The North Carolina construction site accident lawyers are committed to protecting the rights of people injured at construction sites across the State of North Carolina. Our law firm never charges a legal fee unless we recover for your claim.
Construction across North Carolina is booming. On average, there is than $10 billion worth of construction per year in North Carolina employing over 200,000 construction workers. Not surprisingly, when there is this much work to be done, shortcuts on safety are often taken that result in serious injuries to construction workers and other people visiting a construction site.
If someone is injured on the job at a construction site, there will usually be a workers compensation claim for the injury. Among the types of construction site accident claims that most frequently occur are:
A workers compensation claim is the easiest and most direct claim for a person injured on the job at a construction site. Unfortunately, workers compensation claims in North Carolina have specific limitations and do not compensate a person injured at a construction site for the full extent of the injuries.
Workers compensation covers an injured workers medical expenses and part of the wages lost due to injury and possibly a lump sum based on the extent of the injury. However, workers compensation does not necessarily account for other claims such as the pain and suffering due to a significant injury.
One advantage to workers compensation is that a claim does not depend on fault. In other words, an injured construction worker can still recover workers compensation benefits even if the accident was the fault of the injured worker. This type of recovery is much different from typical personal injury claims where, under North Carolina’s contributory negligence laws, a person who is even 1% at fault for their injuries is barred from a recovery.
If an injured worker has a viable workers compensation claim for a North Carolina construction site injury, this claim will be the only type of recovery allowed under North Carolina law against the employer. However, if the injuries to the construction site worker were caused by a separate act of negligence on the part of someone other than a co-employee or employer, the injured worker may have a claim for what is commonly called “third-party” liability.
Where a North Carolina construction worker suffers an injury due to the negligence of someone other than the employer (or co-employee), the injured worker may be able to pursue claims against the negligent person (or their employer).
Consider the following example: A worker at a job site is injured when a scaffold collapses and lands on him. The worker was a employed by a subcontractor to provide masonry finishing work along the exterior of the project. The scaffold collapse was solely due to the negligence of a different subcontractor who was responsible for framing work. Under these circumstances, the injured worker may have a third-party claim against the framing subcontractor. This third-party claim would be in addition to the injured workers claim for workers compensation benefits against the insurance company for the masonry subcontractor.
Under North Carolina law, an injured construction site worker can recover a wide-range of damages in a third-party claim. The law in North Carolina allows for recovery of medical expenses, lost wages, scarring and disfigurement, pain and suffering, and, in the case of death of the worker, damages for wrongful death.
One tricky issue about third-party injured worker claims: if the injured worker has received workers compensation benefits from his/her employer, then the employer has a statutory claim for reimbursement of any paid benefits from any third-party recovery. This claim for reimbursement is not absolute and, where applicable, the injured worker can petition the court for relief from the employers claim.
In North Carolina, the statute of limitations on most injury claims is three years. This means that an injured person has three years from the date of injury to bring a third-party claim arising from a construction site injury.
A third-party claim arising from a construction site accident can be very complicated. For these claims, it is very important to have an advocate representing your interests who knows how to determine and identify all parties that may be responsible for the injuries.
An experienced construction site accident lawyer can be vital to the success of your claim. The lawyers at Hendren Redwine & Malone have successfully handled extremely complex third-party North Carolina construction accident claims. We know how to hire the best experts to achieve the best possible outcome for our clients. As with most of our injury claims, we do not charge any legal fees unless we recover for the injured worker.