Philadelphia Construction Accident Lawyer
Construction Accident Attorneys In Philadelphia You Can Trust
A construction site can be a very dangerous place. A construction job accident is one of the most serious types of personal injuries that someone can suffer and may leave you in considerable pain and unable to work. With medical bills mounting and unpaid bills at home, you need financial compensation to provide for your family.
Fortunately, the Philadelphia construction accident lawyers at The Levin Firm Personal Injury Lawyers are prepared to help hold any third parties accountable for your injuries.
At The Levin Firm, we are experienced in all types of construction site accidents, including:
- Slip and Fall Accidents on The Job
- Defective Construction Equipment
- Electrocuted at The Construction Site
- Fall Injuries Occurring at A Construction Site
- Crane Accidents
- Burn Injuries at Construction Sites
- Accident at Construction Site Leads to Death
Catastrophic Injuries On Construction Sites
Given the heavy equipment and dangerous conditions on construction sites, it isn’t surprising that many workers suffer catastrophic injuries that leave them unable to return to their old jobs. Some of the more common injuries sustained in construction accidents include:
- Broken bones
- Back sprains
- Spinal cord injuries
- Concussions
- Other traumatic brain injuries
- Internal organ injuries
- Disfigurement, such as losing a limb
Injured workers face the prospect of months of intense medical treatment—and some might still not recover.
If you’ve suffered a spinal cord injury or traumatic brain injury, for example, then you might need permanent medical treatment due to paralysis.
If the injury affects your loved one’s ability to think and speak, then they will need permanent care which can cost several million dollars over their lifetime.
In some cases, a construction site accident might be so serious that your loved one will die—depriving their survivors of the love, support, and income they had been planning on. Fortunately, Pennsylvania law allows you to receive compensation in a wrongful death lawsuit.
Dangerous Worksites
The construction job accident lawyers at The Levin Firm understand how dangerous construction sites can be, and can help you to file a personal injury lawsuit if you get hurt . A short list of the hazards you might face include:
- holes in the ground,
- uneven surfaces,
- tall buildings,
- the possibility of falling objects,
- scattered nails,
- objects on the ground,
- inadequate security and
- heavy equipment
Any of these hazards can injury construction workers—and many of these hazards are avoidable. If someone, like a general contractor, could have made the jobsite safer but didn’t, you might be able to hold them financially responsible for your injuries.
Our personal injury attorneys believe these conditions create a strong possibility for a construction site accident to occur to both construction job workers and to unsuspecting passers-by.
A construction site accident can often result in very serious injury or even death. Most of these accidents could be prevented by the imposition of safety measures and practices. You have a right to recover for all of your injuries against the parties that did not take appropriate measures to ensure your safety.
Compensation Is Available
Workers’ compensation benefits are helpful, but they won’t replace all of your lost income. You can typically only get two-thirds of your income replaced by workers’ compensation, and your family will probably need much more than that.
Even worse, workers’ compensation benefits will eventually run out—well before you are prepared to re-enter the workforce to find another good-paying job.
Fortunately, if you can sue a third party for your injuries, you might be able to receive compensation for the following economic losses:
- All medical expenses: hospital stays, doctor’s visits, prescription and over-the-counter drugs, equipment (such as wheelchairs)
- Rehabilitation expenses, including physical therapy, vocational therapy, and speech therapy
- Lost wages while you are recovering from your injuries above and beyond what workers’ compensation will give you
Some of your injuries, however, cannot be easily measured in dollars and cents. These intangible injuries can still be worth tens of thousands of dollars—or even more. They include:
- Your capacity to earn future wages, if you’ve been so injured that you can’t return to your current job or any job
- Physical pain and suffering as a result of your injury
- Emotional pain caused by the injury
- Changes to your marriage, such as a loss of physical intimacy
Although you can’t measure non-economic damages in dollars, you are still entitled to receive compensation for them.
The construction lawyers at The Levin Firm Personal Injury Lawyers will help analyze your situation and determine what amount of compensation you might be entitled to.
Protect Your Legal Rights Today
It is important to contact an attorney right away if you have been injured at a construction site. The nature of a construction site is that it is constantly changing, and it is important that the site is investigated, observed and photographed in the same condition that it was in when you were injured.
