The New Jersey Traumatic Brain Injury Fund – An Overview

If you or someone you love has suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI), your needs can be great. You may require long-term and constant care, may need to have your home retrofitted to meet your needs, and may have to have in-home continual care. When insurance, public assistance and personal resources are inadequate to meet your needs, the state of New Jersey offers help through the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Fund.

To be eligible for assistance through the TBI Fund, you must first have medical proof of a traumatic brain injury. The injury can be open or closed head, but you must be able to demonstrate impairment of brain function. Furthermore, the brain injury must be the result of trauma—congenital or degenerative conditions will not qualify you for benefits. In addition, you must document that you have been a legal resident in New Jersey for at least three months (90 days), and that you have liquid assets (bank accounts, CDs, stocks and bonds) of no more than $100,000.

If you qualify for help from the TBI Fund, you can seek money for a number of services or needs, including:

• Neurological treatment or cognitive therapy
• Speech, occupational or physical therapy
• Home remodeling
• Medication
• In-home assistive technology

To initiate an application for benefits, you can contact the TBI Fund program manager in Mercerville, New Jersey. As a general rule, once you have submitted an application for benefits, you will be assigned a case manager, who will determine both your needs and your eligibility.

Contact Our Office

At Taylor & Boguski, we bring more than 70 years of combined legal experience to injured people throughout New Jersey. For a free initial consultation, contact our office online or call us at 856-234-2233.

What is the Duty if Hazard is Readily Apparent?

The Illinois state legislature is hearing debate on a bill that would provide more protection to persons injured on the property of others. In Illinois, as in other states, a landowner generally has a duty to maintain residential or commercial premises so as to minimize the risk of injury to anyone legally on the property. The Illinois statute mandates “reasonable care” on the part of landowners, but a 2003 court case held that conditions that are “open and obvious” do not fall under this duty. The proposed law is an effort to change that.

As the law is currently interpreted in Illinois, a judge or jury can decide that no duty was owed by a landowner if the condition causing injury was “open and obvious.” The statute, if enacted, would limit the application of the “open and obvious” exclusion to a determination of the degree of comparative fault. In other words, the landowner would still owe the duty, but the extent to which the landowner would be liable could be reduced by the degree to which the hazard was “open and obvious.”

The “open and obvious” defense has long been recognized in New Jersey, but has often been ignored or disregarded by the courts. In 2009, however, in the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, the court heard and ruled on the validity of the defense in a case involving the owner of a single family home.

In Donohue v. Polozzo, the injured party fell down the stairs to the basement of a house and sought damages, arguing that the absence of a handrail was the cause of the fall. The homeowner argued at trial that the absence of the handrail was obvious, and that the injured party (who had lived at the residence for 10 months) knew about the condition. Therefore, it was open and obvious, and no duty was owed. The trial court agreed, and the decision was affirmed on appeal.

Contact Taylor & Boguski

At Taylor & Boguski, we bring more than 70 years of combined legal experience to injured people throughout New Jersey. For a free initial consultation, contact our office online or call us at 856-200-8989.

Critics Say Intersection and Road Design Increase Risk to Pedestrians

Pedestrian injuries and fatalities have been steadily on the rise since 2009, with an increase of nearly 650 pedestrian deaths nationwide in just three years. A study by the National Complete Streets Coalition found that nearly 50,000 pedestrians were killed in motor vehicle accidents between 2003 and 2012, and nearly 700,000 injured. One of the principal reasons, according to personal injury lawyers and accident reconstruction specialists—more American roadways and intersections are being designed to enhance motor vehicle traffic, at the expense of the lives of pedestrians.

The Corner Curve

The vast majority of pedestrian accidents involve people who are struck by a vehicle while legally in a corner crosswalk, and most of those happen when the motorist makes a turn and strikes the pedestrian. Authorities say that changes in the design of corners and crosswalks have exacerbated this problem, pointing to the trend to “shorten” a corner by changing it from primarily square to curved. The increased curve is designed to make it easier and faster for a car to turn a corner.

The increased speed with which many motorists now take those corners makes it more difficult for them to stop for a pedestrian. With the older, square corner, motorists were required to slow down before negotiating a turn, but the newer curved corners eliminate the need to do that.

The Absence of Sidewalks

Another modern trend—the absence of sidewalks, especially in more affluent neighborhoods. Critics point out that those neighborhoods tend to see higher rates of speed, as houses are farther apart. In addition, the modern trend has been toward narrower roads, again in suburbs and more affluent neighborhoods. The combination of narrow roads, high speeds and the absence of a shoulder or sidewalk significantly increases the risk to anyone on foot.

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At Taylor & Boguski, we bring more than 70 years of combined legal experience to injured people throughout New Jersey. For a free initial consultation, contact our office online or call us at 856-234-2233.

Slip and Fall Injuries in New Jersey—What is the Duty of a Property Owner Regarding Snow and Ice?

