Two Offices in New York City
Two Offices in New York City
Are you struggling with injuries after you were hurt in a NYC construction accident? An experienced New York City construction accident lawyer at the Law Offices of Jay S. Knispel, LLC can help you get the compensation you deserve. Call us at (212) 564 2800 today to get started.
Our award-winning legal team has more than 25 years of litigation experience. We stand up to insurance companies, wealthy NYC property owners, and corporate entities with deep pockets for injured workers in the city every day – and help them win life-changing compensation for their injuries. We’re here to give you the edge you need to win, too.
If you were hurt and want to learn more about your legal rights, contact our law offices in New York today. Your initial consultation is always 100% free. You may have several options for recovering compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
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Construction accidents can devastate the victim. Serious injuries require serious treatment–and that can cost a lot of money. You might never be able to work in the same capacity again.
Many work accident victims think workers’ compensation is their only option. That’s not always the case. Our NYC personal injury lawyers will investigate your case to see whether you’re entitled to additional compensation.
When you choose the Law Offices of Jay S. Knispel, LLC, you’ll have a lawyer who will:
Our legal team has represented injured workers across New York for more than two decades. We’re here to put that experience to work for you.
To learn more, call to schedule a free consultation with a New York City personal injury attorney today.
Construction is one of the most dangerous jobs to have in the city. Despite the fact that construction workers make up about 5% of the city’s workforce, they account for more than a quarter (27%) of all work-related deaths every year.
One out of every four workplace fatalities in New York City involves a construction worker. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), that’s higher than the national average – about 20%.
According to the New York City Department of Buildings, at least 59 construction workers were killed and another 3,000 were injured on worksites throughout the city between 2015 and 2019. Manhattan is, by far, the most dangerous place to work on a job site in the Big Apple – accounting for half of all construction-related deaths and nearly two-thirds of all worksite injuries.
Our attorneys at the Law Offices of Jay S. Knispel, LLC handle all types of construction accident cases in New York, including:
If you or a loved one were injured on an NYC worksite, don’t hesitate to reach out for legal advice today.
In a city like New York, something is almost always under construction. Given how many construction sites there are and how often accidents happen, New York has made it a point to write laws to make job sites and workers safe. These laws also dictate who might be liable if there’s an accident and a worker gets hurt.
New York Labor Law Section 200 explains that property owners and general contractors must “provide reasonable and adequate protection to the lives, health and safety of all persons employed therein or lawfully frequenting such places.” In other words – whoever owns the construction site or is tasked with overseeing and running the project has to make sure that construction laborers have a safe place to work.
If a property owner or general contractor fails to comply with state or federal safety regulations, neglects to provide adequate safety equipment, or cuts corners to save costs and puts workers at risk, then they can be legally and financially liable if there’s an accident.
Scaffolding is an integral component of just about any construction project in NYC. They’re temporary structures erected to provide access to high points on a job site, support workers, hold materials. Given their temporary nature and the fact that they can reach great heights, scaffolding also tends to be quite dangerous.
Section 240 of New York’s Labor Law addresses some important safety and liability issues.
The law provides guidelines for how scaffolding and different types of equipment must be erected, fastened, and secured on a construction site. It also states that property owners and/or general contractors, in particular, can be strictly liable if these requirements aren’t met and workers get hurt.
Workers might have a legal claim for damages under New York’s scaffolding law if they’re injured while working on scaffolding or other equipment, including:
Liability can attach whenever a worker is injured in the course of building, demolishing, repairing, altering, painting, or cleaning a building or structure.
Anyone who owns or operates a construction site in NYC is required to take steps to keep workers safe on the job. Unfortunately, many construction site owners put a lot of pressure on workers to get the job done more quickly–and for less money. That tends to encourage safety violations on the job site.
Some common causes of construction accidents in NYC include:
These issues can lead to a variety of serious construction accidents.
Construction accident victims have two options for recovering compensation.
They can:
Some injured workers may be entitled to recover damages in a lawsuit and collect workers’ comp benefits.
The value of your workers’ compensation benefits is limited by New York state law. You can recover compensation for all reasonable and necessary medical expenses.
However, the value of your lost income depends upon a formula based on:
For example, a worker who is 100% disabled would be entitled to about ⅔ of their average weekly wages prior to the accident. A worker who is only 50% disabled and able to work in some capacity would receive about half that amount.
If someone other than your employer caused the accident, you may be entitled to file a personal injury lawsuit for damages. This is called a third-party claim.
The value of your third-party claim depends upon many things, including:
Insurance companies will try to tell you what your case is worth from the beginning. You don’t have to let them determine the value of your case. Call our team today to learn more about how we can help.
If you’re entitled to sue a third party, you can recover compensation for these economic damages. You can also recover compensation for non-economic damages.
This includes things like:
Personal injury victims can also recover some economic damages for:
If you think that someone other than your employer was responsible for the work accident, give our law offices a call today. We’d be happy to sit down with you to discuss your legal options.
If you have the right to file a personal injury lawsuit, you can recover compensation as long as at least one other third party shares in the blame. New York is a pure comparative negligence state. That means every party is responsible for their share of the damages after an accident. If you share some of the blame, your damages will be reduced to reflect that.
It’s smart to work with an attorney so that you have the best chance to deflect claims of fault and maximize your recovery.
Construction accident injuries can be extremely serious.
At the Law Offices of Jay S. Knispel, LLC, we represent construction site accident victims who have sustained:
If you were hurt after an accident, you don’t have to handle the legal process alone. Reach out to our legal team today to learn more about how we can help with your injury case.
It depends on the cause of action for your lawsuit.
If you were injured because of unsafe working conditions related to scaffolding or other job-site equipment covered under Section 240 of the Labor Law, then the property owner or general contractor can be strictly liable.
If you were injured because of a defective product, then the company that sold, built, or designed the tool or equipment can be strictly liable.
Strict liability means that a party is responsible regardless of the degree of care they used or the lengths to which they went to keep you safe. If you get hurt, they’re responsible. You’ll just have to prove that the scaffolding or defective product contributed to your injury while you were working.
To file a third-party claim for compensation, you have to prove that a third party was negligent and caused your accident.
Potentially responsible third parties in the construction industry include:
Each of these parties is held to a certain standard of care. Negligence, or carelessness, is a violation of that standard of care.
If we can prove that this breach caused your injuries, you’re entitled to compensation for your damages.
You might wonder how we’ll get the proof we need.
Our construction accident attorneys will:
Every construction accident case is different. When you hire our NYC construction accident lawyers, you can rest assured that we’ll do everything we can to find out what happened in your case.
The deadline in personal injury cases is three years from the date of the accident. That means if you don’t file a personal injury lawsuit within three years, you’ll lose your right to compensation.
To claim workers’ compensation benefits, you should notify your employer about the accident as soon as possible. You technically have 30 days to notify your supervisor. You’ll also have to formally file a claim within two years of the accident.
Were you or a loved one hurt on an NYC construction site? Call an experienced New York City construction accident lawyer at the Law Offices of Jay S. Knispel, LLC for a free consultation today. Our law firm is dedicated to getting the highest verdicts and settlements for injured construction workers across NYC and Long Island.
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