Rear End Collision
$2,300,000
Insurer offered$85,000
Spinal cord injury after a rear end crash. The insurer offered $85,000.
Serving New Jersey
N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8: The New Jersey Verbal Threshold
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In New Jersey, N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8 decides whether your own auto policy lets you sue for pain and suffering after a crash. If you chose the limitation on lawsuit option, you must prove one of six injury categories. Top USA Law reads the policy and builds the proof. Call (877) 411-5291 for a free review.
What does N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8 say?
N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8 gives every New Jersey driver a choice on the auto policy. Subsection (a) is the limitation on lawsuit option, commonly called the verbal threshold. A driver who selects it pays a lower premium and gives up the right to sue for non economic damages, meaning pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life, unless the injury falls into one of six categories. Subsection (b) is the no limitation option, which costs more and leaves the right to sue intact.
The six categories under the limitation option are death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement or significant scarring, a displaced fracture, loss of a fetus, and a permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability. The statute defines permanent as a body part or organ that has not healed to function normally and will not heal to function normally with further medical treatment.
The threshold follows the policy, not the crash. It binds the named insured and resident family members covered by that policy, even when they are passengers in someone else's car or are struck as pedestrians. If you own no auto policy at all, you are generally not subject to it, and if the driver who hit you was uninsured or drunk, other rules can change the analysis.
When does the verbal threshold apply to your claim?
It applies the moment you claim pain and suffering against another driver and your declarations page shows the limitation on lawsuit option. Your medical bills are paid separately by your own personal injury protection coverage under N.J.S.A. 39:6A-4 regardless of the threshold. What the threshold controls is the larger claim for how the injury changed your life.
How the permanent injury category is proved
Most contested New Jersey cases turn on the permanent injury category. The statute requires a physician's certification, under penalty of perjury, that you sustained a permanent injury, and it must be based on objective clinical evidence such as an MRI, a positive nerve test or measured loss of motion, not on your description of pain alone. The certification is due within 60 days after the defendant's answer to the lawsuit, and a court can extend it once for good cause. Herniated discs with radiating symptoms, ligament tears confirmed by imaging and nerve damage confirmed by EMG are the injuries that typically satisfy it.
A worked example
A driver on Route 4 in Bergen County is rear ended and diagnosed with two herniated cervical discs. His policy carries the limitation on lawsuit option. PIP pays his treatment. To recover pain and suffering, his lawyer obtains a certification from the treating physician citing the MRI, an EMG showing radiculopathy, and a finding that the discs will not heal to normal function with further treatment. The threshold is met. A colleague with a soft tissue sprain that resolves in eight weeks, on the same policy, has no pain and suffering claim.
What happens if you cannot meet the threshold?
Your PIP benefits continue, and you may still recover economic losses such as wages beyond PIP limits. The pain and suffering claim is dismissed. Because the choice sits on your own policy, we review the declarations page in the first call, and we check every household policy, since the coverage that applies is not always the one you expect.
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Results in cases like this
T Bone Accident
$1,800,000
Insurer offered$120,000
Broken pelvis and internal bleeding at an intersection. The insurer offered $120,000.
Drunk Driver Victim
$1,500,000
Insurer offered$50,000
Traumatic brain injury caused by an impaired driver. The insurer offered $50,000.
Every case is different. Past results do not guarantee, warrant, or predict a similar outcome.
Where we help in New Jersey
How Top USA Law works the verbal threshold in New Jersey
We identify whether the threshold applies before we discuss value, then coordinate the objective testing and the physician certification that section 39:6A-8 demands. Paul Perkins, Of Counsel, is licensed in New Jersey and tries these cases. Read the New Jersey car accident lawyer page or call (877) 411-5291.
Related New Jersey statute guides
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know which lawsuit option is on my New Jersey policy?
Look at the declarations page of your auto policy for the words limitation on lawsuit or no limitation on lawsuit. If you cannot find it, we request the policy from your carrier. Under N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8 a policyholder who never made a written choice is treated as having selected the limitation option.
Does the verbal threshold apply if I was a passenger?
It depends on your own household coverage, not the car you were in. If you or a resident family member own a New Jersey policy with the limitation on lawsuit option, the threshold applies to you as a passenger. If no one in your household owns an auto policy, you are generally not subject to it.
Is a herniated disc a permanent injury under 39:6A-8?
It can be. The statute requires a physician's certification, based on objective medical evidence, that the injury has not healed to function normally and will not with further treatment. An MRI showing the herniation, combined with findings such as radiculopathy or measured loss of motion, is the kind of proof New Jersey courts accept.
Does the threshold apply if the other driver was drunk or uninsured?
Under N.J.S.A. 39:6A-4.5, a driver who was uninsured or intoxicated at the time of the crash loses the right to sue for their own injuries. The threshold on your policy still governs your claim, but a drunk driver's conduct affects fault and the value of the case. We evaluate both.
Last reviewed by Paul Perkins, Esq., September 2026.
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