Boca Raton Construction Injury Lawyer
As the city continues to grow, construction sites are becoming more and more common throughout Boca Raton. The construction industry tends to be high-risk, and construction workers and people passing by might be injured in an accident.
Construction accidents are often the result of someone’s negligence. They may be caused by faulty equipment, unstable structures, negligent employees, or trespassers entering the site. Who you can sue depends on how the accident happened and whether you were owed a duty of care. Numerous parties might be liable, but employers are sometimes difficult to sue. In your lawsuit, you can claim the expenses related to your injuries as part of your total damages, and hopefully, you will be compensated for your losses.
Construction accidents can be extreme, and injured victims incur numerous expensive losses. Our Boca Raton construction injury lawyers can help you get financial compensation for your injuries. Call The Carrion Law Firm at (954) 951-4828 for a free case review.
Causes of Construction Accidents in Boca Raton
Construction sites are inherently dangerous places. The buildings on these sites are not yet complete, and being inside one or working on one is risky. While construction workers know how to stay safe while doing their jobs, faulty equipment or a coworker’s negligence might cause accidents. If you are unsure how your accident happened, our Boca Raton construction injury lawyers can help you figure it out.
Construction workers rely on their equipment to do their jobs. Construction equipment can be very large or small enough to hold in your hand. No matter the size, construction equipment may be dangerous if it is not working properly. If a particular piece of equipment arrived from the manufacturer damaged or defective, the equipment might malfunction cause injure a worker.
A negligent coworker could also cause a construction accident. If someone else working on the construction site is not taking proper safety precautions when doing their job, other people might get hurt. For example, operating heavy machinery while intoxicated might injure other people on the construction site.
Construction sites are required to follow various safety codes and standards. Violations of these standards might land construction companies in trouble with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) because they may lead to accidents. For example, if a construction site is not properly closed off to the public with barricades and signage, a passerby might mistakenly walk into the dangerous site and get hurt.
People who do not belong on construction sites might cause accidents if they trespass. Some trespassers are known to steal expensive equipment and tools, while others might be taking an ill-advised shortcut. In either case, our Boca Raton construction injury attorneys can help you get compensation for your injuries.
Who You Can Sue After a Boca Raton Construction Accident
Many construction accidents are based on negligence, which requires proving the legal elements of duty, breach, causation, and damages. The defendant must have owed you a legal duty of care and safety. Next, the defendant must have done something to violate or breach that duty. The defendant may be held liable if their breach was the direct and proximate cause of the accident. Finally, your injuries and damages must be real and not hypothetical possibilities.
If your accident happened because of faulty or damaged equipment, you might be able to sue the manufacturer for liability. Manufacturers owe a duty of care that their goods will be safe to use and work as they are intended. If the equipment is damaged or designed to work unsafely, you can sue the manufacturer.
You can also sue trespassers who caused the accident. For example, if a trespasser damages some equipment and that equipment malfunctions and hurts someone, you can sue the trespasser. We might need to review security camera footage from the construction site to get a positive identification of the trespasser.
Numerous people may be responsible for a construction accident, and our Boca Raton construction injury attorneys can help you identify all liable parties. However, an employer typically cannot be sued for construction accidents in Florida.
Employer Liability After a Construction Accident in Boca Raton
In some cases, you may sue the person who hired you for the job. Bear in mind that employees typically cannot sue their employers after a construction accident because the laws of Workers’ Compensation bar them from doing so. However, this does not necessarily mean all construction workers are barred from suing their employer. Our Boca Raton construction accident lawyers can help you figure out what parties you can sue.
According to Florida law, people who work in the construction industry or construction adjacent industries (e.g., plumbing, electrical, HVAC) are legally considered “employees.” This includes full-time and part-time workers in addition to general and subcontractors. The laws of Workers’ Compensation make it very difficult for employees to sue employers. Instead, they must file Workers’ Compensation claims rather than lawsuits.
This is not an absolute rule, though. Certain people, like subcontractors, can opt out of this definition of employee. This means they are not covered by their employer’s Workers’ Compensation insurance, but they may sue the employer in court for the accident. Talk to a lawyer about your job and how you were hired as soon as you can. They can tell you if you can or cannot sue the person who hired you.
Damages Available in Boca Raton Construction Injury Cases
Your damages encompass all the injuries and losses you experienced because of your construction accident. Damages may be economic and reflect actual money lost because of the accident. Damages can also be non-economic and involve injuries that did not come at a monetary loss but still deserve compensation. Our Boca Raton construction injury attorneys can help you calculate your damages so that nothing is overlooked and you receive the maximum compensation.
Economic damages tend to include the cost of medical treatment for physical injuries after a construction accident. Depending on the accident, you might have needed extensive medical treatment. Your treatment might even be ongoing at this moment. Other economic damages may include your lost income. After an injury, you might not be able to continue work on the construction project, thus losing income. You can claim that lost income as part of your damages.
Non-economic damages are felt by the plaintiff but are difficult to measure with money. We can prove the value of these damages by assessing how much they impact your daily life. Mental and physical pain and suffering are common non-economic damages. Accidents are not only physically painful, but they can be emotionally traumatic, and injured victims need help recovering.
If you instead go through Workers’ Compensation, your medical bills should be billed directly to your employer’s insurance. Also, you may collect two-thirds of your average weekly wage to make ends meet while you recover.
Call Our Boca Raton Construction Injury Lawyers
If you were injured in a construction accident, your injuries might be extremely painful and need serious medical treatment. Our Boca Raton construction injury attorneys can help you get financial compensation to fund your recovery. For a free case review, call The Carrion Law Firm at (954) 951-4828.