Published August 19, 2026 · Morris Starkman
One box on a form you signed years ago
When you bought your New Jersey auto policy, you checked a box. Limited right to sue, or unlimited right to sue. Most people pick limited, because it is cheaper, and then never think about it again.
That box decides what you can recover if someone hits you. Not who was at fault — that is a separate question. What you can be paid for.
Look at your declarations page. If it says Limitation on Lawsuit or limited right to sue, the verbal threshold applies to you. If it says No Limitation on Lawsuit, it does not, and you can sue for your injuries without clearing any special bar. If you carry a Basic Policy, the choice was made for you — Basic Policy holders always have the limited right to sue.
What the threshold actually limits
This is the part people get wrong. The threshold does not block your claim. It blocks one category of damages.
Recoverable either way: medical bills your PIP does not cover, lost wages past and future, reduced earning capacity, and out-of-pocket costs. Blocked unless you clear the threshold: pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life — the human part of the case.
So a limited-right-to-sue policy does not mean you have no case. It means the pain and suffering portion has a gate in front of it.
The six ways through the gate
Under N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8(a), you clear the threshold if the crash caused any one of these:
- Death.
- Dismemberment.
- Significant disfigurement or significant scarring.
- Displaced fractures.
- Loss of a fetus.
- A permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, other than scarring or disfigurement.
The last one is where most real cases live. The statute defines it plainly: an injury is permanent when the body part or organ has not healed to function normally and will not heal to function normally with further medical treatment.
Permanent does not mean total. A shoulder that will never again move the way it did is permanent. You do not have to lose the arm.
And you do not have to prove the injury wrecked your life. New Jersey's Supreme Court settled that in DiProspero v. Penn in 2005. An older rule required accident victims to show a serious life impact. That rule is gone. You show the injury fits a category. That is the test. If a single injury clears the threshold, the gate is open for the whole case — your other injuries come with it.
The 60-day deadline nobody mentions
Here is the trap. If you file suit under the limited right to sue, you must serve the defendant with a physician's certification — signed under penalty of perjury, supported by objective clinical evidence such as an MRI or a nerve study — stating that your injury falls into one of the six categories. It is due within 60 days after the defendant files an answer to your complaint.
Sixty days sounds like plenty. It is not, if you are still waiting on an appointment, or your doctor has never written one of these and does not know what the statute requires. Cases get dismissed over this. Not because the injury was not real — because the paperwork was late or the wording was wrong. If you have a limited-right-to-sue policy, that certification should be in motion long before anyone files anything.
When the threshold may not apply at all
Worth checking before you assume you are stuck:
- You were on a motorcycle. Motorcycles are not automobiles under the statute and carry no PIP.
- A commercial truck or tractor-trailer hit you. The tort exemption protects owners and operators of automobiles, and heavy commercial vehicles generally do not qualify.
- You were hit by a taxi, livery vehicle or bus — public conveyances sit outside the definition.
- The at-fault driver was uninsured, so the exemption they would rely on may not be available.
- You do not own a car and are not on anyone's policy. A pedestrian with no New Jersey auto policy never made the election.
These are fact-specific and worth a real look. They can turn a limited case into an unlimited one.
What changed on January 1, 2026
New Jersey raised the minimum auto liability limits every driver must carry. As of January 1, 2026 the minimums are $35,000 per person and $70,000 per accident for bodily injury, up from $25,000 and $50,000, with property damage unchanged at $25,000. That is the second step of an increase signed into law in 2022. The Basic Policy was not changed.
More coverage on the road means more room to recover — but only up to the at-fault driver's limits. If your injuries are worth more than the other driver carries, your own underinsured motorist coverage is what stands between you and the difference. Read your declarations page for that number too.
What to do now
- Pull your declarations page and find the lawsuit option line. You want to know which one you have before you need to know.
- Get treated and stay treated. Gaps in treatment are the first thing a carrier points to.
- Say yes to the objective testing your doctor recommends. Certifications are built on films and studies, not on how you say you feel.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer before you have talked to a lawyer.
- Watch the two-year clock. Most New Jersey injury suits must be filed within two years.
- Consider switching to unlimited at your next renewal. It costs more per month. It costs a great deal less than the claim it protects.
This article is general information about New Jersey law, not legal advice about your situation. Deadlines and rules have exceptions. If something here applies to you, call and ask.