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If There Was Gross Carelessness
Knowing the difference between regular negligence and gross negligence is vital. Showing gross negligence requires much higher evidence of proof, meaning that the plaintiff’s legal representation must essentially have an airtight case against the grossly negligent business owner. Regular negligence may be defined as simple carelessness or a momentary lapse of attention. Gross negligence occurs when an accident happens that could have knowingly been prevented. A construction worker using a pneumatic drill might cause injury to a fellow worker because of flying debris. This would be considered regular negligence. If that same construction worker had a known history of injuring fellow workers while working the drill and then harms a fellow worker, this would very probably be a case of gross negligence because the business owner should have taken the necessary steps to lessen the likelihood of an accident.
You will have to have a legal expert to evaluate the circumstance of the fatal work accident. In such cases – which are hard to show and require legal expertise and expertise in examining physical evidence and forming a case based on the physical evidence. A business owner may be held liable for damages far beyond the curtails of the workers’ compensation law. Let us repeat this: If a business owner manifests gross negligence or intent that leads to a fatal work injury, or in those cases where a business owner intentionally causes harm to a worker, the business owner/worker relationship is legally and fully severed. Our firm will help you make a case like this.
Dealing With The Limits of Workers’ Comp
The Texas Workers’ Comp laws and regulations work against the rights of family survivors of those who are killed in fatal work accidents. Working through the courts, examining physical evidence, and making a compelling case against liable parties is hard. However, you don’t have to do this alone. There are also cases where Texas Workers’ Comp won’t curtail your ability to sue for damages. If a business owner shows gross negligence that leads to your loved one’s death, or in those cases where a business owner intentionally causes harm to a worker, this is said that the business owner/worker relationship is held legally severed. In cases like this, which are challenging to show, this takes legal experience to look into physical evidence. A business owner may be held liable for damages beyond the curtails of the Texas workers’ comp law. While the law rewards those Texas business owners who are not grossly negligent this punishes business owners that act negligently. If they were grossly negligent, you may sue them for damages.
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Was Your Family Member A General Contractor?
Attorneys may use this case law to argue that your loved one did or did not have a working relationship because a business owner-worker relationship is defined not by contract but by instead the actual working relationship that you and your business owner have. Plainly speaking, a lawyer may indeed turn to previous legal rulings and then utilize these rulings – precedents – to determine whether a worker is a general worker, or if that person is a contractor in the eyes of the law. If your loved one was not, it may benefit your lawsuit. Many different criteria serve to determine what kind of business owner-worker relationship that you have under the law. Of course the most specific is a contract that asserts you are simply a worker of the firm. Another properly specific criterion is if a worker is doing any work services that are particular to that specific business owner’s business.
Deciding on an employment relationship is not usually that easy. Our firm may show that your lost loved one was not a worker but a contractor, meaning the immunity provided for death benefits is not always going to stand. According to precedents, your loved one was in actuality a contractor if you may answer no to most of these points:
When your loved one’s particular work was examined and critiqued at different steps of completion. For instance, when the firm examines your loved one’s work at various stages of completion along the line, then your loved one’s was a worker. But if the firm person only looks at your loved one’s own finished product, then your loved one was a contractor.
When your loved one was paid upon the completion of a given work. For instance, if as the worker your loved one was only paid upon the completion of a work project, then your loved one was a contractor. But if your loved one was paid on an hourly or annual basis, then your loved one was a worker.
When your loved one determined precisely how much time your loved one spent on a given work. For instance, if your loved one was able to devote as much time or as little time along the way as your loved one wanted to a particular work, then your loved one was a contractor. If the amount of the time your loved one devoted to a boss determines a given work then your loved one was a worker.
When your loved one worked for many different clients.
When your loved one was the one who brought his own tools. For instance, if your loved one was liable for bringing his or her own tools and equipment, your loved one was a contractor. But when the business owner provided the tools and equipment to do his job, then your loved one was a worker.
