For an accidents attorney, personal injury cases are the most complex and sometimes hardest to settle. When personal injury occurs at the workplace, the case becomes even more difficult. Nevertheless, the help of a specialized attorney can be crucial in your case. Especially if you work in the construction industry and you are looking to file a claim for personal injury.
Did you know that, besides getting a worker’s compensation, you can also file a civil lawsuit for negligence or product liability?
Below are a few essential tips and a few legal options explained.
The conditions of your workplace injury compensation
If you are injured while doing construction work you are legally eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. The conditions may vary from state to state, but they generally have several elements in common. Among these, the fact that you do not need to prove fault for any party. All you need to be able to prove is that you sustained your injuries at the workplace.
Every accidents attorney will explain that each employer is required to carry workers’ compensation insurance and that through this; your benefits will be paid. Now, a workers’ compensation claim will typically pay for your lost wages, medical treatment and permanent or partial disability.
You can ring a civil lawsuit outside of the workers’ comp
Keep in mind that this legal aspect depends on the rules of the state where the incident occurred and on the particular circumstances of your personal injury. Many construction workers typically work with subcontractors and vendors, which means that often there will be other people on a job site- people like engineers and architects or even suppliers, some of them operating heavy machinery or even driving trucks. If you are injured due to the negligence of one of those persons, you may have a claim for damages against not only that individual, but also that person’s employer.
As a specialized lawyer will explain, these actions traditionally take the form of a classic lawsuit with the same rules and procedures. Success largely depends on you being able to prove a few things:
– another person had a professional duty to act in a reasonable and safe manner in regards to you; they failed to perform it
– your injury came as a result of that negligence
Some situations involving professional negligence from another party include: falling from a scaffolding that wasn’t properly erected, badly designed equipment leading to injury, electric shocks happening from defective equipment, reckless driving on the scene, that leads to an accident, the collapse of a structure, toxic leaks or spills due to faulty equipment.
There are many aspects to personal injuries happening in the construction industry, so if you have been injured and are seeking compensation, the best advice anyone can give you is to find legal help.