Have you been seriously injured on a construction site? Read this article about 3 Arizona Construction Accident Tips and contact us today.
Construction Accident Claim Value
The question often comes up after someone has been injured in a construction site accident. We had someone who was injured in a construction site accident contact us just recently and ask that question to one of our attorneys. Here’s what our attorney said. He explained that construction site accidents and injuries are valued differently than car wreck claims. Besides, we first of all start off with the nature and extent of your own injuries and your medical bills; beyond that, we look at things that can increase the value of your claim, even though it doesn’t have anything directly to do with your injuries.
For instance, were there OSHA violations that were known and was the subcontractor aware of it or the general contractor? This starts getting into situations that are more complex legally, and as our attorney would advise this person, that’s a reason for us to get reports if there is an OSHA report and analyze these things because sometimes the general contractor can be held responsible and sometimes they escape that. All those things are reasons to call us so we can start analyzing that. The other differences in values are that, again, if there has been some, we’ll call it a bad actor or they were doing something, they were breaking some rules they shouldn’t, that can increase the value of your claim. That’s part of our investigation.
Construction Accident Claim Timeline
The question often comes up after someone’s been injured in a construction accident, and often seriously. How long is it going to take to get my settlement? After such an accident, chances are you are not working, have medical bills piling up, and are stressed. That’s a very important question. Because we also handle workers’ compensation claims, this comes up a lot.
The other day someone called and spoke to our attorney, Daniel Garza, about that. Daniel explained that they can have a workers’ comp claim and a separate claim against another subcontractor who may be at fault and each of them can be resolved at different times. It’s not a simple process. If you call in, one of our attorneys will analyze your situation and tell you. We can often get the workers’ comp benefits going faster than resolving a separate claim against another contractor but sometimes it can be the reverse. There’s not one simple answer to that question. However, the workers’ compensation side will usually be able to get you some money to at least get by until we can resolve the other claim. That’s why it’s very important to coordinate those two and work with a firm that does both. It’s very common for personal injury law firms to not be able to handle workers’ comp claims. That’s one of the first questions that you should ask when you call an injury firm – whether or not they handle workers comp claims. Rather than just hearing the answer, yes, you need to ask them a little bit more. For example, ask how many claims have you opened, workers’ comp claims, in the last month? If they hesitate or say it’s just two or three, that’s probably not the firm for you because you really need to coordinate those separate claims so you get the best benefit.
Suing Your Employer After a Construction Accident
If you’re injured in a construction site accident in Arizona, very common question, comes up all the time is whether you can sue your employer. They didn’t maintain the equipment even though I warned them, you might say. We knew the tires were in bad shape. I tell them. They didn’t replace them. It’s one of the most common questions that potential clients ask all the time.
We had a recent question like that posed to one of our attorneys. It was a situation where the employer knew that there was a saw that had a defective cover on it. The employee was told to go ahead and use it anyway and lost a finger as a result. Were they upset and angry at their employer? Of course. As the attorney advised them, even in a pretty extreme situation like that, normally, we can’t sue employer. There are some exceptions. You call us with your situation. We can tell you if the exception applies. One of our attorneys will tell you that. The usual answer is no. The law protects employers because they want to make sure that employers keep hiring people. That’s why the workers’ comp situation or system has been set up. You don’t have to prove it was someone’s fault but you still get some compensation. You don’t get pain and suffering under workers’ comp and things like that, but there are alternative ways that if someone else was responsible. Now, in that particular situation, there was a defect in that saw. If we could prove that the defect is what caused the injury, then the perspective client could, as the attorney explained, recover pain and suffering, even if their boss might have also been at fault. Those are complex situations. You really need to call us, have one of our attorneys look at your exact situation, and advise you. Is it possible? Yes, but the general situation, is it possible to recover even if your employer is at fault? Sometimes the answer is yes, but as far as suing your employer, even if one of your fellow employees was at fault, in most cases, you can’t sue. Always call us because there are limited exceptions and one of our attorneys would always be able to advise you about that.
Have you been seriously injured on a construction site? Read this article about 3 Arizona Construction Accident Tips and contact experienced Gilbert Construction Accident Lawyers at Free Injury Advice today for a free consultation and case evaluation.