Your Rights and Remedies | Can You File a Personal Injury Lawsuit? | Are You Limited to Workers’ Compensation?
There’s no more dangerous place to work than a commercial or residential construction site. The ways you can suffer serious injury are virtually endless:
- In a fall from a height when general contractors fail to comply with OSHA or state safety regulations
- From falling objects, such as tools, equipment, debris or construction materials
- In construction site motor vehicle accidents
- From the malfunction or breakdown or heavy equipment, tools, ladders, scaffolding or other machinery
- From being caught in between or crushed by objects on the site
- From the carelessness or negligence of owners, general contractors and subcontractors in hiring, training, supervising or terminating other workers
When you have been hurt on a construction site, you have the right to seek full and fair compensation for your losses. That may take one or both of two forms: a workers’ compensation claim and/or a civil lawsuit for personal injuries.
Your Rights to Workers’ Compensation after a Construction Site Injury
Though Texas does not require that employers subscribe to the state’s workers’ compensation program, about three out of every four companies do. If your company provides workers’ compensation benefits, you can initiate the process by notifying your employer of your injuries. You may, however, want to retain an experienced work comp attorney first, as your employer and the workers’ compensation insurer have a vested interest in minimizing or denying your claim.
With a workers’ compensation claim, you do not need to show that your employer acted carelessly or negligently. The only requirements to qualify for workers’ compensation in Texas are that you suffered an injury and that the injury was “work-related.” If your claim is approved, you should start receiving benefits within a few weeks, though you won’t start collecting workers’ compensation until you have been off work for 7 days. If your claim is initially denied, you have the right to file an appeal.
Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit after a Construction Site Accident
As a general rule, workers’ compensation is considered to be the “exclusive remedy” for injuries sustained at work when the employer subscribes to the state’s work comp program. If your employer has chosen not to subscribe, you have the right to file a lawsuit in court seeking damages. It’s also important to understand that workers’ compensation applies only to injuries caused by your employer or a co-worker. If you can show that some of your injuries were caused by an unrelated third party, such as the manufacturer of a dangerous or defective tool or the driver of another vehicle, you will not be limited to workers’ compensation for your recovery. In fact, you can simultaneously file a work comp claim and a personal injury lawsuit, but you cannot recover for the same losses in both proceedings. For example, if you had your medical expenses paid by workers’ compensation, you cannot recover them in a civil lawsuit.
Contact the Proven Construction Site Injury Lawyers at Bailey & Galyen
At the law offices of Bailey & Galyen, we have protected the rights of injured people in Texas for more than 40 years, including men and women who have suffered any type of injury on a residential or commercial construction site or project. We have a thorough understanding of the laws in Texas governing workplace injury, from your rights to seek workers’ compensation to when you can file a personal injury lawsuit to recover damages. We are experienced trial attorneys who can typically predict the ways that defense counsel will try to diminish or deny your claim, and we know how to take preemptive measures to help you get full and fair compensation for all your losses. Contact us by e-mail or 844-402-2992 call our offices at one of the convenient locations listed below. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
