Hackensack Personal Injury Lawyer

Reinartz Law represents people injured by someone else's negligence in Hackensack and throughout Bergen County: car, truck, and motorcycle accidents, pedestrian and rideshare crashes, falls, dog bites, and defective products.

Our office at Court Plaza South on Main Street sits directly across from the Bergen County Justice Center, where these cases are filed and tried.

Consultations are free, and you pay nothing unless we recover for you.

Request a free case review today. The insurance company handling your claim already has lawyers. Having your own Hackensack personal injury attorney changes the game.

Why Choose Reinartz Law as Your Bergen County Personal Injury Attorney?

Credentials you can verify matter more than slogans, so here are ours. Richard Reinartz spent over a decade as a trial lawyer at two of the largest law firms in the United States before founding this firm.

That decade included both sides of the courtroom: injured plaintiffs on one, insurance companies and Fortune 500 defendants on the other. He knows how carriers build a defense because he built them.

His admissions include New Jersey, New York, the Supreme Court of the United States, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and the federal district courts for New Jersey and the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

Recognition he has received includes an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, selection to the Super Lawyers list every year since 2010, and life membership in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, limited to trial attorneys with recoveries above one million dollars.

Size is a feature here, not a limitation. Richard stays personally involved in the day-to-day handling of our cases, so the lawyer who evaluates your personal injury claim is the one negotiating it and, if needed, trying it.

The results reflect that background. Our recoveries include $550,000 for a construction accident causing a spinal injury, $300,000 in an industrial equipment product liability case, and $110,000 for a fingertip amputation caused by a negligently maintained machine.

Results may vary. Prior case outcomes do not guarantee similar results. Speak with our Bergen County personal injury lawyers about your situation with no obligation.

What Cases Does a Hackensack Personal Injury Lawyer Handle?

Reinartz Law handles injury claims caused by another party's negligence, with motor vehicle cases making up the core of the practice. Specifically, we represent people hurt in:

• Car accidents, including crashes on Routes 4, 17, and 80 and local Hackensack streets
• Truck and commercial vehicle accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Rideshare crashes involving Uber and Lyft coverage layers
• Pedestrian and bicycle accidents
• Falls and other premises liability injuries
• Dog bites, where New Jersey holds owners strictly liable
• Dangerous and defective products
• Construction accidents and workplace injuries caused by third parties

Car, Truck, and Motorcycle Accidents on Bergen County Roads

Motor vehicle crashes are our leading case type, and Bergen County's road network produces them in volume. Route 4, Route 17, and I-80 funnel some of the densest traffic in New Jersey through and around Hackensack.

Truck cases add a layer of evidence most drivers never see: electronic logging data, black box downloads, and federal maintenance records. The priority in those cases is a preservation letter before the carrier's rapid-response team gets a head start.

Motorcycle and pedestrian cases turn on fault reconstruction, because carriers lean hard on rider and walker blame. Comparative negligence math makes that blame worth real money to them.

Rideshare and Delivery Vehicle Crashes

Uber, Lyft, and delivery crashes hinge on which insurance layer was active at the moment of impact. Coverage shifts with the driver's app status: offline, waiting for a ride, or carrying a passenger, and the difference can be measured in hundreds of thousands of dollars of available coverage.

Carriers on these claims routinely point at each other while the injured person waits. We identify the active layer, put every carrier on notice, and keep the deadlines running against them instead of you.

Falls, Dog Bites, and Property Injuries

Property owners in New Jersey owe visitors a duty of reasonable care, and fall cases rise or fall on notice: what the owner knew, or should have known, about the hazard. Incident reports, camera footage, and prior complaints decide these claims, and footage gets overwritten quickly.

Dog bites are simpler by design. N.J.S.A. 4:19-16 holds owners strictly liable when their dog bites someone lawfully present, regardless of the animal's history.

Work Injuries With a Second Case Inside Them

When a job-site injury involves someone besides your employer, a negligent driver or subcontractor, for example, a personal injury lawsuit can run alongside the workers' compensation claim. We handle both under one roof and coordinate the comp carrier's lien so the recovery actually reaches you.

How Does an Injury Case Work at the Bergen County Justice Center?

Most injury claims settle without a lawsuit, but every strong personal injury settlement is built as if a trial is coming. Here is the path a Bergen County case follows when filing becomes necessary.

