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Construction Site Accidents – Compensation For Injuries

The Type of Compensation that Injured Workers can Expect from Subscriber Companies Workers’ comp does not include coverage or reimbursement for any pain, suffering, or even general damages, aside from the income and medical expenses specified. Wages you lost while you were absent from work, recovering from your accident, capped at a maximum of $600 per week, may be paid to you. Let’s say you’re a carpenter who earns $1,200 a week for 50 hours of work. It takes a month for you to recover enough to return to work. That means you earned 50 percent of what you normally take home. So your monthly budget has taken a big hit. You are entitled to complete reimbursement for all your medical costs, such as those surrounding medical treatment, prescription and over-the-counter drugs, and other medical supplies needed to recover from your injury. Ongoing treatment and medical needs are also potentially reimbursable. Suppose you incur travel expenses seeking medical treatment, supplies, and prescriptions. In that case, those may likewise be recovered, but if you become disabled, other than a four-figure initial payment sum, this formula and cap amount hold true even if you’ve been permanently disabled and cannot work for the rest of your life. In other words, you may have to make do with such paltry benefits for the rest of your life. You and your family might never get out of that “void” if your compensation package is limited only to workers’ comp. Are you seeing the value of negligent third parties who can be proven liable and become a rightful supplemental compensation source? More on this webpage
Liable Non-Subscribers to Workers’ Comp Can be Employers or Third parties-subscribing companies with almost unlimited liability to be sued. In contrast, a subscriber employer is protected against lawsuits, and the damages assessed against them are much more limited. By choosing not to be forthright about their worker’s comp status, a liable employer may lead an injured employee to think that he or she has little in the way of redress and that the employer has little in the way of liability. As we’ve mentioned, a non-subscribing (or uninsured) company may even try to pay an injured employee out of pocket (and usually off-the-books, while saying that the money is coming from an insurer or workers’ comp. Accepting such an explanation (and quick settlement, which is a lowball attempt) is undoubtedly never in your best interest. Always remember: if you are injured or hurt in a scaffolding or other construction fall, you’re probably entitled to far more compensation than you would receive, regardless of the coverage. The hush money offered is almost certainly a pittance compared to what the law would likely find in your favor.

To further punish non-subscribing employers, Texas workers comp laws remove the damage cap that would be in place if the employer had purchased workers comp insurance. The crane accident victim must merely prove standard negligence, even if the employer only committed a momentary lapse in safety. As you can guess, the laws governing these principles are incredibly intricate. So to succeed, you will need a crafty crane-related accident lawyer to assist you through every complexity of this challenging legal process. However, just because there’s no workers’ comp court red tape doesn’t mean it’s easier to ensure your right to compensation. It’s a legal action like any other, and as with any severe matter, you need professional representation. The non-subscriber employers (insurance companies) will almost always contest your claims. There are two unique challenges that you need to anticipate when trying to collect from or use a nonsubscriber. The first one is this: even though they don’t carry workers’ comp, non-subscribers usually carry some form of insurance if they’re smart. It will be responsible for paying at least part of your claim: certainly larger than workers’ comp awards. Therefore, not only will your employer have an interest in defending against your claim, but so will his or her insurance company because that’s what it’s for: to get them off the hook or pay the claim if their adjusters and lawyers fail in their attempt. They have a team of sophisticated attorneys in thousand-dollar suits and insurance adjusters ready to attack your case. The adjusters you’ll see in a lawsuit like yours aren’t the same “friendly” adjusters who handle your fender-benders. For high-dollar cases like yours, insurance companies usually use their best people. The adjusters working on these injury cases are highly trained and experienced pros who have gotten to their current positions by denying claims and saving their employers money. They will have teams of attorneys to try to pick apart your claims. They contest your statements. They file nuisance motions. They will do everything they can to make any accident look like you were the sole proximate cause, i.e., wholly responsible for the construction site accident. They will try to undermine any evidence you bring to prove the elements of your claim since you have the burden of proof. All they have to do is say, “prove it.” If you can’t, everything stops right there. Here’s where your falling accident injury attorney’s investigative prowess and experience at countering even the most frivolous counter-charge turns the spotlight of truth back where it belongs: the spot where their client-defendant stands. This is even more complex than it sounds. You must show that the defendant, be it your employer or that third party, is at least partially responsible for the accident, that the defendant’s negligence caused the injuries, and that you are entitled to a specific amount of damages as compensation for your injuries. It might seem like a one-strike-and-you’re-out system most of the time. If you miss evidence on even one of these points, your claim could stand to be dismissed. An experienced legal “pinch hitter” at least gets you three strikes; and a better chance of winning.

Jury and Insurance Adjuster Bias in Motorcycle Accident Litigation

Motorcycle riders often face bias when pursuing litigation in regard to their accident. The general public has been led to believe that motorcyclists, in general, are reckless, wild people who are always heavy on the throttle and a menace to fellow users of the road. As a result, defense attorneys and insurance adjusters will do whatever they can to prey on this bias and compel a jury to believe that the injured motorcyclist was to blame for the accident that injured him or her. Basically, seasoned insurance adjusters will try and employ this stereotype and shift blame to the victim. And, like it or not, this is actually a sound strategy, because if an adjuster or defense lawyer can make a compelling enough argument and sway a judge or jury to the side of the defense, the insurance company will save a very significant amount of money.

It is an unfortunate fact of life in litigation regarding insurance that, no matter how severely a cyclist has been injured in a wreck, the adjuster will do whatever he or she can to make sure that the victim’s claim is denied. The worse a victim is injured, the higher the potential compensation that victim can obtain, and the more the insurance company’s bottom line will be damaged. This is a key reason why motorcycle accident victims simply have to consult with a motorcycle accident lawyer before trying to go it alone and representing themselves. There is simply too much to lose in restitution that can be used to pay off present and future medical expenses, take care of property damage costs, make up for lost wages, and cover pain and suffering. If you decide to be your own legal representation or to rely on the help of an inexperienced lawyer, you could be making the worst decision of your life. If you lose, and it’s almost a guarantee that you will, you will be responsible for all of those expenses. That could ultimately lead to your financial ruin. The motorcycle accident attorneys with our law firm know how to defeat the defense’s attempts at using bias against injury victims and deal with any other tricks the opposition may use in an attempt to deny you the just compensation you have coming to you.

Our seasoned attorneys are well aware of the fact that the vast majority of motorcycle riders are extremely safe, and follow the rules of the road. A lot of them simply enjoy riding their hog on a sunny day, and thousands flock to each year for the ROT Rally. For thousands of more Texans, a motorcycle is more than a weekend pleasure; it’s a cost-effective way to get around, and their primary means of transportation. So the last thing they want to do is operate it in a reckless manner. Most motorcyclists consider not only their safety but also the safety of others around them when operating their bikes. But it is not enough to state simply that a rider involved in an accident is a safe driver. That won’t be sufficient to convince a judge or jury that the biker was not to blame for his or her accident. That biker will have to produce compelling evidence from the scene of the accident, and that evidence has to be gathered in a manner that is can be admitted into court. With this evidence, used in conjunction with the testimony of eyewitnesses (and expert testimony, if necessary), a skilled and seasoned attorney can help you successfully bear that burden of proof and establish for the court that the negligent party was responsible for your motorcycle accident. If you cannot produce that evidence, you will have nothing but empty words, and you will leave that courtroom with nothing. Again, the stereotype of the reckless motorcyclist is pervasive in society and likely pervasive among the jury as well. You need rock-solid evidence in order to refute that stereotype and have a chance to win your case.