Determining the defendant

As is the case in any form of litigation, one of the first steps in a trucking accident case is to determine the defendant. Doing so in truck accident litigation can be especially difficult since there are so many parties that have an involvement in getting a truck ready for a trip. One or more of them can commit an error that can result in an accident that causes injuries or deaths. More than one error can be committed by more than one party. Should it be determined that more than one entity played a role in your accident, you can take action against all of them, and all of them can be defendants in your lawsuit.

Some of these potentially responsible parties include the company that planned the truck’s route, the company responsible for loading the truck, the manufacturer of the truck or certain parts of the truck, and, of course, the trucking company and the truck driver.

The Company that Planned the Truck’s Route
Of course, there are certain roads that a typical automobile can travel that an 18-wheeler cannot, or at least should not, travel. There are height, weight, and cargo restrictions regarding many roads, tunnels, and bridges that must be taken into consideration when the route of a truck is planned. Because of these complexities, many trucking companies choose to hire outside firms to plan truck routes. Should this company make an error in planning a route, such as ignoring vital road or bridge restrictions that can lead to a dangerous accident, that company can be held accountable for any injuries that occur.

The Company that Loaded the Truck
Often times, a truck is not dangerous on its own. Rather, the manner in which that truck is loaded can present the danger. Most trucks, by law, cannot drive with a load in excess of 80,000 pounds. However, there are a lot of companies that, in an attempt to save time and trips, will overload a truck’s trailer. And when this occurs, a truck is more susceptible to tipping over when it comes around a turn. There are other instances where a company responsible for loading a truck will do an inadequate job of fastening cargo to a flatbed trailer. As a result, inadequately loaded cargo can loosen from the flatbed and lead to an accident that causes an injury. If your accident was caused by improperly loaded or overloaded cargo, then you can sue the company that was responsible for loading the truck.

Manufacturers
There are times where a trucking accident is caused by a manufacturer that produces parts with either manufacturing flaws or defects in design. There are lots of parts that comprise a truck, as is the case with most other vehicles, and all of these parts have to operate correctly in order for the truck to be roadworthy and safe. If, for example, the truck’s tires, or the straps designed to secure the cargo, are flawed in some manner and therefore unsafe, fellow motorists could be put in significant danger. If the manufacturer is in some way responsible for the defects or flaws of these incredibly vital parts, and an accident occurs, then that manufacturer could be held liable for any injuries that result.

The Trucking Company
While the truck driver is typically the most directly responsible party when an accident takes place, it is rare that the driver shoulders the entirety of the blame. Normally, an injury victim can sue not only the driver but also the company that owns the truck and employs the driver. Two legal theories exist that allow this to happen. The theory of “direct liability” enables plaintiffs to hold the company that owns the truck liable for the accident that occurred. If the trucking company is guilty of negligence, and the negligence led to the accident that caused your injury, the trucking company is considered directly liable. For instance, if the company that owns the truck was negligent in properly maintaining the truck’s braking system, and a brake failure led to the accident that caused your injury, then you might be able to hold the company that owns the truck directly liable for their negligence in causing the accident.

There are other times where a trucking company did not appear to do anything wrong, and that all the blame for the accident lies with the truck driver. However, under the theory of “vicarious liability,” the company that owns the truck can still be held responsible. A legal doctrine known as “respondeat superior” allows this to happen. This Latin term “respondeat superior” simply means that employers are responsible for the workplace actions of their employees, whether or not the company itself did anything wrong. In the case of an accident involving a truck, this means you can sue the trucking company as well as the driver.

The Truck Driver
Again, the driver of the truck will normally be the party most directly responsible for causing an accident to occur. Truckers can make all kinds of mistakes, both on the road and off of it. They can ignore stop signs, recklessly speed, and make turns that are illegal – basically, drive in a careless manner and pose a substantial threat to all of the other motorists on the road. Often times, though, the biggest mistakes made by truckers have little to do with the actual task of driving. They can skip mandatory rest breaks in order to meet often unfairly stringent deadlines. When this occurs, those drivers exponentially increase the chances that they will fall asleep behind the wheel and cause a devastating accident. Other drivers will take illegal stimulants in an effort to stay awake, posing a danger as well. As unbelievable as it may seem, we have seen many instances where a driver was flat-out drunk and caused an accident. Whatever the reason, if a trucker decided to make his or her delivery schedule more of a priority than your safety, or was intoxicated in some fashion, then you can initiate legal action against that careless driver.

