Plainfield, NJ Personal Injury Lawyer

If you were hurt in Plainfield because someone else was careless, here is the short version of what comes next: you get medical care first, your own auto insurance pays your early medical bills if it was a crash, the other side’s insurance company will start calling, and you have two years from the accident to file a lawsuit in New Jersey. A personal injury lawyer in Plainfield, NJ steps in between you and that insurance process, so you can focus on healing while someone else handles the calls, the paperwork, and the deadlines.

Birkhold & Maider is a New Jersey personal injury firm that represents people from Plainfield and the rest of Union County. Our office is in Montclair, and we come to you when you cannot come to us, at home or at the hospital. Every person on our team, from the first phone call through your paralegal and your attorney, works in English and Spanish. The case evaluation is free, and you pay nothing unless we recover money for you.

What a personal injury lawyer in Plainfield actually does for you

The legal side of an injury claim is mostly paperwork, phone calls, and negotiation. The hard part is that it arrives at the worst possible time, while you are in pain, missing work, and trying to get your car back. This is what we take off your plate:

• Insurance calls. Once you hire us, the insurance adjusters call us, not you. You do not give a recorded statement without your attorney on the line.
• Medical bills. We sort out which insurance pays which bill, including bills from before you hired us, and we work with providers to reduce balances at the end of the case so more of the settlement stays with you.
• Evidence. We request the Plainfield police report, pull traffic or store camera footage before it is erased, photograph the scene, and find witnesses. We do our own investigation instead of relying on what the insurance company chooses to share.
• Deadlines. New Jersey’s two-year filing limit, the 90-day notice for claims against the city or county, and every insurance notice requirement in between are tracked by us, not you.
• Negotiation and, if needed, trial. We know what policy limits are in play (the most an insurance policy will pay) and how adjusters value a claim. When a fair offer is not on the table, we file in the Superior Court and take the case forward. Our team includes a certified civil trial attorney, so filing suit is a real option, not a bluff.

You work with one attorney from the day you sign to the day the case ends, supported by a paralegal you can reach by phone or text. We call you with updates before you have to wonder, and we never accept an offer or take a step without your informed consent.

Where people get hurt in Plainfield

Plainfield is a dense city of about 57,000 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, with commuter rail, county highways, and Route 22 all running through or along it.

Car, truck, and pedestrian crashes

Union County’s Safe Streets for All study put two Plainfield corridors on its High Injury Network: County Route 601 (East and West Seventh Street) with five killed-or-seriously-injured crashes over less than a mile, and County Route 620 (Front Street) with five more over a similar stretch, according to the county’s High Injury Network report. Park Avenue (CR 531) is also on the county’s priority list for safety improvements. Add the Route 22 corridor, where NJDOT has documented crash rates above the statewide average, and the traffic around the Plainfield and Netherwood train stations, and you have most of the car accident, commercial truck, and pedestrian cases we see from the city. Rideshare crashes are a particular focus of our practice; if you were a passenger, a rideshare driver, or hit by one, the insurance picture is more complicated than a normal crash and worth a conversation early.

Slip and fall and other property injuries

Falls happen on unshoveled sidewalks along Front Street, in the aisles of grocery stores along Route 22, on apartment building stairs, and in parking lots. Who is responsible depends on the type of property and who controls it; a business, a residential landlord, and a homeowner are held to different standards. Our slip and fall and premises liability pages explain who can be held responsible and what evidence matters, starting with photos of the hazard taken the same day.

Injuries at work

If you were hurt on the job in Plainfield, whether on a construction site, in a warehouse, in a kitchen, or making a delivery, workers’ compensation benefits are available regardless of who was at fault. When someone other than your employer caused the injury, such as a driver who hit you while you were making a delivery or a subcontractor on a construction site, you may also have a separate injury claim against that third party. We handle both together so the two claims do not work against each other.

Dog bites, serious injuries, and loss

Under N.J.S.A. 4:19-16, a dog owner is responsible for a bite regardless of whether the dog had ever been aggressive before, so you do not have to prove the owner knew the dog was dangerous. Our dog bite page covers what to document. We also represent people with brain injuries and burn injuries, and families bringing wrongful death claims after losing someone. Those cases take longer because the medical picture takes longer to settle, and we walk you through that timeline at the first meeting.

Plainfield-specific practicalities

Getting your police report

If Plainfield police responded to your crash, the report is handled by the Police Division’s Records Unit at headquarters on East 5th Street, open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and crash reports can be ordered online through the CrashDocs portal linked on that page. If a different agency responded, we track down that report as well. If no report was filed at all, your case is not over; we build the record from photos, medical records, witness statements, and the other driver’s insurance information. Once we are retained, we order the report for you.

Where a Plainfield injury case is filed

Lawsuits for Plainfield injuries are generally filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Union County, at the Union County Courthouse at 2 Broad Street in Elizabeth. Filing suit does not mean a trial is certain; it is often what moves an insurance company from a low offer to a fair one. Discovery, the stage where both sides exchange records and take sworn statements, takes longer than most people expect, and the honest reason is that the court’s calendar and the insurance company’s pace are not things you or we fully control.

Medical treatment

Go to the emergency room or urgent care the day you are hurt, even if you feel mostly fine. Whether you were seen at the emergency department in Plainfield or at a hospital in a neighboring town, the first record of your injury matters for the whole case. After that, you can treat with your own doctor. In a car crash, your own auto policy’s Personal Injury Protection (PIP) pays medical bills first regardless of fault; our PIP explainer walks through how that works.

New Jersey rules that shape a Plainfield case

These are the rules that come up in nearly every case we handle in Union County. Each is a reason to get answers early, not a reason to panic.

