When Someone Other Than Your Employer Causes You To Be Injured At A Job Site
Getting compensation for all losses, including pain and suffering, can be a challenge after a work accident — and this is especially true for construction site accidents. Construction workers cannot ordinarily bring claims directly against their employers. Rather, they must rely on workers’ compensation benefits.
Workers’ compensation may help significantly, especially with medical care, but benefits do not include compensation for nonfinancial losses or for additional financial needs that are not specific to the injury. An injured construction worker and his or her family often struggle to make do, especially when injuries are catastrophic (such as a brain or spinal cord injury), and the construction worker cannot work again.
What Were All The Causes Of The Accident? It Matters!
Thankfully, in many cases, workers’ compensation is not the only available remedy for an injured construction worker. If a person or organization that is not the injured worker’s employer was responsible or contributed to the accidental injury, that third party may be held accountable through civil litigation. A third-party liability claim will be similar to a typical personal injury claim. The negligence by the third party might match one of these descriptions:
- A delivery truck driver struck and injured a worker on a construction site. The delivery company was not a division of the worker’s employer.
- A subcontractor left debris in walkways that an employed construction worker tripped over.
- A subcontractor’s faulty carpentry or electrical work at a construction site resulted in dangerous conditions and injuries to one or more construction workers on site.
- A defective product, such as a power tool, malfunctioned and caused injuries.
The third-party liability claim might hold the delivery company, subcontractor or manufacturer accountable through civil courts, offering hope to the injured construction worker.
When You Look For A Law Firm After A Construction Accident, Consider This
It is beneficial to work with a construction accident attorney who has extensive experience in both workers’ compensation and third-party liability claims. Koles & Burke, LLP, has this experience.
Our attorneys investigate every construction accident case in detail to determine whether a third-party liability claim is an option. At the same time, we assist with workers’ compensation claims and appeals. We stay on top of all aspects of a case until we are satisfied that we have pursued and obtained all available compensation for our clients.
Schedule A Free Consultation
We look forward to hearing your story and explaining how we can represent you after you have suffered an injury at a construction site. Call 201-293-8289 or complete our short intake form for a prompt response.