Who is Liable for a Construction Site Injury in New York City?

After a construction site accident in New York City, you may have to determine liability for your injuries to get compensation for your damages. Our lawyers can help you do this by reviewing the specifics of your case.

If your employer did not have a Workers’ Compensation policy in place at the time of your injury or acted negligently and violated certain safety requirements for construction work, you might be able to hold your employer financially responsible for your damages. If New York’s exceptions to the exclusive remedy rule do not allow you to sue your employer, it’s possible that a separate third party is liable for your damages. For example, if you were hurt because of defective machinery, you might be able to sue the manufacturer for compensation. Or, if you were injured because a negligent driver ran into a roadside construction site, you could sue them for damages in New York City. After we determine liability for your accident, we can prove it. This will require us to establish that the defendant in your case owed you a duty of care and breached it by acting negligently, causing your injuries and various damages.

To get help with your case from our New York City construction injury lawyers, call The Carrion Law Firm now at (718) 841-0083.

Can Your Employer Be Liable for a Construction Site Injury in New York City?

In many states, employers cannot be held liable for construction site injuries unless they intentionally caused them or did not have the proper coverage in place at the time of the accident. In New York, there are more situations in which employers might be liable for construction accident injuries.

Though Workers’ Compensation is the exclusive remedy in many cases, there are some notable exceptions. For example, construction workers hurt on the job can sue their employers for injury if they were negligent and violated certain safety regulations for scaffolding and excavation work. Construction workers can also sue for being hit by falling objects or being injured because their employers violated industrial regulations. Furthermore, if an employer intentionally harmed a worker or failed to maintain the proper insurance coverage, they may be liable for a worker’s injuries.

If you were hurt as a passerby of a construction site in New York City, you may be able to sue the negligent construction company for compensation. To do this, you must bring your claim by the deadline for injury lawsuits based on negligence, which is three years, according to C.V.P. Law § 214(5).

Can a Third Party Be Liable for a Construction Site Injury in New York City?

Because employers cannot be held liable for construction site injuries in many cases, our lawyers will investigate to see if another party might be at fault for your injuries. This might include a negligent manufacturer or driver, among other possible third parties.

Construction accidents are often complicated and might involve more parties than what initially meets the eye. For example, if you were hurt because safety equipment failed, the manufacturer that produced that safety equipment might be partially liable. This might enable you to file a third-party construction site injury lawsuit in New York City to recover compensation. Other parties, like negligent drivers who run into construction sites, might also be liable for victims’ injuries. In such situations, you might have to prove that you meet the tort threshold for auto accidents before you can file your case, even if you were hurt as a pedestrian while working on a construction site.

Again, you will have three years to bring your claim against a negligent third party in New York City. At first, a third party’s involvement in your accident might not be obvious. Our Long Island construction accident lawyers may have to thoroughly investigate the accident in question to determine its exact cause and which party ultimately contributed most to your damages and injuries.

How to Prove Liability for a Construction Site Injury in New York City

Proving liability in a construction site injury lawsuit requires victims to establish four crucial elements. Without proving these elements, you cannot meet the standard of proof for your third-party construction accident lawsuit in New York City.

Duty of Care

The first thing to do when proving liability is to establish that the defendant in your case owed you a duty of care at the time of the accident. For example, if the at-fault party was your employer, they had a duty to protect the health and safety of their employees, according to L.A.B. Law § 200. Furthermore, depending on the type of construction work you were performing at the time of your injury, your employer might have had a responsibility to follow laws pertaining to safe scaffolding and excavation practices and various other industrial regulations, violations of which could make them liable for your injuries.

Breach of Duty

Next, we have to show that the defendant breached the duty of care they owed you. For example, suppose you were working on scaffolding and it collapsed, causing you to fall from a great height. In that case, you may be able to sue your employer if they acted negligently and violated certain safety requirements regarding the use of scaffolding, such as those set out in L.A.B. Law § 240. Our New York City construction injury lawyers will use various pieces of evidence, such as surveillance footage and eyewitness statements, to prove that a breach of duty of care occurred.

Causation

After proving that the defendant in your case acted negligently, we must show causation. This means that we have to establish that the defendant’s negligent act directly caused your injuries. Again, we can use evidence recovered in the days and weeks following your accident on a construction site to prove causation. You can help on this front by getting immediate medical care following a construction accident and continuing to receive treatment for as long as necessary in New York City.

Damages

Finally, we must show that you incurred real damages because of the defendant’s negligence and the accident. To do this, our attorneys will organize and submit proof of your financial and emotional losses. To make this easier, you can keep any bills or records of expenses related to your treatment and damages. We can then add up all economic losses to calculate your deserved recovery. We will also consider your non-economic damages at this time. Such damages can compensate you for any pain and suffering you have experienced because of the accident. When construction accident victims file third-party lawsuits in New York City, they will not be limited regarding their recovery of compensatory damages.

Call Our Lawyers About Your Construction Accident in New York City

The Carrion Law Firm’s Brooklyn construction injury lawyers can review your case for free when you call (718) 841-0083 today.