• Two years to file. Under N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2, an injury lawsuit generally must be filed within two years of the accident. Waiting also costs evidence: camera footage is overwritten and witnesses move. Our post on how long you have to file covers the exceptions.
• 90 days for claims against a public entity. If a city truck, a county road defect, a school bus, or a police vehicle was involved, New Jersey’s Tort Claims Act requires a written notice of claim within 90 days under N.J.S.A. 59:8-8. Missing that deadline can end the claim before it starts. This is the single most important reason to call quickly after a crash involving any government vehicle or property.
• Shared fault reduces, and can bar, recovery. New Jersey uses modified comparative negligence under N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1: your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault, and if you are found more than 50 percent at fault you recover nothing. Insurance companies push fault onto injured people for exactly this reason. Read more in our guide to comparative negligence in New Jersey.
• Your own policy may limit your right to sue. Many New Jersey auto policies include the “limitation on lawsuit” option, sometimes called the verbal threshold. Under N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8, it means you can sue for pain and suffering only if your injury falls into one of the categories the law lists, such as a displaced fracture, significant scarring, or a permanent injury confirmed by a doctor. Our post on New Jersey’s no-fault rules explains the threshold in plain terms.
• Policy limits cap what is available. Case value depends on the severity of the injury and on how much insurance exists. New Jersey’s minimum liability coverage rose to $35,000 per person and $70,000 per accident for policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2026, per the Department of Banking and Insurance. If the driver who hit you carries only the minimum, that number can cap your recovery, so we check your own underinsured motorist coverage, the part of your policy that steps in when the other driver’s insurance is not enough, in every case.

Hablamos español, de principio a fin

More than half of Plainfield’s residents are Hispanic or Latino. For many of our Plainfield clients, the first question is not about the law. It is whether they can explain what happened in their own words and understand the answer.

Yes. Our intake team, paralegals, and attorneys are fluent in Spanish, so your entire case can happen in Spanish: the first call, the medical paperwork, the updates, and the settlement explanation. Your immigration status does not affect your right to bring a personal injury or workers’ compensation claim in New Jersey, and it does not change how we treat you. Puede llamarnos y contarnos lo que pasó, en español, sin costo y sin compromiso. Also see our Spanish-language page.

What our clients say

“Extremely professional. I worked with Bob Maider. He negotiated a very good settlement. I would highly recommend him to anyone that is looking for a lawyer and a field that he practices.” Barbara R.

“No words can describe how amazing they are. I had a problem after I settled and they still took care of it. Highly recommended!!!” Michael A.

“La verdad, un gran servicio. […] Birkhold & Maider, LLC me solucionaron el caso profesionalmente. Excelente servicio y muy recomendable.” Mathuel

More reviews are on our client reviews page.

Results in cases like yours

Our documented results include a $2.5 million settlement for a woman struck by a commercial van who needed two spinal surgeries, $1.875 million for a man T-boned at an intersection who needed a cervical fusion, $750,000 for a tractor-trailer driver with spinal injuries, and $600,000 for a real estate agent who fell down steps at a rental showing. We also have many six-figure recoveries in slip and fall and car crash cases, including a $115,000 dog bite settlement for a package handler bitten during a delivery. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes; every case depends on its own injuries, evidence, and insurance coverage.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a personal injury lawyer in Plainfield, NJ cost?

Nothing up front. We work on a contingency fee, which means our fee is a percentage of what we recover for you, and if we do not recover anything, you do not owe us attorney’s fees. The case evaluation is free, in English or Spanish.

How much is my Plainfield injury case worth?

It depends on two things more than anything else: how serious and lasting your injury is, and how much insurance coverage exists on the other side and on your own policy. A case with surgery and a commercial policy is valued very differently from a soft-tissue injury against a minimum-limits driver. We give you an honest range once we have your medical records and the policy information, not before. Our guide to calculating a claim’s worth explains the factors.

How long will my case take?

A case usually cannot be valued, let alone settled, until you finish treatment, because nobody knows what the injury is worth until doctors know how you will heal. A case that settles without a lawsuit moves faster; a case in litigation takes considerably longer because of discovery and court scheduling. We tell you which path your case is on and why, and we update you before you need to ask. See how long a car accident case takes.

Do I have to use my own insurance if the crash was not my fault?

For medical bills after a car crash, yes. New Jersey is a no-fault state for medical expenses, so your own PIP coverage pays first. Your car damage can go through the at-fault driver’s insurer or your own collision coverage, and your injury claim for pain, lost wages, and other losses goes against the at-fault driver. Whether a PIP claim affects your rates depends on your insurer and your policy; that is something we can look at with you.

What if there was no police report?

You can still have a case. We use photos, medical records, witness statements, video from nearby businesses, and the other driver’s insurance information to establish what happened. Call sooner rather than later so that evidence can be preserved.

Why does the law firm ask for my Social Security number?

We need it to identify your insurance claims and to check whether any government program has paid medical bills that must be accounted for at settlement. We store it securely and use it only for your case. If you do not have one, tell us; it does not stop you from bringing a claim.

Can I still bring a claim if I am undocumented?

Yes. Immigration status does not affect your right to recover for a personal injury or to receive workers’ compensation benefits in New Jersey, and it is not something we ask about to decide whether to take your case.

Tell Us What Happened

If you or a family member was hurt in Plainfield, you do not have to figure out the insurance system on your own. Call 973-319-7795 any time, day or night, or send us a message, and a person will call you back. We will listen, tell you honestly whether you have a case, and explain what happens next, in English or in Spanish. The evaluation is free, there is no obligation, and if we take your case, you pay nothing unless we recover for you.

Cuéntenos lo que pasó. La consulta es gratis y en español.