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Have you been injured in a construction accident in NYC? You could be entitled to workers’ comp benefits and/or damages through a third-party claim. Our construction accident attorneys at the Law Offices of Jay S. Knispel Personal Injury Lawyers can help you explore your alternatives and get the money you deserve to take home; call us at (212) 564 2800.
Our lawyers have almost 30 years of experience handling complex construction accident claims and other workplace injury incidents. We have recovered tens of millions for injury victims in New York.
Contact us today to schedule a free consultation with an NYC construction accident lawyer. We’re standing by to help during your time of need.
Construction is one of the most common industries in New York City. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most common sources of workplace accidents. It is a hard and dangerous profession, and workers can’t always prevent or avoid serious injuries.
If you were injured during a construction accident, you deserve experienced legal representation. The Law Offices of Jay S. Knispel Personal Injury Lawyers is ready to put three decades of legal experience and the best results and verdicts behind your claim. Our New York City injury lawyers have recovered tens of millions of dollars in life-changing awards, leading to recognition as Top 100 Trial Lawyers and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates. Our attorney even has an AV-Preeminent Rating from Martindale-Hubbell.
When you hire our legal team in New York City, NY, you can expect us to:
Contact us today to schedule a complimentary case review with an NYC personal injury attorney.
Construction accidents and injuries happen every day in the state of New York. These accidents are especially commonplace in NYC.
In 2020, the construction industry had the highest number of fatalities, with 13 worker deaths (down from 24 the year prior). In June 2022, the NYC Department of Buildings received 39 reports of construction accidents that caused an injury. Fortunately, there were no fatalities that month.
The Department recorded at least three fatalities in the NYC construction industry between January 2022 and June 2022.
There are many different kinds of construction accidents in NYC. Construction accidents are workplace accidents. Therefore, the industry has many of the traditional on-the-job risks like falls. But it also has many accidents that are unique to construction work.
The Law Offices of Jay Knispel Personal Injury Lawyers handles all sorts of construction job site cases in New York, including:
If you’ve been injured in one of these accidents, you could be entitled to compensation. Contact our NYC construction accident attorneys for help.
Although there are many risks and dangers on a construction site, construction workers are especially vulnerable to what OSHA calls the “fatal four.”
The fatal four are:
These four accidents account for over half of all construction fatalities across the country. Incidentally, the top OSHA violations include lack of fall protection, inadequate scaffolding/ladders, improper machine guarding, and deficient electrical wiring.
Of course, lack of proper training, also a major OSHA violation, also contributes to the prevalence of fatal four accidents.
A few different New York statutes can form the basis of your construction accident claim. As alluded to above, OSHA has safety standards that construction companies and contractors must comply with. Violations of these safety standards can trigger a legal cause of action.
The following laws are also important.
New York Labor Law 200 requires construction contractors and other employers to provide safe conditions for workers. It imposes a general duty to protect the health and safety of employees. To this end, it demands places to be “constructed equipped, arranged, and operated” safely. It also requires machinery and equipment to be “placed, operated, guarded, and lighted” safely.
New York’s “Scaffolding Law,” NY Labor Law Section 240, requires employers to provide adequate fall protection to workers that perform job duties at a height. It also imposes a duty on employers to protect workers from falling construction materials. This law protects workers from fall and struck-by-related risks.
New York Labor Law 241 places a duty on general contractors and other employers to protect workers from injury-causing safety hazards. It requires these contractors to take specific safety measures, such as placing barriers around construction elevators, providing protective equipment, and mitigating premises liability hazards.
If a contractor or other employer violates these laws and you get hurt, you could be entitled to compensation.
Whether you fell from scaffolding, were struck by an object, or were electrocuted, you may be suffering from debilitating injuries after your construction accident.
The attorneys at the Law Offices of Jay S. Knispel Personal Injury Lawyers have helped clients who have sustained all types of injuries on construction sites, including:
No matter what type of injury you experienced or its severity, our compassionate legal team is here to listen to your story and help you fight for compensation. Contact us to arrange a no-cost case evaluation today and hear how we can help you with your construction accident claim.
The compensation you can retrieve depends on whether you have a workers’ compensation claim for benefits, a third-party lawsuit, or both.
Most NYC employers must provide workers’ compensation insurance coverage for their employees – even if they’re only part-time workers. This no-fault system allows employees to pursue benefits if they’re involved in a workplace accident, regardless of fault. The trade-off is that workers generally cannot take legal proceedings against their employer for work-related injuries or illnesses.
Workers’ compensation benefits in New York may cover:
We know the workers’ compensation claims process well, and we’re prepared to help you file your claim and get the benefits you deserve after your construction accident.
Some situations may allow you to hold other parties responsible for your impairments in a third-party personal injury lawsuit. However, to get compensation in a lawsuit, you must prove that the third party was negligent or strictly liable for causing your construction-related injuries.