If you live in New Jersey, you expect that the area will be blanketed with snow at some point during the winter, and you know that ice storms and icy sidewalks can be a common hazard from October into April. But it begs the question—what are the duties of a landowner with regard to snow and ice?

Under the common law of New Jersey, the owner of residential or commercial property has a duty to maintain the premises so as to minimize the risk of injury to anyone legally on the property. This requires the property owner to act as a reasonable person would—to reasonably monitor the premises for potential injury risks, and to take reasonable measures to either remedy the situation or warn visitors of the potential risks? What does this require a property owner to do with respect to snow and ice?

Interestingly, the rules are somewhat different depending on whether the property is residential property (essentially single-family dwellings) or commercial property—multiple dwellings are generally viewed as commercial property for purposes of liability for snow and ice removal. With a single-family, private residence, there is generally no duty to remove snow/ice or to warn others of the potential for accumulation or injury due to ice/snow, as people using the property are typically not what is known as “business invitees.”

A business invitee is a person who is on property for commercial purposes, who has essentially been “invited” to the property by the property owner to potentially engage in a business transaction. Because the owner or operator of business/commercial property is considered to have encouraged or enticed the business invitee to come onto the property, the duty to keep the business invitee free from injury is higher. Accordingly, properties that house commercial enterprises, including apartment complexes, require the owner or manager to take reasonable steps to monitor and remediate potentially dangerous situations. To recover for injuries, a person must show that the commercial property owner either knew or should have known of the likelihood of injury.

As a general rule, courts have held that the accumulation of snow is reasonably foreseeable in New Jersey, as is the likelihood of melting snow refreezing overnight. Accordingly, a commercial property owner must take reasonable steps to prevent the accumulation of snow and/or ice, or will be liable for any injuries that result. In addition, when a property owner has a duty to remove snow or ice, the property owner must exercise reasonable care when doing so. This means taking action that is reasonable both as to timeliness and effectiveness.

Contact Taylor & Boguski

At Taylor & Boguski, we have more than 70 years of combined experience representing injured people across New Jersey. For a free initial consultation, send us an e-mail or call us at 856-234-2233.

What is a Medical Caregiver’s Duty?

As a general rule, most personal injury claims are based on a legal theory of negligence. For a defendant’s actions to be considered negligent, a jury must find that the conduct was less than what a reasonable person would have done in the same situation. A “reasonable” person is customarily identified as an “average person of ordinary prudence.”

The standard, however, is different in medical malpractice cases. Because of the extensive training they receive, and because of the potential risk if proper procedures are not followed, medical caregivers are held to a much higher standard. In New Jersey, that standard is determined by looking at the generally accepted practices and procedures of all medical caregivers

• In the same geographic location
• With the same amount of experience and training
• In the same specialized field
• Treating the same type of condition
• Other factors that the medic al professional should reasonably have known might have an effect on treatment, such as age or overall health of the patient

In a medical malpractice trial, the jury (or the trier of fact) has the responsibility for determining what the appropriate standard of care was, as well as whether or not the defendant breached that standard of care. Because juries generally lack knowledge of medical standards, it is customary for the parties at trial to introduce expert testimony regarding the standard of care. Typically, both the plaintiff and the defendant will bring in other medical professionals with experience in the specific procedures relevant to the case, and the jury will be required to determine both the standard of care and whether it was met.

Contact Our Office

At Taylor & Boguski, we bring more than 70 years of combined legal experience to injured people throughout New Jersey. For a free initial consultation, contact our office online or call us at 856-234-2233.

Mental or Emotional Injury in New Jersey

When you have suffered a physical injury because of someone else’s carelessness or negligence, the measure of your losses can be pretty straightforward. Things become far more complicated when most of the injury is emotional or psychological. You have a right, though, to pursue damages if the wrongful acts of another person caused you unnecessary stress, anxiety or mental anguish.

The Types of Injuries that Typically Involve Emotional or Psychological Injury

In some situations, the injury is almost exclusively emotional or mental. For example, if you have been subjected to sexual harassment at work, particularly when the harassment results from the creation of a hostile environment based on sex, there may be no physical scars, but the emotional trauma can stay with you for years. You may have suffered no physical injury in an accident, but witnessed great suffering (or even the death) of a loved one.

Often, though, emotional or psychological injury occurs in tandem with physical injury. The disfigurement or permanent scarring resulting from a personal injury may cause you embarrassment, shame or humiliation. After a motor vehicle accident, you may be unable or unwilling to get in a car for a long period of time. It’s not uncommon for most victims of negligence to experience a form of post-traumatic stress disorder after suffering injury because of the carelessness of another person.

The source of emotional, mental or psychological injury can also be physical injury. The human brain is a delicate organ. In almost any type of trauma, from a motor vehicle accident to a slip and fall, there is risk that you will either injure or damage your brain, even when you have little or no other physical injury.

Contact the Law Office of Taylor & Boguski

At Taylor & Boguski, we bring more than 70 years of combined legal experience to injured people throughout New Jersey. For a free initial consultation, contact our office online or call us at 856-234-2233.