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CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS / WORKERS COMP
Were You Hurt in a fall at a Construction Site? You May Be Owed Compensation for Your Serious Injury
Construction sites can be hazardous. Those in the business know that. They also understand that the most common hazards facing even the most careful worker are on, around, or under the construction scaffolding. It doesn’t matter if the project is a two-story mansion, an industrial or retail building, a low-rise office, or a towering skyscraper. At some point, scaffolding is necessary for most buildings’ construction (and maintenance). With all the building going on in Texas, there are likely as many scaffolds as there are construction workers. You’re a conscientious worker. You do your best to stay safe at work and keep a safe work area. That doesn’t mean you can’t still become a workplace injury victim anywhere on or near scaffolding. You may have suffered some injury from any construction or building maintenance site fall. Accidents happen, and, in many cases, when the injuries are serious and caused by someone else’s negligence, you’re entitled to some form of fair reimbursement under Texas law for the financial losses you’ve incurred from the mishap. Such legal entitlements can include your medical bills, the pain you’ve endured, and your emotional distress. If the accident produces disability, that is a justifiable request. When your construction site fall injury is very serious, it can strain your body, finances, and family. Whether you fell from scaffolding, scaffolding collapsed on you, or scaffolding collapsed while you were on it. You’ve been injured, and you need help; real help. You are not without your rights. You must, of course, focus exclusively on your recovery. That’s important. But you can’t take shortcuts that could hurt your claims and legal case further down the road. The laws that made workers’ comp more complex in Texas are a serious challenge to your ultimate compensation when all this is done. Often, some parties may talk a good game, pledging they have “your best interests” at heart. Suppose this is you: one who has suffered an injury while working on a construction site by falling from scaffolding or some other height or collapsed on or under you. In that case, you are right to consider seeking legal restitution to recover all appropriate damages. More on this webpage
Personal injury claims and lawsuits involving construction companies are complicated: you’ll begin to understand Texas workers’ compensation laws in a bit when we visit with you. The best legal strategies for your case differ because they are based on whether you are a subcontractor, contractor, or employee: and whether the construction company subscribes to workers’ compensation insurance or not. It’s a lot of territories to cover. No two cases are mirror images of the other. For instance, you should know that the laws which make non-subscribers liable for their employee’s injuries don’t apply directly to contractors. Often, construction companies think they can escape legal liability for injuries without even paying for workers’ compensation insurance by hiring contractors instead of employees. Unfortunately, this strategy often works for companies, especially when they don’t have an experienced construction injury and workers’ comp attorney like the ones at our Law Office when one is injured in a scaffolding accident. It’s hard not to feel that the laws surrounding Texas workers’ comp and the contractors who benefit from it the most work to allow them to avoid all liability. Many personal injury firms will drop your case immediately upon initially learning you are not an employee but not having the curiosity to investigate that point. You hear many urban myths about how a workers’ comp subscriber company makes them immune to lawsuits; or how employers can sometimes evade an actual “employer-employee” relationship by diving through a loophole in the law. But when held to the light of truth, they don’t always hold up when you have a team of experienced falling accident injury attorneys like those at our Law Office who advocate your case.