Potentially liable third parties after a construction calamity may be:
Filing a lawsuit will allow you to regain the full extent of your damages because you aren’t limited to the workers’ compensation system.
You may be able to seek compensation covering your economic and non-economic damages, which are the personal and emotional losses you sustained due to your accident.
Examples of the damages you may recover in a construction accident lawsuit are:
You may also recover punitive damages if the defendant’s behavior was particularly willful. However, this requires clear and convincing evidence, and courts grant these to punish defendants for especially shocking behavior.
Our NYC construction accident lawyers will examine how your worksite accident happened and identify all avenues for compensation.
Because workers’ compensation is a no-fault system that allows injured employees to receive benefits after an on-the-job accident, you typically cannot take legal actions against your employer after getting hurt on a construction site. Filing a workers’ compensation claim allows you to receive benefits without proving fault – even if you were to blame for the cause of your accident.
However, there are times when you may be able to proceed against your company, such as if they do not have the required workers’ compensation insurance or provided an unreasonably unsafe work environment.
During your complimentary initial consultation, we’ll discuss your construction site accident, how it happened, and who may share liability. We know how to fight for maximum compensation, so we’ll determine if your patron or any other third partaker may be liable for your damages in a personal injury lawsuit.
In the context of a New York City construction accident, a third-party claim refers to claims against parties involved in your case other than your employer. While you can generally file a workers’ compensation claim after a construction incident, other parties could also be held liable for your injuries.
For example, if you’re driving a construction vehicle at work but are involved in an accident with a civilian’s car, you might have a case for compensation from the driver of that automobile. Keep in mind, however, that New York is partially a no-fault state for auto insurance, and so, most of the time you will have to go through either your or their auto insurance policy first. Of course, third-party claims are not limited to just automobile accident claims. Other examples include manufacturers of defective machinery or equipment, general contractors, and governmental entities.
New York has additional protections for construction workers, and so in some cases, you can file a lawsuit based on strict liability as opposed to negligence. Most cases against civilians will be based on a negligence cause of action, but in some instances, the owner of defective machinery (like a crane or other big machinery) or a general contractor could be held liable under a liability cause of action instead.
The third-party claims process will vary depending on the facts of the case, but initially, you will usually first demand compensation from the appropriate person. From there, you will negotiate a settlement agreement. If the third partaker does not agree to a fair settlement, you can generally file a lawsuit against them. Again, New York’s no-fault insurance rules will affect this process if your third-party case involves a car accident.
As this process can be incredibly complex, we recommend reaching out to a construction accident lawyer as quickly as possible if you think you might have a third-party claim.
Yes. New York is a pure comparative negligence state, which means you can still receive compensation if you are partially responsible for your accident. However, your compensation could be reduced according to your percentage of fault. If you are assigned 25% of the blame for your accident and you are awarded $100,000, your award would be reduced to $75,000.
In addition, if your case involves a workers’ compensation claim, you can still get a monetary settlement if you are at fault. That is because workers’ compensation is generally a no-fault system in New York.
Reaching out to a construction accident lawyer is important if you’re partly to blame for the accident. These cases are complicated, and it’s important that you explore every possible avenue to be made whole.
The statute of limitations in the State of New York for personal injury cases is three years from the date of the injury in most circumstances. A court will not hear your case if you file your lawsuit after the statute of limitations passes.
There are exceptions to this general rule. For example, if you intend to file a lawsuit against a governmental entity, you will have just around a year to bring your lawsuit.
Further, you’ll have even less time to begin filing a workers’ compensation claim. You must notify your employer within 30 days in most instances, and you will have two years to ultimately file your claim.
Reach out to us immediately if you think the deadline might have passed in your case. We can let you know during your free case review.
Our construction accident attorneys work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you will pay nothing upfront when you hire us, and you will pay us nothing unless we obtain compensation for you.
Instead, we will take our payment as an agreed-upon percentage of the financial award we obtain for you. If we agree to a 35% contingency fee and we win a $100,000 settlement for you, our fee would be $35,000. The percentage will vary depending on the case, but we will agree to it before we begin working on your case, and it will usually be around 33%.
Contact us for more information regarding how the agreement will work given the facts of your case.
Were you injured in a construction accident in New York City? The State of New York offers special protections to construction workers, and you could have a case for compensation against multiple parties.
The experienced New York construction accident lawyers with the Law Offices of Jay S. Knispel Personal Injury Lawyers know construction accidents inside and out. We’ll be sure to pursue every possible avenue to obtain the reimbursement you deserve to take home.
Reach out to us at your convenience for a free initial consultation. There’s no obligation. Feel free to phone us at (212) 257-8750 or click here to contact us online. We have extensive experience in this and other practice areas such as truck wrecks, medical malpractice, brain injuries, premises liability and more.
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New York, NY 10123
(212) 564 2800
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Brooklyn, NY 11242
(718) 802-1600
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