What You Need to Know About Restaurant Liability in New Jersey

Reviewed by Daniel P. McNerney, Esq.

If you are someone who was recently injured in a restaurant accident in New Jersey, you may require compensation to cover the cost of your medical bills, lost wages, and more. Unfortunately, there are endless ways to sustain an injury while simply dining out with friends and family or even grabbing a bite to eat from a takeout menu. While many people enjoy a night off from cooking every once in a while, if you suffer injuries while eating at a restaurant, you may suffer serious injuries and damages as a result. Please continue reading and speak with our experienced New Jersey personal injury attorneys to learn more about restaurant liability in New Jersey and how we can help you recover the compensation you deserve. Here are some of the questions you may have:

What are the most common causes of restaurant injuries?

Restaurant injuries occur for a wide variety of reasons, though they are most commonly due to the negligence of restaurant management or staff. Some of the most common types of restaurant injuries our firm sees include:

• Burns caused by extremely hot plates of food
• Food poisoning
• Slips and falls due to spills or wet floors recently cleaned that are not adequately marked with a wet floor sign
• Trips and falls due to insufficient or poor lighting ultimately make it more difficult for patrons and diners to see potential hazards
• Faulty or defective broken steps and stairways
• Dangerous restaurant parking lots
• Inadequate security

Who is responsible for a restaurant accident?

New Jersey requires property owners to ensure their property is reasonably safe for all lawful guests. Typically, this means the property owner must conduct routine inspections of the property and remedy any hazards that may be present. Failure to conduct these inspections or delays in fixing dangerous conditions can result in serious injuries for patrons of the establishment. In accordance with New Jersey premises liability case law, business owners owe “business invitees” the highest duty of care. Essentially, anyone who enters a commerical property to conduct business owes this duty.

To hold a restaurant responsible and qualify for compensation, you will have to hire an experienced New Jersey personal injury attorney who can gather and present enough evidence to satisfy the burden of proof. Simply put, you must demonstrate that you were injured as a direct result of another party’s negligence by proving that the restaurant owner or staff knew or should have reasonably known about the unsafe restaurant conditions, failed to fix them, and that you were injured and incurred significant damages as a result.

How do I satisfy the burden of proof?

This is not always easy, which is why you need an attorney who has been doing so for years. No matter the accident, if you are injured, you should not have to bear the financial burden of these matters, especially when you are injured due to the negligence of another party. We will use various types of evidence to verify your claim, including:

• Witness testimony and statements
• Pictures of the safety hazard that caused your injuries
• Surveillance or security camera footage of the accident as it happened
• A copy of the incident report filed at the scene of the accident
• Medical documents detailing the extent of your injuries

Hiring an experienced attorney can make all the difference, so do not wait to build your case.

How long will I have to sue a restaurant for my injuries in New Jersey?

In order to recover the compensation you deserve, you must ensure that you file your personal injury claim within the state’s statute of limitations. Since the statute of limitations for personal injury claims in New Jersey is, under most circumstances, two years, you will, generally, have two years from the date of your accident to sue the party responsible for your injuries.

If you wait any longer than two years to sue, however, you will likely face a permanent bar on pursuing compensation, meaning you will be ineligible to recover the compensation and justice you deserve for the damages you have suffered. As such, though two years may seem like ample time, it is in your best interest to file a personal injury claim as soon as possible. To avoid missing any important deadlines, our firm can begin the claims process today—all you have to do is give us a call. This rigid timeline is strictly enforced under New Jersey Statutes Annotated Section 2A:14-2.