Survivor benefits for loved ones and children under Texas Workers’ Compensation law are somewhat curtailed and paltry. What they cover doesn’t begin to address your loss, and neither does this get you the justice that your lost loved one deserves. Texas workers’ comp law does provide you the curtailed possibility of some death benefits – the lost or diminished income that is paid for surviving loved ones is based on a percentage of the worker’s income. There exists a maximum cap on these benefits, and there is a minimum available for the surviving family. There also exists an allowance for funeral bills that may be awarded as well. These amounts will not give you the relief you need when you have lost a loved one in a fatal work accident.
Contact us toll-free so that our firm can show you how there are other ways to recover your damages beyond the basic state-authorized death benefits. With one of our attorneys by your side, our firm will be sure to look into every detail of your loved one’s fatal work accident. Our firm will bring to account all of those who may have contributed to your loved one’s death. Our firm will use every legal way to help ease your financial anguish, get your damages, and punish those who are liable.
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Lifting Accidents & Back Injuries
IF You Have a Workplace Back Injury Or Are Suffering From a Job Site Lifting Injury, The Work Accident Attorneys At Our Law Office Can Be Of Service.
Our wrongful death and personal attorneys have over twenty years of experience handling cases involving worksite back and lifting injuries. If you’ve been harmed while employed doing the heavy lifting for your employer, it’s very possible you may have a cause for legal action in which you can receive justice and compensation for your employer’s negligence.
Should you be considering retaining a lawyer to help you in pursuing an insurance claim or if you are considering a legal action related to your on-the-job injury, the skilled, experienced, and aggressive personal injury attorneys at our Law Office can aid you in receiving full and fair compensation for your lifting injury. Even in what many consider to be “simple” cases, retaining the services of a skilled attorney is often a good move since the first instinct of most insurance companies is to try to prove your claim lacks merit. With over twenty years of experience in handling personal injury claims concerning lifting injuries, our legal team can aid you with detailed information that can in the end help you receive full and fair compensation for your pain and suffering.
The Problem With Doing It Yourself
Many people mistakenly assume that because some work-related injuries seem simple and superficial, it follows that receiving fair compensation should be a rather simple and straightforward matter. Most people believe that if you hurt yourself while in the performance of your work, then the employer’s insurance will recompense you with little fuss. What most Texans don’t know is that this is often rarely the case. There are numerous factors that happen behind closed doors (that many people would be somewhat shocked to know) when it comes to workplace lifting injuries. The biggest shock comes when dealing with Texas workmans’ compensation insurance.
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Texas Workmans’ Compensation Insurance in Truth Protects Employers
The primary reason employers carry workers’ comp insurance is not to provide quality insurance for their employees, but to protect themselves from lawsuits brought against them by injured employees. Employees who have received back or other injuries while at work will in all likelihood be compensated for their lifting injuries and lost income through workmans’ compensation insurance, but the reality is that most compensation realized through the workers’ comp program is usually far from adequate, and usually not enough to cover the injured employee’s true losses. Just because your employer is enrolled in workman’s compensation, doesn’t mean that you can’t seek relief and truly fair compensation. The work accident attorneys at our Law Office can aid you in determining whether there is another party or other parties who may be responsible for your work-related lifting injury, and if another party or other parties are involved they may hold partial responsibility for your claim. For example, if you were injured lifting stock off of a manual pallet jack and the pallet jack is somehow faulty or poorly designed, then the manufacturer of the jack may carry partial liability for your injury and pain. In addition to your workers’ comp payout, whatever damages the manufacturer is responsible for will be added to your total compensation.
