Category: Personal Injury Claims

A Burlington County jury recently returned a verdict in favor of my client, finding that the Florence Township Board of Education and its school bus driver were partially responsible for an incident that occurred at the corner of Delaware Avenue and Railroad Avenue in Florence Township, New Jersey.

I wanted to let readers of my blog know that the injury lawyers of my firm are now investigating potential Heparin injury claims on behalf of those hurt by the administration of contaminated batches of the drug. The government issued a Heparin recall earlier this year after more than 80 people died and hundreds more suffered sever allergic reactions to the tainted blood thinning drug.

When did judges become jurors? Or put a better way, when did the New Jersey Supreme Court overrule Brill and empower trial judges to become the deciders of the facts, obviscating the need for jury trials? Read More about When Will Trial and Appellate Courts Stop Usurping the Role of the Jury?

The New Jersey Supreme Court held that a non-physician expert was qualified to testify regarding medical cause of a worker’s injury. In Clark v. Safety-Kleen Corp., 179 N.J. 318, 845 A.2d 578 (2004), the Court held that a non-physician research chemist was qualified to testify regarding the medical cause of a workers injury. The Plaintiff in Clark developed an infection after a cut on his finger was exposed to a certain chemical. The Appellate Division reversed, holding that it was an error to permit the chemist to testify regarding medical causation, since this opinion was beyond the scope of the expert’s qualifications. Read More about Non-physician expert qualified to testify

I was recently contacted to review a file on behalf of a woman injured in a bus incident. The accident had occurred a number of years ago and suit had already been filed in the United States District Court. In order to learn a little about the case before conducting an in-depth interview, I asked the individual to please send me copies of whatever medical records and legal pleadings she had in her possession. Unfortunately, the medical reports which were sent for review were on their face insufficient to meet the legal requirements necessary to succeed.

While the physician was able to document an impairment, he was unable to causally relate that impairment to the specific traumatic incident, simply stating “it is possible that the incident was the cause.”

Under our legal standards, an expert’s opinion must be based on a reasonable degree of medical probability or certainty (the case of a medical expert) or to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty. The use of the term possible was fatal.

In any personal injury case, it is essential that the plaintiff have an expert causally relate the injury to the specific traumatic event. In other words, in bringing a personal injury case, a plaintiff must have a doctor, not necessarily a physician, state to a reasonable degree of medical, psychological or scientific certainty that the plaintiff suffered an injury that was causally related to the specific incident.

As a result of our experience and through careful assessment and preparation, Stark & Stark’s personal injury lawyers have been able to help victims and their families obtain cash settlements for lost wages, medical expenses and pain and suffering.

Our personal injury practice is one of the largest in Central New Jersey. As many as 2,000 clients per year are assisted by our lawyers in personal injury matters and every case is supervised by a certified trial lawyer.

Our areas of practice include automobile accidents, birth injuries, construction accidents, traumatic brain injury, product liability, medical malpractice, motorcycle accidents, nursing home negligence, on the job injuries, slip and fall accidents and many more.