These parties – route-planning companies, cargo-loading companies, parts manufacturers, trucking companies, and truck drivers – are just a few of the many potentially responsible entities that can be sued in the event of an accident. You have to determine exactly which party or parties were responsible for your injury in order to have any chance of getting fair compensation for the losses that you have incurred.

=================gtg

Beware of Self Representation

Representing yourself before these legal defense teams and skilled insurance adjusters is rarely a wise idea. As the old saying goes, any lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client. This saying is even more appropriate for 18 wheeler mishap claims where the law is more complex and more difficult to successfully negotiate than in the average passenger vehicle lawsuit.

Knowledge of the law is only a tiny portion of the necessary tools in order to be victorious in a trucking accident case. You need a skilled and experienced big rig accident law firm whose attorneys have over twenty years of experience in taking on the strategies of skilled defense lawyers. Like anything, it requires years and years of practice to obtain the necessary skills and experience to be successful in a court of law or at the negotiating table. Are you familiar with answering interrogatories? Can you prepare a demand pocket? Respond to a list of admissions? You will need to know these if you want even the slimmest chance of winning in court.

You need a truck accident law firm with a considerable record of success so that insurance carriers will negotiate with you in good faith and offer a full and fair compensation settlement then risk going to trial with one of the nation’s premier truck accident law firms and losing a large compensation award. Our attorneys have taken on and defeated every single major insurance company in the United States, and we have recovered millions of dollars in compensation for our clients. These companies and their defense attorneys have no fear of non-lawyers and novice attorneys because they know that they will defeat inexperienced parties. They do, however, fear our Law Office. When our attorneys threaten a lawsuit, these companies prepare to settle. They do not wish to face us in a court of law.

What Can You Do?
The first thing you need to do is take the actions necessary to preserve the evidence in your case. You need to hire legal representation as soon as possible so that your lawyer can begin investigating the accident before it is too late. Every second you delay, is a second where evidence is degraded or disappears, for example, accident sites get cleaned up or weather destroys subtle but crucial evidence. Our Law Office thoroughly and meticulously investigates the scene of the mishap to collect the substantial evidence necessary to prove the truck driver, trucking company, etc., negligent and responsible for your injuries and losses. We will measure skid marks to points of impact, we will review any surveillance video, we will examine police and fire department records, we will inspect the involved vehicles, in short, we will do what it takes to gather the evidence to win your case.

In one case we handled, we had two clients, one who was severely injured, and the family of another victim who was killed in the same accident with an 18 wheeler at night. The truck driver left his trailer completely lying across the road, with his trailer acting as a complete barrier to any oncoming traffic. As noted, this accident happened at night and the trailer involved did not have any lights on its side to indicate its presence, in effect, the trailer was invisible to any traveling motorist. Our client drove around a corner and smashed directly into the trailer and the top of the automobile was completely shorn off and killed the driver instantly while the passenger was severely injured. The next day our services were retained and we rushed our attorneys to the accident scene to begin our investigation, but by the time we got there, the passenger vehicle had already been towed to the junkyard. After we arrived at the salvage yard, oddly, we found that the destroyed car was missing its headlights. As with the case mentioned above, our attorneys noticed a surveillance video at the junkyard and they asked to review the video. On the tape, our lawyers found an employee of the trucking company trespassing and stealing the car’s headlamps. Later, at trial, the trucking company tried to argue our clients were at fault for driving at night without headlights installed in their car. Not only did we embarrass them and win at trial, but we also exposed criminal wrongdoing and now the trucking company will be held liable for that behavior.

It was a good thing our clients contacted us when they did. The surveillance video was set to automatically erase and begin re-recording every forty-eight hours. Had our clients delayed, chances are that this crucial evidence would have been destroyed and the chances of our clients recovering fair compensation would have been diminished. Investigating immediately is the best chance you will have of recovering the necessary evidence you need in order to receive full and fair compensation.

