Construction Injury Lawyer Michigan
A construction worker has one of the most dangerous jobs in America, with thousands of workers injured or killed each year in construction accidents. Construction accidents usually occur when safety programs are not in place to protect workers or when the safety engineers companies hire are either negligent or absent.
- Construction Injury Law Firm
- The Limits of Workers’ Compensation
- Who’s Responsible for Construction Site Accidents?
- Product Liability
- Establishing Evidence
- Obstacles to Justice
- Engage the Best Legal Team
If you or a loved one has suffered an accident while working at a construction site, you need a construction injury law firm to determine the right next steps to take. An injured construction worker is entitled to some kind of compensation in almost any kind of injury case. While workers’ compensation covers certain injuries and expenses, there are limits to what this system covers.
A construction worker injured on the job due to negligence can sue other parties for work-related injuries with help from a construction injury attorney in Michigan. Proving a third party’s negligence requires extensive evidence, but it’s possible with an experienced attorney who specializes in construction site accidents.
The Limits of Workers’ Compensation
Even if the worker is injured due to his or her own carelessness, there is compensation available through the Workers’ Compensation Act. Benefits such as weekly payments and medical expenses are awarded to an injured worker, but often these are not enough to cover the pain and suffering associated with an on-the-job injury.
Workers’ compensation benefits are based on a percentage of the worker’s weekly earnings and on the severity of the disability, whether it is a temporary total disability or a permanent partial disability. The medical bills coverage includes only those treatments deemed necessary and related to the specific workplace injury.
Workers’ Compensation may also cover vocational rehabilitation and even transportation to and from medical appointments. However, all these expenses are subject to time and cost limits.
Workers’ compensation laws in Michigan generally shield employers from additional lawsuits, with exceptions for particularly egregious negligence. In the end, you may need to file a negligence lawsuit against a third party, like another contractor, in order to get full compensation for your injuries.
Who’s Responsible for Construction Site Accidents?
Certain circumstances can place blame for injuries that occur on the job site on a third party. The owners, architects, contractors, and equipment manufacturers can all be liable for insufficient safety measures when an accident occurs.
The general contractor and all subcontractors are responsible for providing appropriate safety provisions to ensure the construction site is reasonably safe. It is their obligation to warn of possible hazards on the site, to hire employees who will use caution while working, to coordinate job safety, and to check that safety specifications are being followed.
Usually, general contractors can only be held liable if the accident occurred in a common work area shared by employees from multiple contractors and was caused by factors that posed a threat to all employees. This could include slip and fall accidents due to standing water, injuries caused by unsafe scaffolding, or other hazards that should have been known and eliminated by the general contractor instead of the subcontractor that hired the employee.
In rare cases, the property owners may be found liable if they showed gross negligence or knowingly hired an unsafe or unqualified general contractor. The majority of construction accident cases involve the contractors themselves.
Product Liability
Manufacturers of construction equipment are responsible for designing and maintaining safe products. Defective or dangerous products may be at fault in a construction accident.
The manufacturers on this equipment can be found liable when an accident occurs due to one of their products. Equipment used on a construction site includes scaffolding, cranes, power tools, derricks, hoists, conveyors, woodworking tools, ladders, winches, trucks, graters, scrapers, tractors, bulldozers, forklifts, backhoes, heavy equipment, boilers, pressure vessels, and gas detectors.
Product liability laws in Michigan work differently from other types of negligence laws. Your best option is to consult with a lawyer who specializes in both product liability and construction site accident laws.
Establishing Evidence
Because of the huge number of people and tools working on a construction site at any given time, establishing the timeline of events that led to your injury can be challenging. Even locating the exact tool or piece of equipment may be difficult, especially if your employer did a poor job documenting the injury after it occurred. Your construction injury lawyer needs years of experience working on construction site cases in order to sort through the details of your case.
Your attorney may need to consult with expert witnesses in construction safety and construction injuries. These experts can help confirm why or how an accident occurred, especially if you didn’t directly witness something that caused the accident.
All this investigation takes extensive time to complete. Although you don’t have to have every piece of evidence assembled before filing a lawsuit, you at least have to have the basics in place.