More Employers Than You Would Guess Lie About Carrying Workers’ Compensation
Because workers’ compensation insurance has such a good reputation and can truly protect employers from lawsuits, many employers who do not choose to subscribe to the program simply lie about carrying the insurance. Our Law Office has seen this ploy numerous times. Owing to our experience in working with workmans’ comp cases, we are very, very good at determining employers’ claims about belonging to this State of Texas program. In the possibility that your employer does not belong to workers’ comp, we can aid you in filing a personal injury lawsuit to ensure that you receive full and fair compensation for your lifting injuries.
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Contract Employees
Texas worker’s compensation law exempts contract employees from enjoying certain rights and privileges enjoyed by regular employees. Because of this fact, many employers believe they can shirk their employer obligations and duties by hiring what are known as “contract” workers. What this means is that if an employer deems you to be a contract worker, certain necessary conditions required to form an employer-employee relationship for legitimate workmans’ comp insurance claims are dissolved. It follows in this scenario that a contract worker who suffers an on-the-job back injury is not covered by workmans’ comp or any other employer insurance. By hiring contract employees, many employers mistakenly assume that they are then not responsible for any back injuries that happen to contract workers because they are not addressed in Texas workers’ compensation law.
These employers are deceived, however. Our Law Office has over twenty years of experience that has taught us that when dealing with workers’ compensation law and cases, we are usually able to establish that a true employer-employee relationship existed even if you were hired on as a contract employee, even if you sign a document stating that this is the case or if the employer hires you under that condition. Texas law is unclear regarding the status of a general employee, so there are a number of ways to show your relationship to be one of a regular employee. For example, if your employer withholds federal income tax and Social Security, or if you have to sign and abide by an employee handbook and take mandatory drug testing, Texas law will consider you a regular employee, no matter if you were hired as a contractor. There are many other ways to show that you may be a regular employee, and our extensive experience has taught us every aspect to prove that a traditional employer-employee relationship exists. We can cut through your employer’s terminology to hold your employer liable for your back injury or other harms. Many cases such as these are turned down by many law firms due to technicalities such as these, but by speaking to one of our work accident attorneys about your back injury, we likely may be able to show your status as a regular employee and hold your employer accountable, and/or find other third parties who may also be responsible for your lifting injuries.
Our Law Office Can Help With Cases Involving Lifting Injuries
If you’ve suffered a workplace back or lifting injury, you may be entitled to full and fair compensation for your injury. It is wise to act as soon as possible and contact a work injury attorney at our Law Office. You can call toll-free so that we can begin to build a solid case for you so you can begin to seek full and fair compensation for your lifting injury. We will perform a thorough and detailed investigation of the mishap scene and we will comb through your medical history to establish that your employer’s carelessness, recklessness, or other negligence is in fact the source of your injury. With over twenty years of experience in working these cases, we can demonstrate that your harms could have been caused by a lack of or poor training, a lack of satisfactory safety equipment, or the unavailability of a coworker to aid you in the performance of your job. These cases are never as easy as they seem on the surface.
Our Law Office has negotiated with or litigated against every major insurance corporation in the United States, and their defense attorneys and adjusters are more than familiar with our name and reputation. In many instances, they’ve offered our clients full and fair out-of-court settlements rather than fight us in a court of law. They know we are more than able to win court cases dealing with back or lifting injuries. We and our clients prefer this outcome because it saves all of us time and money and it allows our clients to begin to rebuild their lives. Should the case go to court, you should know that our Law Office work accident attorney will dedicate his or her services to do everything to ensure that you receive full and fair compensation for your injuries.
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Non-Subscriber Attorney
Have You Been Injured At Work and Your Employer Does Not Carry Workers’ Compensation? Contact a Non-Subscriber Attorney at Our Law Office, A Premier Nonsubscriber Injury Law Firm in Texas
If you’ve been injured in a workplace accident, the type and amount of compensation you will receive is directly related to whether your employer carries workers’ compensation insurance backed by Texas law, or if your employer carries traditional liability insurance.
Employers who carry workers’ comp are called subscribers, and those who do not carry workman’s compensation are called nonsubscribers. Workplace accident claims and court actions can be some of the most complex litigation our attorneys see in court.
