Personal injury claims in New Jersey and Pennsylvania
How fault is apportioned, what your auto policy already decided for you, and the deadlines that end claims before they start.
The filing deadline
Both states give you two years from the date of the injury to file a personal injury lawsuit. New Jersey under N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2; Pennsylvania under 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524. Wrongful death claims run two years in both states as well.
Two years sounds generous and rarely is, because several things shorten it:
| Situation | New Jersey | Pennsylvania |
|---|---|---|
| Standard injury lawsuit | 2 years | 2 years |
| Claim against a public entity or employee | 90-day written notice N.J.S.A. 59:8-8, then suit within 2 years | 6-month notice 42 Pa.C.S. § 5522 |
| Injured person is a minor | Generally tolled until age 18 | Generally tolled until age 18 |
| Wrongful death | 2 years N.J.S.A. 2A:31-3 | 2 years |
The public-entity trap
A fall on a municipal sidewalk, a crash with a transit bus, an injury at a public school or a state hospital: these look like ordinary injury claims and they are not. The notice period is measured in days or months, not years, and it runs from the incident. A great many otherwise viable claims are lost here. If a government body of any kind might be involved, that is a reason to talk to a lawyer this week rather than next month.
Who pays when both people are partly at fault
Both states use modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar. Your recovery is reduced by your share of fault, and if your share is more than 50% you recover nothing. New Jersey at N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1, Pennsylvania at 42 Pa.C.S. § 7102.
In practice that means an insurer arguing you were 55% responsible is not haggling over the number, it is arguing you get nothing. Which is why the apportionment fight is often the whole case.
Car crashes: the choice already made for you
Pennsylvania: limited tort and full tort
Under 75 Pa.C.S. § 1705 every Pennsylvania auto policyholder elects one or the other. Full tort keeps an unrestricted right to sue for pain and suffering. Limited tort costs less and gives that right up, unless the injury is a "serious injury" as the policy defines it, or one of the statutory exceptions applies. Those exceptions are where the at-fault driver was convicted of or entered ARD for DUI in that crash, was driving a vehicle registered in another state, intended to cause the injury, or had no required financial responsibility; plus where you were occupying a vehicle that is not a private passenger vehicle, or the claim is against a designer, manufacturer or repairer over a defect.
Pennsylvania's minimum liability limits are also among the lowest in the country, which matters when the at-fault driver carries only the minimum and your medical bills do not care.
New Jersey: the verbal threshold
New Jersey policies carry either the unlimited right to sue or the limitation on lawsuit option, the latter universally called the verbal threshold (N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8). Under the verbal threshold you cannot recover for non-economic loss unless the injury falls into one of six categories: death, dismemberment, loss of a fetus, significant disfigurement or significant scarring, a displaced fracture, or a permanent injury.
That last one carries most of the weight in practice, and it has a specific meaning: a body part or organ that has not healed to function normally and will not heal to function normally with further treatment. It requires a physician's certification supported by objective clinical evidence, not just a patient's account of ongoing pain.
Minimum liability limits went up in New Jersey
Effective 1 January 2026, New Jersey's minimum auto liability limits rose to $35,000 per person, $70,000 per accident, and $25,000 property damage, under P.L.2022, c.87 and Department of Banking and Insurance Bulletin No. 25-06. If your crash predates that, the older minimums apply to the policy that was in force.
What we cannot tell you
Whether your injury clears the verbal threshold. Whether you elected limited tort. What your claim is worth. What your specific deadline is. Whether a government entity counts as a public entity in your situation. Every one of those requires applying the law to your facts, which is practising law. We are not lawyers and we will not guess, because a wrong guess here costs you the claim.
What we can do is make sure you know the questions exist, and help you write down what happened while it is fresh.