Work Injury Lawyers on Your Side

Negligence can take many forms. However, there are generally four main elements that a work injury attorney must be met to prove negligence by an employer. If the employer:

• Owed the victim a duty of case. Employers have an understood duty of care. It is an employers job to ensure that employees are safe when on the premises or using equipment.
• Breached the duty of care. After the duty of care is established, it must be proven that the employer somehow violated that care. Your attorney can prove a breach of duty if the act that led to your injury was something a reasonable person would have noticed.
• An injury actually occurred. In order to move forward with a case, workplace injuries should be measurable. This can be a loss of life, limb or any other physical injuries that occurred on the job. In some cases, emotional or psychological trauma can be considered when establishing a victim’s injuries.
• The injury was the result of the employer negligence. Simply, an employer must maintain proper safety measures to prevent injuries. By contacting a Carlson Law Firm workplace injury lawyer, we can help you establish an employer’s negligence.

After an injury in the workplace, you may believe that you can only get workers’ compensation. While this is a general rule, there are several exceptions where you may be able to recoup damages.

Sometimes your on-the-job injury might have been caused by the negligence of a third party. Depending on the circumstances, this other person or entity may be a designer or manufacturer of a defective piece of equipment or perhaps the driver of a delivery truck. If you are injured while at work due to the negligence of another party, you may have the right to bring a claim against that person or entity. These are known as “third-party claims.” Typically, these claims are not filed in the workers’ compensation universe. Rather, they take the form of civil lawsuits and are filed in state or federal courts.

Civil lawsuits for work-related injuries can typically seek additional personal injury damages that are not recoverable in a workers’ compensation claim. For example, the benefits you receive in a workers’ compensation claim are typically intended to reimburse you for your medical expenses and lost wages — you are usually not allowed to seek compensation for pain and suffering. In a third-party claim, you generally are allowed to seek compensation for pain and suffering, which is a category of “non-economic” damages.

There are several exceptions where you may be able to recoup damages. Those damages include injuries from:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released a December 2017 report showcasing an increase in the number of on the job fatal injuries. Fatal workplace injuries hit a 13-year low in 2009, but have steadily increased since. The latest statistics from 2016 show that 4,098 wage and salaried workers died from workplace injuries that year alone.

In 2015, a report from the Texas Tribune showed that Texas leads the nation in the number of work-related fatalities. The article also mentioned that “Hispanic and Latino workers accounted for nearly 17 percent of all workplace deaths” in the United States.

There is nothing more painful than losing a loved one in an accident. You fully expect your spouse, parent or child to come home safe from work every day. While some costs are recoverable through a workers’ compensation claim, it may not be enough to truly cover the extent of your loss.

It is important to remember that you can sue your loved one’s employer in the event of gross negligence or intentional oversight that resulted in wrongful death. Contact a Carlson Law Firm Workplace Injury Lawyer for a free consultation.