Sumter, SC Construction Accident & Injury Lawyers
Injured construction workers face some of the most severe injuries of any industry’s workers. The construction equipment and power tools used on a job site can cause serious injuries and death in an instant. For the survivors of these tragic injuries – and the families of those who are killed – justice is available.
For help with a construction accident, always turn to an experienced lawyer. These cases can be complex, and many injured workers do not fully understand their rights. Our lawyers can explain your options and help you seek full compensation for your injuries.
Call Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers for a free case evaluation with our construction accident and injury lawyers at (803) 451-4000.
Can Construction Workers Sue for Work Injuries in Sumter, SC?
The right to sue for an injury is tied up in a few different legal questions, which our construction accident and injury attorneys will take you through:
Elements to Sue for a Construction Accident
First, you must meet all the elements of a lawsuit to sue for your injuries. While some injury cases on construction sites will be based on intentional injuries like assault and battery, most will be based on negligence.
In a negligence claim, you must prove that the at-fault party (the defendant) caused your injuries by failing to uphold some legal duty they owed you. Usually, the legal duty in question is the duty to act reasonably in the given circumstances. In other cases, there might be specific laws that dictate what the duty is, such as federal OSHA regulations and South Carolina state OSHA regulations.
If your accident was caused by someone’s carelessness or a breach of these regulations, then you likely have grounds for a lawsuit. But other factors might still restrict or eliminate your right to sue.
Can Injured Workers Sue?
Our Workers’ Compensation scheme is known as the “exclusive remedy,” meaning that there is no right to a lawsuit. However, that exclusivity only applies to block lawsuits where your employer is negligent. Some exceptions allow you to sue your employer for intentional injuries, but most construction accidents deal with the other exceptions. Since you are only limited from suing your employer, this means you can sue other parties, and you might be able to sue someone you work for who is not considered your “employer.”
Suing Third Parties
If you are an employee and have an employer that you cannot sue, you might still have a strong case against other third-party defendants.
Construction workers are often injured by people whom they do not work for, such as drivers crashing into roadside crews or manufacturers who produce defective and dangerous tools and safety gear. This might lead to joint liability between the employer and a third party in some situations. In the example of a roadside construction crew being hit by a car, the driver would be at fault. Still, they might share liability with the construction firm if it failed to erect proper safety barriers around the crew.
If your injury was caused by some third party, like in these kinds of cases, you should be entitled to sue them for their fair share of fault in causing your injuries.
Right to Sue for Independent Contractors
Many construction workers are independent contractors, not employees. Under these circumstances, you have no “employer,” so there is no restriction on your right to sue your employer.
Whether you are a general “contractor” or work in a specific trade, your legal status as an “independent contractor” matters when determining your right to sue. Many subcontractors also have no “employer” and can also sue the general contractor who hired them or the construction firm or client running the job site, depending on the facts of the case. However, some contracts and employment setups might not properly qualify as “independent contractor” arrangements, and sometimes contractors and subcontractors are required to be covered under a Workers’ Compensation policy.
Ultimately, the facts of each case will be important in determining whether you can sue for injuries.
Damages Recoverable in a Construction Injury Lawsuit in Sumter, SC
You could be entitled to a substantial financial recovery when you sue for injuries after a construction accident. Workers’ Compensation might cover your medical bills and pay for some of your lost wages, but there are other damages missing from these claims that you can get in a lawsuit.
First and foremost, an injury lawsuit will pay for your pain and suffering. These damages can be as high as or even a multiple of your other “economic” damages in your case, depending on how severe your injuries are. One common method of calculating pain and suffering and the rest of your “non-economic” damages is to multiply your other damages by a factor of 3-5 for very serious injury cases. This could mean that if you faced paralysis or amputation injuries on a construction job, you could very well be looking at at least three times your medical bills and lost wages in pain and suffering. These damages would not be paid at all in an insurance claim, so it is important to discuss your options for a lawsuit.
Lost wages and medical bills should also be covered in full in a construction accident lawsuit, along with any other economic damages that stemmed from your injury. If you are a contractor who operates at multiple job sites and perhaps employs other workers or subcontractors, you could miss out on massive sums of money while you cannot work. Expensive injuries could also cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills that you need to recover in a lawsuit.
If a loved one was killed in a construction accident, your family could be entitled to additional damages for the loss, such as funeral expenses.
Call Our Construction Accident and Injury Attorneys Today
Call (803) 451-4000 for a free case review with the construction accident and injury attorneys at Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers today.