The exact way your claim is addressed and handled is based on several issues. One of the biggest factors is whether the employer in question is a subscriber or nonsubscriber. Texas law, with very few exceptions, protects subscriber employers from lawsuits from most injured employees. Texas law admits there may be other extenuating factors that can break or reinforce the employer-employee relationship in spite of the subscriber status.
Should you suffer harm or injury in the workplace, the first thing you must do is seek immediate medical attention. Your health, and thus your quality of life and ability to provide for your loved ones, is at stake, and neglecting your health can negatively affect your recovery. Seeking medical attention is important to your lawsuit or claim since you will need official medical diagnoses and documentation. You shouldn’t worry about the price-tag for your treatment, it is likely your medical care will be covered by the compensation you are requesting. In many instances, we can help you find medical attention from a large association of medical professionals we’ve met over time. You shouldn’t worry about your financial situation here, either–they will consider your unique circumstances and finances, and sometimes, we may be able to help you find medical treatment with no up-front cost to you. Moreover, we can teach you how your time off to seek and receive medical care may be covered by workers’ comp or your employer’s insurance carrier. After you’ve received the necessary medical care, we can then begin to discuss the actions essential to finding the party or parties who are responsible for your injuries and losses.
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How to Determine Whether or Not Your Oil Industry Employer Purchased Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Texas, unlike most other states, does not make it mandatory for employers to purchase, or “subscribe” to, workers’ compensation insurance. The manner in which you pursue litigation regarding an oil industry accident depends on whether the employer subscribed to workers’ comp, or was a workers’ comp “non-subscriber” and did not purchase the insurance. The way you go about trying to obtain compensation in the event of an oil industry injury varies greatly depending on which description fits the employer in question, and the reasons why will be detailed later in this article.
It can be oftentimes difficult to determine whether or not an employer is a subscriber to workers’ comp. Many employers, after an accident occurs that results in an injury to a worker will claim it is a subscriber in order to keep from being the subject of a lawsuit filed by either an injured worker or the family member of a worker wrongfully killed in an accident. The opposite can be true as well. Some companies will feign not having workers’ comp insurance when, in fact, they really do. They do so because they are trying to avoid seeing their premiums raised after an accident. The oilfield accident attorneys with our Law Office have been practicing personal injury law and wrongful death law for the last two decades. During that time, we have seen many, many instances where companies have attempted this kind of blatant deception. No matter what the employer chooses to tell you, we know how to correctly determine the status of a company’s worker’s compensation insurance. We can help you, no matter if the company was a subscriber or a non-subscriber.
Benefits of Workers’ Compensation Insurance
When an employer purchases workers’ compensation insurance, it buys more than just insurance. It also purchases protection against legal action taken by employees who are injured on the job. If an employer has legitimate workers’ comp coverage, then an injured employee cannot sue that company. That employee must file an insurance claim through the correct channels through his or her workers’ compensation insurance provider.
There are many instances, however, where an insurance carrier’s idea of fair compensation for lost wages, pain and suffering, and medical expenses is one that does not come close to adequately compensating an injury victim for the actual expenses that have been accumulated by that victim. Because our oilfield accident lawyers have been dealing with this type of litigation for 20 years, we know that there can often be other liable parties other than the employer in an oil industry accident. Other potentially responsible parties include the owner of the property where the oil is being drilled, the person who owns the oil rig or oil platform, and the vendors responsible for providing any potentially faulty machinery (such as the steel lingers that are inserted into earthen tunnels that have been drilled). Either one or a combination of more than one, of these parties, can be found to have either negligently contributed to an oil industry injury or to have caused it outright through negligence. It is very commonplace for more than one party to have played some kind of role in an oilfield accident, and the lawyers with our Law Office have extensive experience in investigating accident scenes in order to identify all the parties that are liable.
