By: Robert Baumgarten, Esq.
My name is Robert Baumgarten and I specialize in representing people who have been seriously injured in construction site accidents. In every construction site accidents case we always look at 2 types of claims for our clients.
The first involves a Workers’ Compensation claim, which provides for reimbursement of your lost wages and payment of your medical expenses. Payment of these benefits should start almost immediately after the accident, regardless of who is at fault. It doesn’t matter if you caused your own accident, you are entitled to receive the benefits if your accident happened in the course of your employment.
The 2nd type of claim that we investigate relates to potential lawsuits against 3rd parties-someone other than your employer- that may have caused your accident through their negligent conduct. The big difference between this type of claim and a Workers’ Compensation claim is that in a 3rd party claim you can sue to recover damages not only for your lost wages and medical expenses, but also for your pain and suffering and permanent disability. Your spouse and children may also have potential claims in a third-party lawsuit for their loss of your services.
In either type of claim it is essential to identify and speak to the witnesses, obtain the accident reports, police and ambulance report, and OSHA report with details on how the accident occurred. The earlier this is done the better because witnesses relocate and memories fade over time.
As you might also expect, once an accident occurs it’s not unusual for things to disappear and for defective equipment to be discarded. So it is critical that immediately after the accident the defendants are put on notice not to discard anything involved in the accident.
Along those same lines, if at all possible, it is important to document the conditions that caused the accident through photos or video. Nowadays almost everyone has a camera in their cell phone, so we are all potential filmmakers. If you have the opportunity, document the condition because the opportunity may not last for long.
So if you have been injured in a construction site accident, I hope you will keep these things in mind as you move forward.
Leave a Reply