The statute of limitations on construction site negligence accidents in Michigan is just three years. Workers’ compensation filings must be completed within just two years, and the employer must be informed of the accident within 90 days of its occurrence. Missing the deadline to file your case could cause you to miss out on the compensation you need to support yourself and your loved ones.
Obstacles to Justice
Construction contractors and their insurance companies will fight hard to try to avoid responsibility. Workers’ compensation is guaranteed by law in almost every case, but contractors may try to claim your injuries were caused by something outside of work, or that your injury claims are exaggerated.
The stakes get even higher in third-party negligence cases. The bar for proving negligence is high, especially in construction, where employees are expected to take significant measures to ensure their own safety. Proving that your injury was the fault of the company’s negligence or a manufacturer’s product will take time and expertise from an attorney.
There are various rules and thresholds for evidence in different types of cases, like asbestos exposure cases and third-party negligence cases. Only an experienced attorney can help you overcome these obstacles and collect the evidence you need to win your case.
Engage the Best Legal Team
If you or a loved one has suffered an injury at work, you need to focus both on recovery and on getting the compensation you need. Medical bills and lost wages can add up fast, and sorting through them on your own can be overwhelming.
Cochran, Kroll & Associates, P.C., is led by Terry Cochran and Eileen Kroll. Both possess the special knowledge needed to make sure all evidence has been gathered and to determine what legal action should be taken to protect your interests and future.
Our firm specializes in personal injury lawsuits, workers’ compensation claims, product liability, and more. Because of our range of knowledge, our construction accident attorneys can examine your case and advise you as to the best course of action to get justice.
Call a construction accident lawyer at 866-MICH-LAW to schedule your free consultation as soon as possible. Our legal team is committed to seeking justice while helping you through this difficult time.
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When things go wrong
There might be a statute of limitations on your case, meaning a lawsuit must be filed before a certain date. Even if you have received workers compensation, the pain and suffering you have endured far outweighs the costs of the hospital bills.
If you or a loved one has suffered from an injury due to a construction accident, remember that the attorneys at Cochran, Kroll & Associates have the skills, legal knowledge and experience needed to protect you and will seek to win payment for your injuries, expenses, and loss.
An attorney will lead you through the steps needed to recover actual damages and may even assist in punitive damages being awarded.
Levels of responsibility
Actual damages can be awarded for medical bills, lost income, funeral expenses, pain and suffering, mental stress, permanent disability and similar hardships.
Punitive damages, above and beyond those actually incurred by the victim, are intended to punish the guilty party for reckless or inappropriate behavior. Punitive damages also can function as a deterrent for others.
An attorney can collect damages for construction site injuries or assist with Workers Compensation Act benefits. Cochran, Kroll & Associates will seek payments for expenses resulting from the construction site injury and ensure justice by pursuing punitive damages.
Cochran, Kroll & Associates devotes its practice to representing individuals who are the victims of work place injuries, nursing home abuse, medical malpractice, dog bites, or vehicle accidents. Essentially, if a person has been involved in any tragedy involving negligence and requiring compensation, Cochran, Kroll & Associates will provide whatever legal services are required.
Above all else, seek justice
Victims should not hesitate from filing a lawsuit for fear of filing a frivolous lawsuit. That is propaganda created by the insurance industry. Let your attorney, not an insurance agent, determine what’s frivolous and when justice should be pursued.
In America, a jury makes a decision on damages after hearing all of the evidence. The jury award is designed to compensate the injury victim. A fundamental right of all Americans is a trial by jury, allowing our fellow citizens to hear our case and to make a decision. Do not give up any of your rights as a citizen!
Statutes of limitation limit the length of time you have to file a lawsuit. If you fail to file a lawsuit within that time period you may forever be denied the justice due you. It is critical that you seek legal help quickly.
Let Cochran, Kroll & Associates fight for your rights. There is no obligation for case evaluation and no fee is charged unless a recovery is made.
The Law Offices of Cochran, Kroll & Associates, P.C. is dedicated to representing individuals and families who have suffered catastrophic losses as a result of injuries, disabilities and death. The firm does not represent insurance companies or corporations but instead bases its practice upon representing individuals and families.