Construction accidents can leave workers unable to get back to work for months or even years. Without income, and with medical bills racking up, you need legal help.
Our attorneys can help you recover damages from at-fault parties to compensate you for your injuries. The damages you can seek in a personal injury lawsuit often go above and beyond what Workers’ Compensation covers, helping compensate your pain and suffering, as well as medical bills and lost wages.
For a free case evaluation, call Rhatigan Law Offices’ construction accident lawyers today at (312) 598-0014.
Filing a Claim for Injuries on a Construction Site
Our construction accident lawyers file personal injury claims. However, before you file that claim, you might also be eligible for Workers’ Compensation.
Filing for Workers’ Comp
Injured construction workers typically qualify as “employees” under Illinois law, even if you are a contractor. This allows you to file through your employer for work-related injuries, all without needing to prove fault.
To file your claim, notify your employer of your injuries within 45 days. If they deny your claim, you can file a formal claim within 3 years of the injury. However, this claim will always leave some damages unpaid.
Filing a Lawsuit
On top of that, our attorneys can file a personal injury lawsuit. This can recover additional damages.
We start your case by determining who was at fault and collecting evidence of what they did to cause your injury. Then, we file the claim in court and serve the defendant with a copy. This must be filed within 2 years of the accident in most cases.
Damages Available for Construction Accident Cases
When you get hurt in an accident, you generally need three areas of damages covered. However, there are other “economic” damages you may be able to claim, as well as the potential for punitive damages.
Note that Workers’ Compensation covers these first two damages – at least in part – but you can claim them again in a lawsuit. If you get compensated twice, you can pay back the Workers’ Compensation insurance company for the amounts they spent on you and keep the rest.
Medical Bills
Getting your injuries treated is vital to your recovery, but it can be expensive. You should be entitled to claim every cent you were billed for your injuries, including the cost of ongoing treatment like physical therapy or medication.
Lost Wages
While Workers’ Compensation covers around 2/3 of your lost wages, you deserve the full value of the income you lost because of your injury. If you are back to work full-time, damages are simple enough to calculate. If you will miss work going forward or now work less (or not at all) because of a disability, we can calculate how that affects your wages going forward.
Pain and Suffering
The cost of physical pain, emotional distress, and other intangible harms cannot be shown through bills or financial records. However, we can put a reasonable value on these harms and claim them against the at-fault party, too.
These damages are not available in a Workers’ Compensation claim, making a lawsuit vital to a full recovery.
Other Economic Damages
Aside from medical bills and lost wages, you may face other expenses from the accident. This can include the cost of damaged clothing or safety gear, childcare costs while you are hospitalized, and more.
We can claim any reasonable values of expenses related to the accident.
Punitive Damages
If your injury was caused by actions that go above and beyond mere “negligence,” we can potentially claim additional damages. This often comes up in cases where you were injured by a defective product that the company did not recall, even though they knew it was dangerous, or where you were injured by a contractor or another company’s reckless conduct.
Elements of an Injury Claim for Construction Accidents in Tinley Park
A construction accident is usually based on a claim that the at-fault party committed “negligence.” You also must have an outside third party to sue in most cases, since you cannot file a lawsuit against your employer for a work-related accident.
Elements of Negligence
Negligence claims require showing
- The defendant owed you a legal duty.
- They breached that duty.
- That breach caused your accident.
- You suffered injuries and damages that can be compensated.
Third Parties
You cannot sue your employer for most work accidents, so you need to find another party that you can hold responsible. Our lawyers often bring claims against the following:
- Equipment manufacturers
- Safety gear manufacturers
- Drivers
- Crane operators and other machinery operators from other companies
- Suppliers
- Property owners.
Examples
Putting these together, here are some examples of the types of construction accidents you can sue for:
- A third-party electrician fails to warn that the power was turned back on, causing you to be electrocuted.
- A delivery driver drops an appliance out of a truck and onto you.
- A power tool manufacturer’s dangerous designs caused your amputation injury.
- A drunk driver crashed into your roadside work crew.
FAQs for Construction Accident Cases in Tinley Park
How Long Do You Have to File?
For Workers’ Compensation claims, you have to report your injury to your employer and file a formal claim within 3 years. Lawsuits against third parties typically have a 2-year filing deadline.
Do You Need a Lawyer?
You may be able to get Workers’ Compensation payments from your employer without a lawyer if they accept your claim. If they do not, always work with an outside lawyer on that case (we do not handle Workers’ Compensation claims).
However, even if that claim is granted in full, it leaves damages you will not recover without taking a third-party defendant to court. It is legal to proceed pro se (without a lawyer), but you never should. We can help you identify what your case is truly worth and bring the case to trial if the defense fails to settle for a fair value.
Call Our Construction Accident Attorneys in Tinley Park Today
For your free case evaluation with the construction accident lawyers at Rhatigan Law Offices, call (312) 598-0014 today.
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