The injuries commonly suffered in construction accidents can not only be incredibly painful, they also carry the risk of placing the accident victim and the victim’s family in danger of a financial crisis. If you have been hurt in a construction site accident, you may be facing a long and difficult period of recovery, during which you will be unable to work and to earn an income for your family.
To make matters worse, the injury may never fully heal, resulting in a permanent partial or total disability. When your family’s livelihood has been threatened by an injury, it is of the utmost importance that you retain aggressive legal representation to help you recover the full compensation that is available to you.
Depending on the circumstances of your accident, you may be able to file a claim against your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance policy or a personal injury claim-or both. Nearly all employers in New York are required by state law to purchase a workers’ compensation policy, to cover their employees in the event of accidents such as yours. Workers’ comp is a no-fault program, so you can file a claim of this type regardless of who is at fault-provided only that you were not under the influence or alcohol or drugs and did not intentionally cause the accident.
If another party, such as a fellow crew member, a supervisor or manager or even the property owner is at fault through negligence, you may be entitled to file a personal injury claim. Any type of careless or reckless actions may serve as grounds for an injury claim, such as errors in assembling scaffolding or in a forklift accident caused by an inexperienced operator.
There is even the possibility of filing a “crossover claim,” which involves both workers’ comp and personal injury. This approach can be complicated by scenarios such as if the insurance company covering the personal injury claim uses your workers’ compensation benefits as a credit against the value of your injury settlement, but it may be used to increase the amount of compensation you can receive.
Workers’ compensation provides limited disability benefits, with compensation for lost income being calculate as two-thirds of the statewide average weekly wage, multiplied by the percentage of disability you have. As an example of how much you could receive, the average weekly wage for 2011 as reported by the New York State Department of Labor was $1,188.10, so the most you could possibly receive would be $784.14 per week.
By filing a personal injury or wrongful death claim, you could potentially stand to receive far more in financial compensation for your accident. This type of claim is capable of recovering comprehensive damages to replace all lost income in the present and in the future, in addition to paying for any type of medical treatment you may require including hospitalization, surgery and rehabilitative treatment, as well as for ongoing care and medical equipment to accommodate a disability. You could even receive damages for the pain and suffering you have experienced and may continue to live with into the future. Whatever type of claim you pursue, an attorney form Greenberg & Stein, P.C. can assist you with gathering the necessary evidence and will fight aggressively to maximize the value of your settlement.
