Our construction accident lawyers know that mishaps may occur in many different settings, but construction areas in particular are very dangerous. Momentary lapses of attention can have fatal results. Patterns of neglect with respect to workplace safety can lead to catastrophe. Our attorneys handle all types of construction accident cases.
Whether your accident occurred in New York or elsewhere, we have the experience and expertise to represent you. The lawyers at Friedman & Simon, L.L.P. believe that representing seriously injured individuals is a solemn responsibility. If you have questions or concerns about a construction accident, you are welcome to contact us to schedule a free initial consultation.
Actual Construction Site Surveillance Video
New York’s “Scaffold Law” (Labor Law §240) protects construction workers who work on ladders, scaffolds and are at risk from elevation related activities. Labor Law §240 places responsibility for safety on those in control of ensuring that workers receive proper protection while performing elevation related activities. The law applies not only to actual construction work, but also to erection, demolition, repairing, altering, painting, cleaning or pointing of a building or structure.
New York’s labor laws §200, §241 and Industrial Code are designed to protect construction workers. Those laws also protect pedestrians and others who walk or drive past construction sites. This protection is particularly important in a city such as New York, with crowded sidewalks and numerous high rise construction sites.
In the highly competitive construction industry, contracts often go to the lowest bidder. The Labor Laws of New York State are designed to ensure that workers be given adequate protection against injury. New York’s Labor Laws protect against cost-cutting measures that compromise work-site safety. This protection is important not only to the skilled and experienced worker, but also to the low-wage undocumented worker who may lack formal training and who may have language barriers.
At Friedman & Simon, L.L.P. we are often asked to help individuals injured by violations of labor laws. Our lawyers handle many types of construction accident cases. We have successfully represented injured workers who have suffered spinal cord injury, paralysis and various other devastating injuries.
Your New York Workplace Injury Lawyers
If you or a loved one has suffered an injury while performing construction work, we want to help you. Contact us today to talk about your case. There is no charge for the initial consultation. As all cases are controlled by statutes of limitations and other applicable time restrictions, our attorneys want to make sure that your rights are protected before it is too late!
Call us when you need a New York workplace injury lawyer
Every day millions of New Yorkers go to work with the intention of doing their job and returning home safely. Tragically some workplace injuries are caused by the reckless or thoughtless misconduct of others. In an instant, a worker’s life and the life of his or her family can be changed forever. Some occupations, specifically those involving construction related work, are especially dangerous. Height related risk, working with heavy machinery and other dangers that are simply “part of the job,” for construction workers expose these men and women to many workplace injury hazards. When some bosses place “profits before safety” by providing inadequate protection, inadequate or no proper safety devices or equipment, insufficient job staffing and by making unreasonable and dangerous time-production demands, the ordinarily serious safety concerns are greatly increased. When a worker suffers a serious or catastrophic injury and retains our firm, we seek to apply the law for workers so as to press every advantage for the injured person and his or her family. We work to make a money recovery for the many ways in which money is needed to carry on with post-accident life. An injured worker may collect a money recovery from a number of sources.
3rd Party Claims – Workers’ Compensation – Disability
First, some definitions: The injured worker is “the First Party.” The injured worker’s employer is “the Second Party.” Any other potentially legally responsible / liable (for the happening of the accident,) person(s) are “Third Parties.” Third Party Claims are claims for money recovery by the injured person(s) against any responsible party that is not an employer (Second Party) or fellow employee of the injured person. These 3rd Party Claims are the claims which the attorneys at Friedman & Simon, L.L.P prosecute. Workers employed and injured in New York are entitled to New York State Workers Compensation benefits. The New York State Workers Compensation Board offers as its mission statement the following: “The New York State Workers’ Compensation Board protects the rights of employees and employers by ensuring the proper delivery of benefits to those who are injured or ill, and by promoting compliance with the law.”
Here is a link to the Board’s Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.wcb.state.ny.us/content/main/onthejob/CommonQuestions.jsp To understand the difference and complimentary effects of 3rd Party Claims and Workers’ Compensation Benefits, the following may be helpful: An electrician on a construction site trips and falls on debris left behind by the carpenters on the job site. If the electrician is hurt, he will have a Workers’ Compensation claim for medical expenses and lost wages. Above and beyond his Workers’ Compensation claim, he / she may very well have claims for money damages against the carpenter and the carpenter’s employer (assuming the carpenter was employed by a different employer than the electrician), the General Contractor, the Owner of the property and/or any other persons/ corporations who are found, through investigation and/or litigation discovery, to have contributed to the happening of the accident. The supermarket worker who slips and suffers an injury because the outside refrigeration repair company failed to correct a leak properly will also have both a workers’ compensation claim and a 3rd Party claim. The truck driver delivering a load who is stopped at a red light and is hit in the rear by a careless and inexperienced, newly licensed driver, will also have both a workers’ compensation claim and a 3rd Party claim. The injured factory worker who is seriously or catastrophically injured by a defective machine while in the course of employment will have a workers’ compensation claim and may have a 3rd Party claim in the form of a product liability case against the manufacturer of the defective machine. As the variety of circumstances expressed above suggest, there are many, many examples of situations that would give rise to both workers’ compensation claims and 3rd Party claims. The New York injury attorneys at Friedman & Simon, L.L.P. focus on maximizing the money recovery of those who have suffered workplace injuries by asserting 3rd Party claims. We work closely with worker compensation attorneys to reach the best outcome for our injured clients. We have been honored many times over the years to have had cases referred to our office by attorneys who limit their practice to Workers Comp Law (generally referred to as “workers comp attorneys,” “workers compensation attorneys “ or “workers compensation lawyers”) and Social Security Disability law, specifically to pursue 3rd Party claims on behalf of those clients. Another related, but separate, area of claims for injured workers is the matter of a claim for disability. The 3rd Party claim can assert a demand for past lost wages and future lost wages. Additionally, an injured worker may be entitled to private insurance disability (if available) and/or government funded disability, i.e. Social Security Disability.
www.socialsecurity.gov + FAQs Such an injured person will often require a lawyer for disability cases. If you have been injured in a construction accident or other workplace mishap and you seek workers comp attorneys and lawyers for disability claims generally and for Social Security Disability claims specifically, the attorneys at Friedman & Simon, L.L.P. will assemble and work with a team of highly qualified practitioners who will pursue these additional important areas of money recovery. As experienced and dedicated personal injury attorneys we provide comprehensive counsel to people who were hurt on the job. The attorneys at Friedman & Simon, L.L.P., lawyers for personal injury cases involving construction accidents and other workplace injuries, know that “personal injury atty,” “law injury”, “injury law personal” as well as “personal injuries lawyers,” “injury work,” and “lawsuit injury,” are among the many terms searched thousands of times per month by injured workers seeking powerful legal representation. Whether you arrived at this site by way of such a search, by way of a referral from another attorney or from a former client of ours, we are delighted that you are here. We thank you for visiting our site and hope to make available to you the benefit of our attorneys’ nearly 90 years collective experience. When it comes to matters of law on personal injury, and more specifically, construction accidents and other job injury cases, we will always welcome your telephone call, email and online chat consultation. So, if you have any questions about the matters discussed above or about a construction accident case that you or someone you care about has, please call/email/chat with us now!