You might be 100 percent sure that your employer subscribed to workers’ compensation insurance, but it can still be worth your time to call us toll-free for a confidential and free consultation. We can tell you whether or not the employer’s workers’ comp policy is sufficiently meeting your needs, and whether or not there may be another party or parties that you can take legal action against in order to try and obtain fair compensation.
Workers’ Comp Claim Exceptions
There is only one exception where the family of a deceased accident victim can sue a subscribing employer. That is when the employer’s gross negligence was the reason for the accident taking place that caused the wrongful death. It can be much harder to prove gross negligence, however, than standard negligence. Gross negligence is, in a nutshell, when an employer habitually created an unsafe work environment and was aware that an accident would likely happen that would result in either an injury or death. Standard negligence, on the other hand, is the temporary lack of focus or reason of an employee that led to an accident. A subscribing company cannot be successfully sued unless gross negligence can be proven. The oilfield accident attorneys with our Law Office are adept at building rock-solid cases against employers that are grossly negligent in order for the families of deceased workers can obtain the restitution they have coming to them.
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Oil-Industry Companies that are Workers’ Comp Non-Subscribers
The victim, or plaintiff, will more than likely have to file a lawsuit against a non-subscriber in order to obtain restitution after an oilfield injury. The first thing the victim must do is file a claim with the employer that details both the injury and the extent of the monetary damages the victim expects to receive in restitution. The employer then has the choice of either paying you what you demand or attempting to negotiate a settlement for a lesser amount. Most of the time, however, a non-subscriber will choose neither option. When that happens, your only recourse in securing the fair compensation you have coming to you is by pursuing legal action by filing a lawsuit.
A plaintiff can get a substantially higher amount of restitution via a lawsuit than he or she might be able to obtain through a workers’ compensation claim. Also, the plaintiff needs to only prove standard negligence – the aforementioned temporary, solitary error in judgment or the duty to provide a safe workplace – and doing so is fairly simple. When the Texas Legislature enacted workers’ comp in 1992, it did so with the purpose of trying to shield companies from frivolous employee lawsuits. It does not require employers to buy the insurance, but it very strongly encourages them to do so. As a result, non-subscribers are “punished,” so to speak, by allowing not only employee lawsuits but requiring that those employees need only prove standard negligence.
There can be extremely large amounts of money at stake, however, and employers will employ a wide variety of tactics – both legal and illegal – in order to keep from having to pay a claim. Through two decades of dealing with workers’ comp claims, the oilfield accident attorneys with our Law Office know the tricks that non-subscribing companies can try to pull. We can protect your right to pursue compensation by putting our experience and track record of success to use for you.
As we stated previously, an injured worker, or plaintiff, has to bear the burden of proof in order to win a personal injury case, and therefore has to be able to provide a convincing argument that will prove the negligence of the employer led to the accident that caused injury to an employee. The plaintiff has to establish that the employer should be held responsible for the pain and suffering, medical bills, lost wages, and lost potential earnings due to lifelong disabilities that the plaintiff has incurred. The standard of negligence that must be proven in a case regarding a non-subscriber is quite low, but it can still be very difficult for inexperienced attorneys and nearly impossible for those who have no legal background. But our experience enables us to establish standard negligence in a relatively easy fashion.
Hurdles Plaintiffs Must Overcome in Winning a Case Against a Non-Subscriber
Again, the purpose behind workers’ comp is to strongly encourage companies to purchase insurance. As a result, those that choose not to are punished for their decision by being afforded only one true defense against personal injury or wrongful death lawsuits – this defense, known as the “sole proximate cause” defense, means that an employer will not be held liable for any injuries suffered by their employees if it can be proven that the employee was 100 percent responsible for the accident that caused that injury. In this instance, a case involving a non-subscriber can get very personal. The employer will often defame the employee’s character, painting a picture of that employee as an incompetent and careless worker whose own negligence resulted in his or her injuries. Since the defense has no other option at its disposal, you can be virtually certain that the opposition’s attorneys will attack your character and make you look incompetent.
