Legal Question in Personal Injury in New Jersey

Re: What legal avenues can I pursue against State authority for injury?

You may have a claim, and again you might not. The reason you have been told that you might not is because of a legal doctrine called sovereign immunity, which comes to us from the times when you could not sue the king. New Jersey has created a tort claims act which does permit suit, but only in limited circumstances. You may or may not fit those circumstances. The qualifiers are in 3 areas.

1. The nature of the liability. If this was an intentional act, ie an assault, rather than a negligent or accidental one, you are probably not barred by sovereign immunity. On the other hand, you will probably be limited under that intentional tort theory to the individuals, and not the sports authority, since they won't be responsible for every action of their employees, only authorized actions, and they don't authorize their employees to commit intentional torts. On the other hand, they might be negligent in hiring, training or retention of those employees, but, your back to dealing with sovereign immunity.

2. Time limitations. YOU MUST FILE A NOTICE OF CLAIM WITHIN 90 DAYS OF THE INJURY IN ORDER TO PROCEED, OR YOU WILL BE BARRED FROM SUING A STATE AGENCY IN NEW JERSEY. There are some limited exceptions to this rule, which may be pursued within a year of the injury, but THIS RULE IS VERY STRICTLY OBSERVED.

3. You must be seriously injured. It must be a signifigant and permanent injury, and you must have in excess of $3500 in medical bills.

Finally, it is difficult to see on the facts as you have posited them where the sports franchise has liability.