We Can Help
The trucking accident law firm at our Law Office has been using its deep knowledge and experience of personal injury and wrongful death law involving tractor-trailer accidents in Texas for over twenty years. If you have been harmed in a big rig mishap, we can help you recover fair and adequate compensation for your injuries and losses, and we can help you seek justice as well.

If you or a family member has been involved in an 18 wheeler accident in Texas, call us for a free consultation to discuss your legal or other alternatives.

=====================gtg

Truck Accident Lawyer Explains Why You Should Never Trust the Insurance Company After an Accident

It’s simple advice that’s been proven time and time again. In the many cases our Law Office has seen over our twenty years of practicing law: Don’t trust the insurance company. You may have already gone through a negative experience with an insurance agent or insurance company.

On the other hand, maybe you’ve never had to deal with an insurance agent and aren’t aware of the possible pitfalls that can occur when seeking compensation for a claim. In either case, there are many instances where the interests of the insurance company often outweigh your best interests. In other words, some insurance agents might not be quite like good neighbor. Because insurance agencies are still a for-profit business, this often means that, if an insurance agent can deny our greatly lessen your claim, they stand to save their company the most amount possible. In other words, your loss is often their gain. The Texas truck accident law firm of our Law Office provides the following story as proof that you shouldn’t automatically trust the insurance company.

When An Insurance Company Takes Advantage
As an example of the statement, “Don’t trust the insurance company,” a woman once contacted our Law Office after her husband and the father of her children was killed while changing a flat tire on the side of the road by a reckless 18-wheeler driver. Because the truck driver knew he was at fault, he contacted his company, and his company subsequently contacted their insurance company. This insurance company then quickly deployed a team of highly trained professionals, involving accident recreation specialists, defense attorneys, and top-notch insurance agents, to the field in order to pursue all possible routes towards vindicating the negligent driver. However, this team was unsuccessful at disproving the driver’s fault at the scene of the accident.

But insurance agencies, especially in the case of accidents involving 18-wheelers where large sums of money are on the line, seldom give up so easily. Employing an oft-used tactic that preys on the emotional vulnerability of those in the initial stages of the grief process, this particular insurance agency sent an agent to visit the recently bereaved woman while she was at the morgue identifying her husband’s body. Hoping to catch her during this understandably difficult time, the insurance agent was attempting to get her to agree to a settlement offer that was far less than fair. Fortunately for the woman, her brother was also there and was able to escort the offensive insurance agent away from his sister. This is a common tactic that often results in an aggrieved party agreeing to a less than fair settlement because they were not in the right emotional or mental state to make a rational decision regarding their legal rights. If you ever happen to be in the same circumstances, it’s in your best interest to contact competent legal help before agreeing to any settlement offered by an insurance agent. As a reminder, it’s best to have a healthy skepticism when it comes to what an insurance agent may be offering you, or, in other words, don’t trust the insurance company.

The saga continues. The lady who lost her husband because of a negligent truck driver simply wanted fair compensation in order to take care of herself and her three children in light of her husband’s death. Assuming that this was quite fair grounds for compensation, she agreed to later meet face-to-face with an insurance adjuster. This seemingly innocuous meeting would eventually be the undoing of any possible legal remedies she could have sought in a wrongful death lawsuit.

For starters, the insurance agent blatantly lied to her that she would only receive compensation for her husband’s lost wages if she chose to sue the insurance company. The agent was fully aware of his lie, but the woman believed he was telling the truth. The truth was that many different types of damages could be sought in such a case, including loss of future earnings, which would have likely greatly increased the amount of compensation this lady could have received. Because she believed the insurance agent honestly had her best interests at heart and was telling her the truth, she stood to lose a sizable, and justly due, amount of compensation because of her innocent and trusting nature. Since she was under the impression that this was the only way she would ever receive any type of compensation, and that this would be the only way in which she’d be able to take care of herself and her family, she was on the brink of signing the insurance agent’s prepared papers in order to agree to the settlement.

