When To File A Lawsuit If The Company Denies Liability?

We usually assume there would be a lawsuit with every case we take. It is so rare for insurance companies to make reasonable and fair settlement offers within several months to a year once the case is in suit, which is most cases, because then the litigation process takes its adversarial way.

Both sides would really need to look at the details of the accident and how the accident occurred. Then the insurance companies would generally try to do as much research themselves into the injured party and his background and things like that.

The discovery process would generally hold things up, which is why we normally try to file suit as soon as we have all of the medical reports and as soon as we understand that the insurance company was not really willing to make a reasonable offer. We would generally be prepared to do this within 6 months or so of the accident.

There Would Be Other Evidence That Should Be Preserved At The Scene

One of the most important things to do as soon as possible would be to talk to an attorney who was experienced in handling these types of cases. Depending on the particular type of accident that occurred, the attorney will be able to tell the course of action that would be necessary.

For example, let us suppose there was an accident caused by a crane or a heavy construction vehicle. Vehicles like that would need to be identified in regards to who was the actual owner, whether it had a license plate, whether there were other registration numbers and things like that.

The attorney would firstly have to make sure an accident report was obtained, the proper workers compensation papers were filed, the union was notified and things like that were done. Very different types of evidence might be available, and it would need to be collected and obtained as soon as possible.

The best way of course, would be to get to an experienced attorney who could help identify all these different documents and items that would be needed.

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In New York, the owners, general contractors and construction managers would generally be the ones ultimately held responsible for making sure safety regulations had been enforced.

This would not be something that would be done in a vacuum. Anyone who had been injured would still have to prove that the party or person was liable, that a safety regulation had been violated or that one of the people or entities in-charge was negligent and failed to meet its duty to maintain a safe place to work.

This would ultimately depend on the circumstances. Although in New York, the owner and general contractors would ultimately be the ones who control the methods and manners of work and would ultimately be responsible for an accident caused by someone’s negligence on a construction site.

The Process For Filing A Construction Accident Claim

The first thing would be to identify the parties.

After interviewing the victim or the person who had been injured and anyone else who may have information about the construction site, we would ordinarily send letters of representation to the owner, contractors and anyone we could identify who may have evidence of the accident. We do this so they could preserve that documentation, photographs or anything else that related to the accident.

After notifying the relevant parties, we would also attempt to find out through correspondence who the insurance companies are and who represented the various parties. Sometimes, one insurance company might represent all of the different contractors on a job site.

Each independent contractor might have their own insurance policy so it would be very important to identify the insurance companies as soon as possible in order to preserve the claim and preserve the rights of the contractors to have the insurance company appear, defend and indemnify them on the claim.

Our correspondence would normally go out from our office to the various parties and the insurance companies. We would normally attempt to also get hold of all of the medical documentation we could so we could present it to the insurance companies in order to try to attempt an early settlement and an early resolution of the claim.

If that was not successful, then the next step would of course be to file a lawsuit.

Employer Responsibility When It Comes To The Accident

Firstly, the employer is required to provide any employee working on an accident site with workers compensation insurance coverage.

Any party working on a construction site, any employer, any company and everyone else would be required to make sure as best as possible that there was a safe working environment and that the construction site was a safe place to work. This rule would apply to the employers, the general contractors and even the owner of any particular site.

For more information on Dealing With The Company If They Deny Liability, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you’re seeking by calling (718) 720-7000 today.

Get your questions answered - call me for your free, 20 min phone consultation (718) 720-7000