Property owners may try to fix the dangerous condition or cover it up, or it may be eliminated on its own as part of the original construction plans.
That’s why you need an attorney who will work quickly and efficiently to ensure that you have the strongest case possible so that you can fully recover for your injuries.
Representing clients who were injured in construction site accidents requires a team of aggressive investigators and lawyers all devoting their maximum effort to their clients.
At The Levin Firm, our Pennsylvania and New Jersey personal injury attorneys work together with a team of investigators and support staff to investigate every claim so that we may aggressively and zealously represent our clients and obtain the best possible results.
Build A Strong Case
Lawsuits revolve around evidence, and the experienced construction accident lawyers at The Levin Firm Personal Injury Lawyers are skilled at thoroughly document the circumstance surrounding the accident.
Our aggressive investigators will visit the jobsite to document the hazard that caused your accident. They’ll collect all relevant information, such as:
- Witness statements
- Photographs of the hazard or dangerous condition
- Medical records
- Proof of safety violations at the jobsite
Some accidents will require the help of expert witnesses to reconstruct what happened or to testify as to whether any safety lapse was unreasonable.
Expert witnesses might be engineers, former contractors, or safety experts. The best experts have sterling academic credentials but also an ability to explain complicated information to a lay audience using simple and clear language.
At The Levin Firm, we know how to find and properly vet an expert so that the judge will approve them to testify on your behalf.
There’s also no more important witness to the accident than yourself. You can testify at trial, but you should also carefully document your own memories of the accident soon after it happens.
Write down what you remember and keep detailed notes about how the injury has affected your life. For example, you might not be able to pursue hobbies or sleep well at night because of the pain.
This information can help you obtain non-economic damages for pain and suffering or changes in your marital relationship, and you should begin documenting these changes right away.
Don’t Delay
Accident victims have a limited amount of time to bring a lawsuit to hold someone responsible for their construction site accident. In particular, you have only 2 years from the date of the accident to file a lawsuit, otherwise, you are outside the “statute of limitations” period.
If you wait too long, a judge will dismiss your case and you will end up with no compensation even though you are completely blameless for your injury. Contact an experienced Philadelphia construction accident attorney today to protect your legal rights.
Philadelphia Construction Accident FAQ
A construction worker struck by falling bricks suffered a serious injury on a construction site in Philadelphia recently. While that may seem like a freak accident to most of us, anyone who works in the construction industry knows it was neither uncommon nor unexpected. Construction workers face contrast injury risks. In the U.S., one in every five work-place injuries resulting in death occurs on a construction site. The majority of workplace injuries and deaths related to construction work result from falling, being struck by an object, being electrocuted, or being caught in or in-between objects.
If you suffered a serious injury in a Philadelphia construction accident, you may have the right to take legal action to receive significant financial compensation. Below, we answer some common questions we hear from our clients about construction accident injuries in Philadelphia. For answers to questions about a construction accident that left you or a loved one badly injured, contact an experienced Philadelphia construction accident injury lawyer today.
I was injured in a Philadelphia construction accident. Can I sue my employer?
Most Philadelphia construction workers are covered by workers’ compensation insurance.
Workers’ compensation is a form of insurance that covers medical expenses and lost wages resulting from a work-related injury or illness. Pennsylvania law requires most Philadelphia employers to purchase and pay for workers’ comp covering their employees.
Most employers who buy workers’ compensation policies do not have legal liability for injuries their employees suffer on the job.
Instead, the law limits employees to filing a workers’ compensation insurance claim—and for that, they may need our help. Workers’ comp claims are no easier to resolve than any other claims involving insurance companies. We can help you apply and make sure the settlement you receive is what you deserve.
Some exceptions to this rule exist, however. Also, in some cases, a third party (someone other than an employer or co-worker) causes a Philadelphia construction accident injury.
In those cases, the injured worker may have the right to sue the third party for damages. For example, in the case of a motor vehicle accident that injures a worker in a construction zone, the worker may have the right to sue the driver of the vehicle.