However, she still had some misgivings about the situation and asked if she could speak with a lawyer before signing the papers. Rather quickly after that moment, an attorney arrived at her door, looked over the papers, and agreed that the settlement was fair and likely all she would receive. Because of this “outside” source of knowledge, she signed the papers, agreeing to a paltry settlement that was far less than what was fair or necessary for her to able to provide for herself or her family. What she was not aware of in this particular situation was the fact that the lawyer who happened to appear at her house at the right time was in fact hired by the insurance company to do exactly what he did. In other words, the “outside” attorney was in fact “on the inside” and was going to always agree that the settlement was just and all she could hope for. Her innocence in dealing with insurance companies was taken advantage of, and she wound up losing immense amounts of possible compensation because of it.

Unfortunately, by the time the wrongful death attorneys at our Law Office had been contacted by this woman and told about her case, we were unable to assist her as she’d already signed proper documentation. By accepting a settlement, she was then legally prevented from bringing a lawsuit against the negligent driver’s insurance company. Had she contacted us at anytime prior to signing the dotted line, we would have likely been able to help her see all of her possibly legal remedies, and she would have known that she should have likely been compensated for her husband’s loss of future earnings, her own pain and suffering, and funeral expenses. She could have stood the chance to have received over a million dollars in compensation for everything she had been through. However, because of the often unscrupulous and unethical tactics of some insurance companies, and because she believed the lie that her best interests were being looked after by these insurance companies, she wound up with a settlement that included only a few years of her husband’s lost wages that eventually devolved to a measly $600 per month once her children became independents. The sad but true conclusion to this story isn’t that she lost so much, but that the insurance adjuster involved likely received a raise, a bonus, or a promotion for what they did.

Get Legal Help from our Law Office Before Dealing with an Insurance Company
Don’t let what happened in the story above happen to you. By contacting our Law Office quickly in the aftermath of a personal injury, auto accident, or wrongful death case, you can be sure that will work assiduously to protect you from the sometimes unethical treatment and tactics used by some insurance companies. Especially as the stakes of an accident case escalate, such as in the event of wrongful death, it’s vitally important to have experienced legal help on your side to ensure that insurance companies are held liable for the policies they provide to their clients and for their clients’ negligence. Our Law Office has two decades’ worth of experience in personal injury and wrongful death law, as well as a proven track record of success in seeking full and fair compensation for our clients. Call us for a free consultation, especially if you think you might be in over your head dealing with an insurance company. We will listen to the details of your case and inform you as to your possible legal remedies for compensation. Above all, remember one thing: Don’t trust the insurance company. They may not always be on your side, but the Texas personal injury and wrongful death law firm of our Law Office is.

=========================gtg

The policies of big insurance companies
When you possess something that is valuable, you will tend to do whatever you can to protect it, as compared to what you would do to protect things that might not be worth as much. For instance, many of us have insurance on our house, but we wouldn’t insure, say, that 20-year-old lawnmower in the garage. The insurance business works under a similar philosophy. A typical car insurance policy is akin to the old lawnmower, while a flatbed trailer policy is more like a house. As such, insurance providers will often go to extremes in order to protect a flatbed trailer policy because it can be several times more expensive than the typical automobile policy. If you have suffered an injury due to an accident involving a flatbed trailer, the insurance carrier is well aware that you may be due a substantially higher amount of compensation than you would get if you had been injured in a typical car accident. Therefore, the insurance provider will do whatever it can in order to either pressure you into accepting much less than you have coming in terms of a settlement or deny your claim flat-out.

Because flatbed trailer policies are so expensive, insurers will dispatch their best adjusters to defend the claim. They will also send a team of expert defense lawyers who are intimately familiar with each and every technicality involving insurance law. This defense team will immediately investigate an accident scene in order to start collecting evidence they will use to attempt to prove the accident was your responsibility. Their adjusters will descend upon you immediately after the accident as well. These aren’t the friendly agents you may encounter after a regular fender-bender. They are, instead, licensed pros who are the very best their profession has to offer. They got to where they are by proving to be very adept at denying claims on a regular basis. These adjusters will make it their mission to make sure your claim is denied as well.