Step 1: Investigation and the Demand

We gather the police report, medical records, photographs, and witness accounts, then present a documented demand to the insurance carrier. The carrier's first offer tests whether you know what the claim is worth. Most first offers do not survive contact with real documentation.

The demand also frames the damages the carrier hopes you forget: future treatment costs, diminished earning capacity, and the daily-life losses that never appear on a bill. Complete framing early changes every number that follows.

Step 2: Filing Suit in Hackensack

Injury claims seeking more than $20,000 are filed in the Civil Division of the Superior Court, and Bergen County cases proceed at the Bergen County Justice Center at 10 Main Street in Hackensack. Our office faces that courthouse, and our Bergen County personal injury attorneys appear in its Civil Division as a routine part of practice.

Step 3: Discovery, Arbitration, and Trial

Both sides exchange evidence and take depositions. New Jersey then routes most injury cases through court-ordered, non-binding arbitration, which gives each side a preview of its risk, and either party can reject the award and demand a trial.

In contrast to the carrier's early posture, real numbers tend to appear once a jury date exists.

The primary reason to hire trial lawyers rather than settlement processors is leverage at exactly this stage. Carriers track which firms try cases. Find out what your case may be worth.

What Deadlines Apply to Personal Injury Claims in New Jersey?

You generally have two years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit in New Jersey. N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2 sets that limit, and a case filed on day one of year three is over before it starts, no matter how strong the facts.

Three variations catch people off guard:

• Public entity claims move much faster. If a government defendant is involved, a county vehicle, a city sidewalk, or a public school, the Tort Claims Act requires a formal Notice of Claim within 90 days of the accident. The claim then waits six months before suit can be filed, and a missed notice usually kills the case outright.
• Minors get more time. The two-year clock for an injured child is paused until the 18th birthday.
• The discovery rule can help. When an injury or its cause was not reasonably knowable right away, the clock can start when you knew or should have known.

Car accident cases carry one more wrinkle. New Jersey's no-fault system pays your medical bills through your own PIP coverage, and drivers who choose the limitation on lawsuit option must show a qualifying permanent injury before recovering pain and suffering damages.

Reading your own policy's threshold election is step one of any Hackensack crash case, and we do it in the first meeting. Wrongful death claims run on their own clock as well: two years from the date of death, not the date of the accident.

How Much Is a Bergen County Injury Case Worth?

Case value comes from documented damages, not formulas. Economic damages cover medical bills, future treatment, lost wages, and reduced earning capacity. Non-economic damages compensate for pain, suffering, and the ways the injury changed daily life.

An injured person's spouse may hold a claim of their own for the loss of services and companionship, and serious cases often require economists and life-care planners to prove future losses. Valuing a claim before those numbers exist is guessing.

Fault sharing matters too. New Jersey follows modified comparative negligence: your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault, and recovery is barred entirely if you are found more than 50 percent responsible.

Carriers exaggerate the victim's fault for exactly this reason, which makes early evidence preservation a money issue, not a technicality. A Bergen County injury lawyer who locks down the scene evidence in week one is protecting your percentage, and your percentage is your money.

Hackensack residents can meet us face to face across from the courthouse, and we walk clients through both damage categories with real numbers in the first conversation. Get answers today; consultations are free.

What Should You Do in the Weeks After an Injury?

The claim you present months from now is built from what you preserve today. A few habits protect it:

• Consider getting every symptom documented by a doctor promptly. Gaps in treatment become the carrier's favorite exhibit.
• Many claimants find it helpful to decline recorded statements to the other side's insurer until they have counsel.
• Keep photographs of injuries, vehicle damage, and the scene, plus the names of any witnesses.
• Consider saving every bill, wage stub, and out-of-pocket receipt. Economic damages are proven with paper.
• Do not sign medical authorizations or releases from the other side's carrier without a review.
• Consider notifying your own insurer promptly. PIP benefits pay your medical bills regardless of fault, and a late notice creates avoidable friction.

None of this requires confrontation. It keeps your options intact while you decide on representation.

Bergen County Personal Injury Questions Answered by Our Hackensack Attorneys

The First Move Is Smaller Than You Think

You do not have to decide anything today except whether to get informed. One conversation covers your deadlines, your insurance layers, and a realistic range for your claim, and it costs nothing.

Reinartz Law meets injured people by phone, video, or in person on Main Street in Hackensack, steps from the courthouse where Bergen County injury cases are decided. There is no fee unless we recover for you. Speak with our Hackensack attorneys today with no obligation to move forward.