Speak with an experienced Philadelphia construction accident injury attorney today to learn about your rights to take legal action after suffering a construction accident injury.
What compensation can I claim for my construction accident injuries?
It depends on the type of compensation you have the right to claim.
If workers’ compensation covers your injury, then it will usually pay for your medical expenses related to the injury, such as emergency treatment at the scene or in the emergency department, transport to the hospital by ambulance or air, diagnostic testing, physician and surgical services, hospitalization, prescription medication, physical therapy, and rehabilitation.
Workers’ comp also pays two-thirds of your wages for the time you miss at work due to the injury.
In cases involving permanent disability, you may also receive wage benefits until you reach retirement age.
If you have the right to file a lawsuit seeking compensation for your Philadelphia construction accident injuries, then in addition to claiming medical expenses and lost wages, you may also seek compensation for loss of your future earning capacity, and for so-called non-economic damages such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of the enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium.
An experienced Philadelphia construction accident injury lawyer can evaluate the types of compensation you have the right to seek.
How long will I have to wait for compensation after my construction accident?
Again, it depends on where the compensation comes from.
If you file a workers’ compensation claim, then your first disability payment should arrive within three weeks (your medical providers generally get paid directly).
If you seek compensation for your construction-related injury through a Philadelphia construction accident lawsuit, then the outcome and timeline are less certain.
Factors that can influence the timeline include:
- Waiting for maximum medical improvement. Accurate assessment of the amount of money you should seek may require waiting until you have a clearer picture of your long-term health prospects. An attorney may advise waiting until you reach maximum improvement before taking legal action, to allow for a precise calculation of your current and future financial needs.
- Negotiating a settlement. Most Philadelphia construction accident injury lawsuits settle through negotiation between the injured worker’s lawyer, defense lawyers, and insurance companies. Sometimes, the facts and legal issues need time to develop before meaningful negotiation can take place.
- Discovery and court congestion. Investigating the facts of a lawsuit through the legal process of discovery can take months. Courts typically schedule the proceedings in Philadelphia construction accident lawsuits over months, to allow discovery to take place, and because courts have other business that can take priority.
Remember, too, that no one can guarantee you compensation for your Philadelphia construction accident injury. Hiring an experienced Philadelphia construction accident injury attorney, however, gives you the best shot at obtaining the full amount of money you need and deserve.
My loved one died in a Philadelphia construction accident. Can I recover damages?
Probably. Pennsylvania workers’ compensation insurance generally provides death benefits to replace part of the deceased worker’s weekly wage, and up to $7,000 for funeral and burial expenses.
A worker’s family may also have the legal right to file a lawsuit known as a wrongful death action, seeking damages for the party at-fault for the tragic death. The damages that a wrongful death lawsuit may recover can include funeral and burial expenses, loss of the deceased worker’s income, pain and suffering, and loss of consortium. Speak with an experienced Philadelphia construction accident injury lawyer today to learn about your family’s legal rights.
How does my Philadelphia construction accident lawyer prove liability in my construction accident case?
First, liability (someone’s legal obligation to pay because of causing someone else’s injuries) only matters in a lawsuit.
If you file a workers’ compensation claim, then liability generally does not matter. Workers’ compensation insurance pays benefits to injured workers regardless of fault for a construction accident, except in limited circumstances such as when the injured worker was drunk or high on the job, or deliberately caused the accident to obtain benefits.
In a lawsuit seeking compensation for a Philadelphia construction accident injury, however, legal liability does matter. What a lawyer needs to do to prove it depends on the specific facts and circumstances of an accident.
However, in a large number of cases, to prove liability a lawyer must show that:
- Someone owed the injured worker a duty of care. This means someone had a legal obligation not to act in a way that puts someone else at an unreasonable risk of harm. For example, drivers of cars passing through a road construction zone have a duty of care to obey reduced speed limits, to keep workers safe.
- Someone breached that duty of care. Using the work zone example, a driver who speeds through a construction zone breaches (or violates) the duty of care the driver owes to construction workers. Speeding puts the workers at an unreasonable risk of harm.