It can be very, very troubling to deal with an insurance company by yourself. The adjuster will constantly badger you in an attempt to admit that the responsibility for the accident lies with you alone. Either that or they will try to trick you into admitting that you’re not really as hurt as you’re letting on. When they have a conversation with you, they will record your words and twist those words to suit their purposes by damaging your case and having your claim denied. The flatbed trailer accident attorneys with our Law Office, however, know how to deal with insurance company representatives, and have been doing so successfully over the last two decades. In fact, we have defeated nearly every major insurance carrier in the nation. As a result, they are very familiar with our track record of success, and we can use that reputation to pressure them into making our clients a fair settlement offer.

======================gtg

Trucking companies that are self-insured
It can be bad enough dealing with the harassing and sometimes intimidating tactics that insurance adjusters employ. Again, they will constantly call you and try to trick you into admitting you were completely responsible for the flatbed trailer accident, or to admit that you really aren’t hurt that badly. But dealing with a representative of a self-insured trucking company can be even worse if you don’t have a seasoned flatbed trailer accident attorney by your side protecting your rights.

Trucking companies, by law, are required to carry insurance on their trucks. But rather than pay the often exorbitant rates necessary to carry insurance through a traditional provider, some trucking companies opt to insure themselves. They do so by putting aside a portion of their revenues to protect them from lawsuits when an accident takes place. Of course, this is perfectly legal.

If you are involved in an accident with a truck that is owned by a self-insured trucking company, you will probably encounter a company officer and not a professional insurance adjuster. That officer is probably part of his or her company’s profit-sharing plan. If the trucking company loses the case, then its profits are reduced. Therefore, that officer will be personally losing money if his or her company loses its case. So you can see the motivation that the officer will have to make sure your claim is denied, or that you win as little money as possible. Also, these officers are not licensed as are insurance adjusters, who have to adhere to a code of ethics in order to maintain that license. Self-insured trucking company officers, however, are under no such obligation. Therefore, while an adjuster can be aggressive, a self-insured trucking company officer can be downright harassing. Some officers are not above tampering with evidence or threatening accident witnesses, and even injury victims. The flatbed trailer accident attorneys with our Law Offices know how to put an abrupt end to those underhanded tactics, and we know how to protect our clients from the harassment of self-insured trucking company officers.

==========================gtg

The Burden of Proof a Plaintiff Bears

There is another formidable hurdle that the plaintiff in a flatbed trailer accident case has to surmount, and that is bearing his or her burden of proof. As unfair as this may sound, the law in Texas is under the presumption that a defendant owes nothing to a victim. The injury victim has to bear the burden of proof, which means he or she has to provide the necessary evidence to prove that he or she should receive damages. Should that plaintiff fail to produce that evidence, then he or she will not collect a thing. In every flatbed trailer accident case, the plaintiff needs to prove four elements in order to win a case. These elements are duty, breach, causation, and damages.

Duty
The first burden the plaintiff has to prove is that the defendant in the case owed the plaintiff a duty of care. This is typically a pretty straightforward element. Every person owes every other person a duty to act in a manner that a reasonable person would act in order to make sure they do not injure another person. In the event of a flatbed trailer accident, the driver of the flatbed owes all other motorists sharing the road the duty of care to drive as a reasonable person would drive. As we mentioned previously, there could be other parties that owe you a duty of care as well, such as the trucking company that hired the driver, the company that loaded the cargo, the company the planned the route the truck took, etc.

Breach
Next, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant breached that duty of care owed to the plaintiff. The plaintiff has to produce evidence that establishes that the defendant acted in a manner that was unreasonable, and harm was caused as a result. Say the driver of the flatbed trailer involved in your accident ran a red light, and you suffered harm as a result. In this case, the driver’s actions would probably be considered unreasonable.

Causation
In order to prove the third element, causation, the plaintiff has to prove that the actions or inaction of a negligent party were the cause of the injury the plaintiff suffered. For example, if your flatbed trailer accident took place because the cargo on the trailer became loose, then you could possibly show duty and breach in that the company that loaded the truck did not properly secure the cargo. However, if that cargo remained in place through the entirety of the accident, then the people who loaded that truck would probably not be to blame for causing your injury, and thus you will not be able to prove causation in this instance.

