Bayonne, New Jersey Personal Injury Lawyer

Bayonne, New Jersey is a city in Hudson County of 8,844 residents according to the U.S. Census Bureau, which last estimated Bayonne’s population in 2006. Bayonne is a peninsula between Newark Bay, the Kill van Kull and New York Bay. Bayonne is located directly south of Jersey City, the county seat, and 9 miles east of Newark, New Jersey’s largest city.

On the site of a former U.S. military base, on the eastern side of Bayonne, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will be building additional port facilities. The Port Authority is expected to develop the property as a container port that will be capable of handling the larger container ships, some of which do not fit under the current Bayonne Bridge. Currently, there is no access to large container facilities at Port Newark Cape Liberty Cruise Port, which also provides Royal Caribbean passenger cruises.

There are only three ways to enter or exit Bayonne by motor vehicle: the Bayonne Bridge from Staten Island, Route 440 and the New Jersey Turnpike, also known as Interstate 78, from Newark. The Bayonne Bridge connects Bayonne with Staten Island, New York and carries over 7 million vehicles each day according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. New Jersey Transit also provides bus and light rail service in and out of Bayonne.

The National Highway Safety Administration reports that twenty-two people were fatally injured in vehicle crashes in Hudson County during 2009. Three fatalities occurred as the result of vehicle accidents involving alcohol-impaired drivers, and twelve pedestrians were killed as a result of vehicle accidents. When a severe personal injury or death occurs as a result of a Hudson County vehicle accident, the victim’s family also suffers, with emotional and economic burdens that may last for years afterward.

The Bayonne Medical Center provides medical care for Bayonne and the surrounding communities. Patient safety ratings reflect the quality of care at a hospital by measuring how well the hospital prevents potentially avoidable complications, such as medical malpractice and adverse events following surgeries and procedures. Healthgrades used these grades to give the Bayonne Medical Center the worst mark in the prevention of death in procedures where mortality is usually very low.

New Jersey’s ratio of primary care doctors to patients is 36 percent below the national average. A recent study by the New Jersey Council of Teaching Hospitals (NJCTH) has warned of a shortage of doctors in New Jersey due, in part, to the high cost of medical malpractice insurance for doctors in New Jersey. The NJCTH  is pushing for medical malpractice law reform, as New Jersey ranked third of the top ten states on a per capita basis for the amount of money paid out by insurers to cover malpractice lawsuits. However, the NJCTH also states an estimated 98,000 deaths occur annually from preventable hospital mistakes or mishaps.

The structure of New Jersey’s court system is among the most simple in the nation. The state has only the following  types of courts: Municipal courts, Tax Court, state Superior Court, which includes the trial courts, an Appellate Division and the New Jersey Supreme Court. The Bayonne City Municipal Court is located at 630 Avenue “C”, Bayonne, NJ 07002. The Municipal courts in New Jersey are considered courts of limited jurisdiction, having responsibility for motor vehicle and parking tickets, minor criminal offenses and municipal ordinance offenses. Bayonne also utilizes the trial court in Hudson County located at the Hudson County Administration Building, 595 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07306. Both criminal and civil cases are heard at the trial court level. Typical civil cases involve contracts, personal injury, automobile accidents, employment and discrimination cases.