In 2004, there was a car accident in Cherry Hill, NJ involving two Pennsylvania drivers. A lawsuit for the personal injury case was brought in Philadelphia, PA. The plaintiff chose full tort on his PA car insurance policy. In the Philadelphia court, the defendant filed a Summary Judgment motion arguing that the plaintiff should be subject to the New Jersey verbal threshold/limited tort restriction. The defendant also argued that the plaintiff did not meet the requirements of the NJ verbal threshold/limited tort law and that the plaintiff’s case should be dismissed before a jury has a chance to decide the Philadelphia personal injury case.
The Philadelphia court ruled that because the case was filed in Philadelphia and that the two people involved in the NJ car accident were from PA, that the plaintiff remains full tort.
This is a very complicated area of law involving PA and NJ civil procedure laws, conflicts laws, and personal injury laws. I believe that the Philadelphia judge made a good decision in this Philadelphia personal injury case because the case was filed in Philadelphia and both drivers were from Pennsylvania. It seems correct that PA car accident and PA auto insurance laws should apply. The plaintiff’s attorney in this matter made a wise decision to file the personal injury case in Philadelphia, as apposed to filing the personal injury case in Camden County, NJ.
The author of this Blog, Michael L. Saile, Jr., Esq. of Cordisco & Saile LLC, Attorneys-at-Law focuses his practice on fighting for plaintiffs’ personal injury and car accident victim’s rights in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We handle all serious injury cases including, car accidents (both limited and full tort), wrongful death, slip & fall downs, construction accidents, Septa, NJ Transit, and other cases other cases. We are located just outside of Philadelphia in lower Bucks County. We also handle Philadelphia plaintiffs’ personal injury and car accident cases. Please visit our personal injury only website at www.pa-nj-injurylawyer.com for more injury information