Damages
The final element you must prove is that you are owed a certain monetary amount of damages that will properly compensate you for the injury that you suffered. The damages you can receive depend upon the “price tag,” so to speak, associated with the injury that you incurred. Of course, you will have to produce proof of this as well. You can’t just tell the judge or jury that, since the accident, you have been in constant pain – in order to prove damages, you have to provide medical proof of that pain, and how much your previous and future medical care will cost. Should you not be able to get back to work, then you will have to accurately calculate how much you have lost in wages, and how much you will lose in potential future earnings. And then you have to calculate the non-tangible damages such as pain and suffering, loss of consortium, and others. Can you put a price tag on emotional trauma? If you want to get the maximum compensation that you have coming to you, you had better figure it out, and that can be incredibly difficult without an experienced legal representative. If you have an inexperienced attorney, or you try to do this yourself, it will be just about impossible. The flatbed trailer accident attorneys with our Law Office are very familiar with how to calculate damages, whether they are objective or subjective. Over our 20 years of litigating these kinds of cases, we have more than likely seen several that are quite similar to yours. Once we hear the specific circumstances surrounding your flatbed trailer accident case, we will be able to accurately ascertain the amount of damages that you are entitled to so you get the just compensation you deserve.

It is imperative that you have a skilled and seasoned attorney by your side, whether or not your case goes to trial. The attorneys with our Law Office are extremely adept at collecting evidence and preparing it in a manner that will satisfy all four elements of your flatbed trailer accident case.

How a Flatbed Trailer Accident Attorney Can Help You
If you have suffered an injury due to a flatbed trailer accident, the attorneys with our Law Office can fight for you and protect your rights. We take care of every single component of your case, from the start to the finish, and keep you completely up to date on how your case is progressing. These are but a few of the services that we provide our clients to help win their case and help them obtain the fair restitution they deserve:

No matter what caused the flatbed trailer accident that led to your injury, whether it was the trucking company’s negligence, the company that planned the route, the company that failed to secure the cargo, or some other reason, please call the flatbed trailer accident attorneys with our Law Office as soon as you can. We will give you a confidential and free consultation; listening to all the specific circumstances surrounding your case, answering any questions you may have, and evaluating the strength of your case.

=======================gtg

If You’ve Been Injured in a Scaffolding Accident, Call Our Lawyers

Injuries resulting from on the job construction site falls are the most frequent causes of highly damaging and often traumatic occupation death. The dangers of falling from scaffolding are well known by those working in the construction industry, and falls from scaffolding are often the result of a number of factors.

Injuries from scaffolding fall accidents range in cause from defective hardware (such as the use of screws, or bolts improper for the load capacity being supported) or equipment, improper installation or operation of scaffolding equipment, failure to provide proper safety equipment, or improper to inadequate worker training.

If you have lost a loved one in a scaffolding accident, it is in your best interest to know your legal rights regarding compensation for their loss. The Scaffolding Accident Attorneys of our Law Office have been fighting for the rights of those needlessly killed in on the job construction scaffolding accidents, for over 20 years. We can help you determine your most beneficial legal avenue to compensation for funeral, medical, and financial hardship costs incurred as a result of the loss of your loved one. Our attorneys have helped thousands of Texans suffering from the needless death of their loved ones resulting from construction scaffolding accidents caused by negligence. An understanding of Workers’ Compensation Law is essential for determining your legal course of action in pursuit of compensation, and our Scaffolding Accident Attorneys of our Law Office stand ready to assist you.

