawsuit

Dispositive Motions

Evidentiary Motions

Contact the Law Offices of Gregg A. Wisotsky

Strict Liability in New Jersey

Contact Me

The Timeline in a Personal Injury Lawsuit—Part One

Commencing a Personal Injury Action

The Discovery Period

Contact the Law Offices of Gregg A. Wisotsky

New Jersey Statute of Limitations on Personal Injury

Contact My Office

Establishing Causation in a Personal Injury Action

Actual (“But For”) Cause

Proximate Cause

Contact Me

Watch Out for Products with Button Batteries

Warning Signs that Your Child May Have Swallowed a Battery

Contact the Law Offices of Gregg A. Wisotsky

The Standard of Care in a Negligence Lawsuit

The Standard of Care

Contact the Law Offices of Gregg A. Wisotsky

The Common Types of Construction Site Injuries

Contact Attorney Gregg A. Wisotsky

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