What Damages Could Be Recovered In A Construction Accident Case?

The different damages or categories of damages are medical benefits, meaning the costs of medical care from doctors, hospitals, rehabilitation and physical therapy. This would include compensation up until the time of the trial but it would also be part of the lawsuit.

The person could recover for future costs, future damages, loss of wages in the past and even future loss of wages that could be projected. Probably the most important aspect would be pain and suffering caused by an injury sustained in a construction accident.

There could be all types of construction accidents from a trip and fall to a situation where there was a fall from height on a large high-rise construction site. There could also be other types of events where an object fell from a height and injured someone.

There could be accidents involving motor vehicles and heavy equipment and all other types of different accidents, so all types of injuries could occur. In a third party lawsuit like we are experienced in bringing, the victim or the injured party would have remedies for their financial losses but also for pain and suffering caused by the sometimes terrible injuries sustained in these accidents.

You Can File A Lawsuit Even If You Are Collecting Workers Compensation Benefits

We have a unique set of laws we practice in New York. In many states like New Jersey, for example, someone who was injured in a construction accident would not have the right to sue a third-party even though it was not his employer or someone else who caused the accident.

There are several exceptions to this in New York, because the general rule is that if someone was injured by an independent contractor for an owner, then the owner would not have any responsibility unless he controlled the means and methods by which the contractor was doing his work, direct supervision or he had the right to instruct the manner in which they did the work.

In New York, the labor law applies to construction accidents. New York State’s labor law puts the responsibility for safety on the construction site on the owners, the general contractors, the construction managers, and those people who would be in the best position to make sure safety regulations were applied and used on a construction site.

Usually, the worker, laborer or the other traders would be in the worst position to enforce work safety rules. They would be the ones who would have to get the job done and who would have to get the job done as quickly as possible.

If the owner was able to, they would turn a blind eye to this at the expense of safety in the construction scenario. New York’s labor law permits or helps workers in the sense that it puts the responsibility to enforce safety regulations on the owners and those who are in-charge.

You Should Inform Someone If You Have Been Injured

Certainly, the person would firstly need to inform someone that there had been an accident. Usually the next step would be to make sure the supervisor filed an accident report and that they had as many details about the accident as possible.

This would not always be possible where someone had been seriously hurt at an accident site.

Witnesses To The Accident Should Be Identified

It would be just as important for the person to identify witnesses, not just someone who had been an eyewitness to an event but also witnesses who could testify about the construction method, means and the other defects and dangerous conditions that may have contributed to causing the accident.

You Should Take Photographs Of The Accident Scene

In this day and age, everyone including construction workers carry a cell phone and more or less every cell phone has a camera.

Photographs of dangerous conditions or something that caused an accident would always be appropriate and important. In fact, it would usually be considered questionable if someone did not take a photograph at the time of the accident because we are now so ingrained to just pull out our cell phones and take pictures of things like that.

It would be very important to collect as much evidence of the construction site as possible as soon as possible. When it comes to construction sites, conditions are constantly changing and it would be important to establish as soon as possible what conditions caused the accident, who saw it and who could testify about it.

For more information on Recovering Damages In Construction Accident Cases, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you’re seeking by calling (718) 720-7000 today.