======================gtg

Scaffolding Injury Cases: The Potential for Multiple Party Liability

There exists a great potential for third party liability in cases of on the job deaths. With regard to construction scaffolding accident deaths, third parties that may be held liable for compensation for damages arising from a fatal accident may be as likely as a source of compensation for your damages, as the employer under whose responsibility your loved one was wrongfully killed. Liable third parties could include the manufacturer or installer of the scaffold, or the persons(s) responsible for the maintenance of the scaffolding equipment, the general contractor (GC), subcontractors having a physical presence on the job site, or other workers. According to Texas State Law, all companies, and individuals have a legal duty to provide a certain measure of safety, and owe a duty of no harm, to workers designated, or recognized by law as “general employees”. The deceased employee’s employer may also be held liable for damages arising from a fatal scaffolding accident, in addition to third parties. The complexities of pursuing compensation in the event of a fatal work-related injury require the service of an experienced professional legal counsel. Such counsel will be able to fully navigate the tumultuous backwaters of legal code, and case law to determine the most appropriate course of legal action relevant to your case, and will also be able to provide for you a means of protecting your legal right to seek compensation for damages sought. One of the first, and often most formidable obstacles to be assessed and analyzed in your pursuit of compensation for the death of your loved one is that of the Workers’ Compensation Insurance status of the deceased worker’s employer. The pursuit of compensation for the wrongful death of a loved one from an employer subscribing to Workers’ Compensation Insurance, will differ from cases of compensation sought from an employer who does not subscribe to Workers’ Compensation Insurance.

The Complexity of Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Essential to your legal pursuit of compensation is knowledge of the employer’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance status. As mentioned before, this will determine the legal routes by which you may legally pursue compensation for your financial and emotional losses. Your Scaffold Accident Death Attorney will best be able to assist you in determining this essential factor. In Texas, Workers’ Compensation Law has recently been reshaped to be of greater benefit to the employers who have opted to carry Workers’ Compensation Insurance. This has come about as a result of pressure placed upon the Texas Legislature by companies wishing to cap their liability for damages in the event of worker injuries and or fatalities. “Tort Reform”, as it has since been labeled reduces an employer’s liability for further damages sought by injured workers or the families of workers who have been killed on the job for employers who carry Workers’ Compensation Insurance (subscribers). However, do not be misled into believing that you are not legally entitled to sue for damages awarded under Workers’ Compensation simply because of this fact. Even in cases of fatal workplace accidents in which the employer is a subscriber, third parties exist, from whom compensation can be sought. On the other hand, Tort Reform/ Workers’ Compensation Insurance Law punishes employers who did not subscribe to Workers’ Compensation (non-subscribers) by not shielding them from damages sought by injured workers, and the families of workers wrongfully killed in on the job or work-related accidents. Lawsuits arising from the families of workers killed in work-related accidents often provide damages that exceed the customary amounts paid by Workers’ Compensation Insurance. Lawsuits against subscriber and non-subscriber employers are handled differently and involve their own resulting complexities.

==================gtg

Workers’ Compensation Subscriber Lawsuits

Subscriber employers have the advantage of being shielded against further lawsuits from injured workers and the families of workers killed, and cannot be sued directly by an injured employee, or the family of a worker wrongfully killed on the job. However, if the family of a worker who has been wrongfully killed on the job can prove that the employer’s gross negligence played a crucial role in the death of their loved one, they may be eligible to pursue damages in addition to those awarded by Workers’ Compensation for their losses via a wrongful death lawsuit. Workers’ Compensation pays the worker of the family of a deceased worker a stated amount as compensation for their pain and suffering. However, this amount is usually insufficient to cover the costs incurred and often leave the grieving family without the financial means to recover sufficiently from their emotional and financial losses. Do not be fooled into believing that you are not entitled to take any further legal action to obtain compensation for your loss because the employer of your deceased loved one carried Workers’ Compensation insurance. It is often the case that third parties may also be liable for damages in the event of a fatal scaffolding accident. Your scaffolding accident attorney is more than capable of assisting you in determining a course of legal action most beneficial to the conditions of your case and will utilize his or her high level of experience and professional dedication to help you obtain the fair and just compensation you and your family deserve for your losses. For over twenty years, the scaffolding accident, and wrongful death attorneys of our Law Office have been helping Texas families protect their legal rights, hold those accountable for the deaths of their loved ones, recover damages for their losses.