In addition, even though a non-subscriber chose not to buy workers’ comp coverage, that doesn’t mean it is without a very expensive insurance policy. Many companies choose to buy private insurance rather than workers’ comp, which can be even more expensive. Millions of dollars can be at stake in a case involving a non-subscriber, so the insurance company will have aggressive adjusters on the job who will do whatever it takes to either reduce the amount of restitution you obtain or simply flat-out deny the claim. These adjusters aren’t anything like the ones you may encounter after a run-of-the-mill fender-bender. These people are highly trained and highly paid professionals, and they could not care less about your injury, no matter how severe. In fact, they are often paid handsome bonuses for denying claims, so they have a strong motivation to do the same to yours. Shortly after an accident, they will likely attempt to pelt you with a barrage of confusing questions that are designed to trip you up and get you to admit responsibility for the accident. This way, the insurance company can potentially get away without having to pay you a dime. Never talk to an insurance adjuster without an experienced attorney by your side who will protect your rights. Also, the insurance company will also be represented by very formidable attorneys who love it when an injury victim decides to go it alone and represent himself or herself. They love it because they know they can easily out-negotiate you and either give you a relative pittance or leave you with no compensation at all.
These sharks only respect an opposing attorney that has a track record of success. Our Law Office has taken on nearly every major insurance carrier in the United States and defeated it. Because insurers know us and respect us, they will often offer our clients fair settlements rather than take the risk of losing a great deal more money by tangling with our attorneys in a trial. To have any chance at getting the restitution you have coming, you simply have to have a seasoned and skilled oilfield accident attorney working on your side.
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Proving the Relationship between Employer and Employee
Non-subscribing employers are under no obligation to provide a safe workplace to temporary workers or contract workers in the eyes of the law in Texas. Those workers are responsible for their own workplace safety. So an injured worker who falls under one of those categories cannot sue the non-subscribing company. However, there are many instances where a company will try and label its workers as contractors in order to avoid liability in the event of a workplace accident that results in an accident. This happens quite a bit in the oil industry, as many oilfield workers are considered contractors. Just because a company calls you a contractor doesn’t mean that a court of law will view you in that same manner. We have encountered myriad instances in our 20 years of practice where we have been able to establish that an employer-employee relationship did, in fact, exist by simply asking the right questions. As a result, we were able to help our clients secure just compensation. If you meet any of these following standards, then you will be seen as an employee in the eyes of the law.
The employer withholds taxes or social security from your paycheck.
The employer supplied you with the equipment that was essential for you to do your job.
The employer expected to you maintain a specific work schedule that is established.
The employer either inspected, oversaw, or managed your work on a regular basis, either by the employer, or the employee’s manager or foreman.
The employer asked you to either perform a task sign a document that in some way limited your rights. For instance, you were asked to take a drug test or to sign a document stating that you had read, and agreed to comply with, an employee handbook.
The employer employed you for an undetermined period of time, and not just for a certain job.
The employer paid you on either a salary basis or an hourly basis, and not on a job-by-job basis.
The oilfield accident attorneys with our Law Office can launch a detailed, thorough investigation in order to prove that you were, indeed, an employee and not a contract worker. We can procure pay stubs, interview fellow workers, and thoroughly review contracts in order to establish that you were an employee when injured.
How We Can Help You
The attorneys with our Law Office can help you or your family, no matter how your injury or the wrongful death of your loved one took place in an oil industry accident. We will be passionate and dedicated to working on your case, and work tirelessly in order that you get the maximum amount of restitution that you have coming to you.
It does not matter whether the accident was caused by a subscriber or a non-subscriber or by one or more third parties. Call us as soon as you can toll-free for a confidential and free consultation. We will go over the specific circumstances of your case and tell you how we will be able to help you.
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