New Jersey Casualty Study Guide

New Jersey auto insurance is unlike anything in the national curriculum. It is a choice no-fault state with two different policy forms, a lawsuit-threshold election, a dollar-a-day policy that exists almost nowhere else, and minimum limits that changed in January 2026. Add workers’ compensation that attaches from the very first employee and you have the whole state-law core of the casualty exam.

The limits changed — start here

New Jersey’s minimum auto liability limits rose on 1 January 2026 under P.L. 2022, c. 87:

Effective	Bodily injury, per person	Per accident	Property damage
2023 – 2025	$25,000	$50,000	$25,000
1 Jan 2026 onward	$35,000	$70,000	$25,000

35/70/25 is the current shorthand, and UM/UIM minimums moved in step. Any material still saying 25/50/25 was written before this year.

Choice no-fault, and two very different policies

Every Standard policy carries personal injury protection, which pays your own medical costs regardless of fault. On the Standard Policy, PIP is selectable from $15,000 up to $250,000, with $250,000 always available for certain catastrophic injuries. UM and UIM are mandatory — but the limits run the opposite way from the usual assumption. The floor is the statutory minimum (35/70 for policies issued or renewed on or after 1 January 2026); your own liability limits are the ceiling, because N.J.S.A. 17:28-1.1(b) provides that UM/UIM limits “shall not exceed the insured’s motor vehicle liability policy limits.”

The Basic Policy is a different animal, and it is best learned as a list of absences:

• PIP $15,000 — but up to $250,000 for permanent brain or spinal-cord injury, significant disfigurement, or immediate trauma-centre treatment
• Property damage liability fixed at $5,000
• Bodily injury liability is not included — it is an optional $10,000 for all persons per accident
• No UM or UIM is available at all

Because the system is no-fault, suing for pain and suffering requires clearing the verbal threshold if the insured elected the Limitation on Lawsuit option: death · loss of a fetus · dismemberment or loss of a body part · significant disfigurement or scarring · a displaced fracture · or a permanent injury. The No Limitation on Lawsuit option preserves full suit rights and costs more.

Comparative negligence — the 51% bar, stated precisely

New Jersey uses modified comparative negligence (N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1). A claimant recovers only if their negligence is not greater than the combined negligence of those they sue, and the award is reduced by the claimant’s share.

Read that carefully, because “51% bar” is shorthand for a comparison rather than a number. A claimant at exactly 50% still recovers — half of the damages. At 51% they recover nothing. And the comparison runs against the defendants combined, which helps the claimant in multi-defendant cases.

Workers’ compensation — no threshold at all

Nearly every state sets a floor before workers’ compensation becomes mandatory: three employees, four, five. New Jersey sets none. Every employer not covered by a federal programme must carry coverage or be an approved self-insurer, from the first employee. Failing to insure is a disorderly-persons offence — and a fourth-degree crime where the failure is knowing (N.J.S.A. 34:15-79).

Temporary total disability pays 70% of the average weekly wage, capped at 75% of the statewide average weekly wage and floored at 20% of it, after a 7-day waiting period that becomes retroactive if the disability runs beyond seven days, for up to 400 weeks (N.J.S.A. 34:15-12(a)).

An employer complies in one of three ways: buy from an authorised carrier, qualify as an approved self-insurer (approved by the Commissioner of Banking and Insurance on financial ability), or take assigned-risk coverage through the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Insurance Plan.