Non-Subscriber Lawsuits
The families of workers wrongfully killed in scaffolding accidents may pursue damages under a wrongful death lawsuit and only need to prove the employer’s negligence as being the cause of the fatal accident. Facing the potential of unlimited liability in the event of a work-related scaffolding accident, non-subscriber employers often begin building a legal case against the injured or wrongfully killed worker long before any such incident occurs. These employers, along with the legal defense lawyers of any insurance company with whom they may have a policy, will go to incredible and often underhanded lengths to prove that the injured, or deceased worker was responsible for their own injuries, or death. Such tactics may include outright slander, attacks upon the character, work ethic, or mental capability of the worker, or the manipulation of eyewitness statements, or any statements, which do not favor their legal, or financial interests. Another tactic utilized by non-subscriber employers to avoid having to pay damages is the definition of a worker as a “contractor, temporary worker”, or any other than a “general employee”. This is a tactic based upon the knowledge and recognition of the different duties of safety, which employers must provide for their employees. While “general employees” must be provided by law the duty of a safe working environment, contractors and temporary workers must, themselves, see to the safety of their own work environments. The scaffolding accident attorneys have over twenty years of experience in thwarting the tactics of non-subscriber employers and their defense lawyers attempting to avoid liability for damages. We have helped thousands of Texans recover damages for their financial and emotional losses. Do not allow those responsible for your injuries to remain free from justice. Contact our Law Office, and let’s work together to protect your legal rights, and obtain fair and just compensation for the scaffolding death of your loved one.

=========================gtg

Who, Exactly, is Entitled to Legally Pursue Damages Arising from an Injurious or Fatal Scaffolding Accident?

With the right attorney: one who is highly experienced and knowledgeable of case law regarding construction-related injuries and deaths, almost everyone who has been injured, or wrongfully killed at the hands of a negligent employer may be legally eligible and entitled to seek compensation for their pain, suffering, and financial losses. The differing factors pertinent to your individual case will demand that certain courses of legal action be taken. If you have been injured in a scaffolding accident, or have lost a loved one in a fatal scaffolding accident, it is of the utmost importance that you immediately seek out and designate an appropriate legal representative, to protect your legal right to seek compensation, and pursue damages for your pain, suffering, and financial losses. Under certain conditions, even workers designated as “contractors”, or “temporary”, or even workers borrowed from another employer to complete job duties for another employer may be eligible and legally entitled to pursue compensation for any scaffolding injuries or deaths. In these instances, it will be essential to establish the proper and legal definition of the “employer-employee” relationship, and determine the Workers’ Compensation status of the employer.

If you have been injured in a scaffolding accident, or if you have lost a loved one in a fatal scaffolding accident, the Scaffolding Accident and Wrongful Death attorneys of our Law Office are here to help you obtain restitution for your losses. It is unfortunately frequently the case that other law firms overlook the details of a case and refuse to take it, due to inexperience in the field of practice. Our Law Office has specialized in the litigation of Texas Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Law for over twenty years. Our attorneys are well-practiced, and extremely knowledgeable of the legal hurdles, twists, and turns of pursuing personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits, and we have helped thousands of Texans suffering from injuries and the deaths of their loved ones secure the restitution they need to move on with their lives.

In one case of an injured worker’s case being dismissed, a client working on the job site of a stadium renovation project had his foot crushed by a cement spreader went to a Workers’ Compensation Insurance lawyer to have his situation reviewed. He was told, by this lawyer, that because he was a “temporary” worker, that he was not eligible to receive compensation for his pain, suffering, and financial losses. This client then contacted the attorneys of our Law Office, and we were able to properly prove that an “employer-employee” relationship did indeed exist between the client and the defendant. Proof of this relationship allowed us to help him recover damages for his injuries, and hold those responsible for his injuries accountable.

The Scaffolding Accident Attorneys of our Law Office are Here to Help You
Regardless of your situation, whether you are designated by your employer as a contractor, temporary worker, or volunteer, we can help you determine your legal rights, and obtain compensation for construction-related and scaffolding accident injuries, or fatalities. If you have lost a loved one, we can help you and your family hold those responsible for the wrongful death of your loved one accountable for their negligent actions, and secure fair and just compensation for your pain, suffering, and financial losses. Having the Scaffolding Accident and Wrongful Death Attorneys of our Law Office on your side will send a clear signal to those responsible for your pain and suffering. Contact our Law Office today for a free consultation.

================gtg