What Happens In The Event Of A Construction Site Injury And How A Skilled Attorney Can Help

It is fair to say that construction sites are dangerous places to work. In fact recent statistics show that around 1500 construction workers are fatally injured every year and many thousands more are injured. An experienced team of Los Angeles accident lawyers who deal specifically with personal injury explain that one out of every five work related deaths come from working on construction sites. Unlike other work related accidents, construction injuries can often be far more complex to deal with and here's why.

Third parties explained

Simply by the nature of what it is, construction sites are different from most other work places in that you have a myriad of different companies all working towards the same goal of a completed project. In other non-construction workplaces, it is fair to say that everybody could be working for the same company. Generally when an incident occurs in a normal workplace environment the injured party would make a claim under workers compensation. This means that the injured party can receive funds quickly to cover immediate medical expenses and a loss of wages whilst in recovery. However the trade off is that the company owner cannot be directly sued and all claims would go through an insurance broker.

If you have had suffered an injury in an accident that was no fault of your own by an individual or individuals who are not working for the same company as you, then this is known as a 'third party'. As a result a civil lawsuit can be filed. If you find yourself in this situation, then it is imperative that you contact a highly skilled Los Angeles accident lawyer, as they can help to navigate the waters of a third party injury claim.

So why the problems with third party claims?

An experienced LA accident lawyer will tell you that third party claims can be difficult to pursue. The reason for this is that in many cases individuals will have a tendency to 'pass the buck' and it could be difficult to make liability stick. This is why any third party construction accident case has to undergo a long investigation process.

Financial backing

From this point, it is important to hire the services of a LA accident lawyer and their team who have the financial backing behind them. They will be able to call upon the services of independent experts who are able to investigate the cause of the accident to ascertain where the negligence lies. People such as accident investigators, medical experts, machinery specialists and health and safety advisers can all help in such a claim. They can then present their findings to the lawyer who can look to build a case. Any team of attorneys who do not have this financial backing may not have the resources necessary to thoroughly investigate such a case.

Compensation

With a workers comp claim, an injured party is restricted to what financial compensation they can receive and this is usually related to their immediate accident and their recovery process. With a third party claim, an attorney can also look into compensation for circumstances such as a loss of future wages (if unable to carry out the same job again), costs of retraining (if applicable), ongoing care costs such as rehabilitation, and damages for any stress and anguish caused to the injured party. In some cases, depending upon the severity of the negligence and the circumstances in which it happened, a skilled LA accident attorney may also be able to file for punitive damages filed directly against the negligent party. A third party injury claim is filed as a separate entity from workers comp and both claims can run alongside each other.

Hiring the right Los Angeles accident attorney for the job is paramount to your success as they will make sure that they will leave no stone unturned so that you get the full and fair compensation that you need for your injury.