Personal injury
When someone else's carelessness hurt you
A personal injury claim is about one question: did someone fail to act with reasonable care, and did that failure injure you. Everything else, the forms, the adjusters, the deadlines, follows from that.
What you actually have to prove
Four things, in plain terms. That the other person owed you a duty to be careful. That they fell short of it. That their shortfall caused your injury. And that the injury cost you something, in medical bills, lost pay, or the effect on your life.
Most disputes are not about the first two. They are about causation and the value of what you lost, which is where medical records and documentation do the heavy lifting.
Being partly at fault does not necessarily end it
All three states use a version of modified comparative negligence. Your damages are reduced by your share of the fault, and above a cutoff you recover nothing.
| State | Rule | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | You may recover if you are 50% or less at fault. At more than 50%, you recover nothing. | Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.001 |
| New Jersey | You may recover if your negligence was not greater than the defendant's. Damages reduced by your share. | N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1 |
| Pennsylvania | You may recover if your negligence was not greater than the defendant's. The Fair Share Act limits when a defendant pays beyond its own share. | 42 Pa.C.S. § 7102 |
These are often loosely called "51% bar" states. The statutes actually say greater than 50%, which means a person found exactly 50% at fault still recovers.
Car crashes work very differently in each state
This is the single biggest source of confusion, because the three states sit at three different points on the spectrum. If you moved recently, or you were hurt while travelling, the rules that apply are probably not the ones you are used to.
Texas: at-fault
The driver who caused the crash is responsible. Minimum liability coverage is $30,000 per injured person, $60,000 per crash, and $25,000 for property damage (Tex. Transp. Code § 601.072). Personal Injury Protection must be offered to you, and only drops off the policy if you rejected it in writing (Tex. Ins. Code § 1952.152). Many Texans have PIP without realising it. It pays medical costs and a portion of lost income regardless of who caused the crash.
New Jersey: no-fault, and the choice you probably forgot making
Your own PIP coverage pays your medical bills first, whoever caused the crash. Whether you can sue for pain and suffering depends on a tort option you selected when you bought the policy (N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8):
- Limitation on lawsuit (the "verbal threshold"): you can only recover for pain and suffering if the injury falls into one of six categories, being death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement or scarring, a displaced fracture, loss of a fetus, or a permanent injury. Cheaper premium, much harder claim.
- No limitation on lawsuit: full right to recover. Higher premium.
Under N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8.1(b), a driver who does not elect in writing is deemed to have selected the verbal threshold, the more restrictive option. Pennsylvania's default runs the opposite way. Check your declarations page.
As of 1 January 2026, New Jersey's Standard Policy minimum liability limits rose to $35,000 / $70,000 / $25,000, the final step of P.L. 2022, c. 87. Note that New Jersey also allows a Basic Policy, which carries far less and includes no bodily injury liability coverage at all unless the driver bought the optional $10,000 of it.
Pennsylvania: limited tort or full tort
Same structure as New Jersey, opposite default. Under 75 Pa.C.S. § 1705, a limited tort election keeps your right to economic losses but bars recovery for pain and suffering unless you suffered a "serious injury", defined as death, serious impairment of a body function, or permanent serious disfigurement.
Limited tort has exceptions that restore your full rights, including where the at-fault driver was convicted of or accepted ARD for DUI in that crash, was driving a vehicle registered in another state, intended to cause injury, or was uninsured. These are routinely missed.
Pennsylvania's minimum liability limits remain $15,000 / $30,000 / $5,000 (75 Pa.C.S. § 1702) and the minimum medical benefit is $5,000 (§ 1711). If you did not sign an election, Pennsylvania deems you full tort (§ 1705(a)(3)).
Deadlines
Two years is the general rule for a personal injury lawsuit in all three states. The exceptions are where people get hurt.
What the insurance adjuster is doing
Being polite and being on your side are different things. An adjuster works for the insurer. Two things worth knowing before you talk to one:
- A recorded statement taken days after a crash, before you know the extent of your injuries, tends to get quoted back later.
- An early offer usually arrives before anyone knows what your treatment will cost, and accepting it typically closes the claim for good.
It is not legal advice and it is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Your own deadlines and options depend on facts this page cannot know.