- The breach caused the worker’s injuries. If, by speeding, the driver causes an accident that hurts a road construction worker, then we say the driver is liable for the construction worker’s injuries.
Straightforward as these requirements might sound, they can get complicated to prove in practice. Trust only an experienced Philadelphia construction accident lawyer to handle your claim.
What evidence is used to prove a Philadelphia construction accident injury claim?
Any information that establishes when, where, and how the accident happened, and the nature of your injuries and losses, constitutes evidence that a lawyer may use to prove your right to receive compensation (either from workers’ comp or through a lawsuit). That information can come from eyewitnesses, from medical records, from insurance documentation, from employment records, and so on.
Speak with a construction accident injury lawyer in Philadelphia as soon as possible after your injury to preserve as much evidence as possible about your case.
What is the average compensation for a construction accident?
There is no average, really. Construction accidents cause a wide range of injuries and losses, which lead to an equally wide range of compensation amounts.
Workers who receive workers’ compensation benefits for their injury can generally expect to receive compensation for their medical expenses (much of it paid directly to their doctors), and up to two-thirds of their average weekly wage until they can return to work.
In Philadelphia construction accident cases, compensation can include medical expenses, lost wages, and sometimes, if third parties helped to cause the accident, so-called non-economic damages for pain, suffering, and diminished quality of life.
Factors that can influence the amount of money an injured Philadelphia construction worker might receive through lawsuit include:
- The severity of the injury. More severe injuries often require more expensive treatments, more time away from work, and more severe impacts on the person’s day-to-day life, all of which can lead to larger claims.
- The worker’s age, general state of health, and income. Because damages can include payment for a worker’s current and future lost wages, younger, healthier, higher-paid workers will usually have higher-value claims compared to older, less-healthy, lower-paid workers.
- The degree of dispute and conflict. This factor can cut both ways. On one hand, lawsuits involving high-dollar claims tend to spur more disagreement, because the parties have more money to fight over. On the other hand, the more uncertain the facts and legal issues in a lawsuit, the longer the odds of succeeding and so, the lower the value of the claim.
- The liable party’s financial resources. At the end of the day, a legal claim is only worth as much as the liable party’s ability to pay. Experienced Philadelphia construction accident lawyers work to identify all parties with potential liability for a construction accident injury, to ensure their clients pursue the greatest number of sources of payment available.
- The injured worker’s personal needs. Some injured workers can hold out for the best possible resolution of a claim. Others face severe financial strain and need to resolve a claim sooner, even if that means taking less money than they might otherwise recover.
Is the compensation I receive through a Philadelphia construction accident lawsuit taxable?
Probably not, but to be sure, discuss your tax concerns with an experienced Philadelphia construction accident injury lawyer.
Usually, you are not required to pay tax on workers’ compensation benefits. Similarly, the IRS does not consider personal injury settlements and awards income, so they are also not taxed. However, some exceptions do exist, such as when a party receives punitive damages.
Taxes can get complicated, as most of us know. Do not assume the money you receive in connection with a Philadelphia construction accident injury case will always come to you tax-free. Always discuss any tax concerns directly with an experienced attorney.
Do I need an attorney for my Philadelphia construction accident case?
Yes, you absolutely need an attorney for your construction accident case, regardless of whether you file a workers’ compensation claim or pursue a lawsuit.
The workers’ compensation process is often confusing. Preparing an accurate, thorough claim with the help of an attorney can get you paid quickly. If the workers’ compensation insurance company denies your claim, seek an attorney’s help in appealing that decision. Do not try to go it alone. You may put your legal rights at risk.
By the same token, taking legal action for compensation after a Philadelphia construction accident case requires the skill and experience of a seasoned construction accident injury lawyer. Make sure any lawyer you hire has a track record in Philadelphia construction accident cases so that you can rest assured your lawyer knows how to investigate, strategize, negotiate, and go to court to get you the money you need and deserve.
If you or a loved one suffered an injury in a Philadelphia construction accident, then you may have the right to receive the financial compensation from workers’ compensation insurance or through a lawsuit that you need to rebuild your life. Contact an experienced Philadelphia construction accident injury lawyer at the Levin Firm today for a free case evaluation.