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Defendants can Wiggle out of Liability by Questioning the Employer-Employee Relationship
The sole proximate cause defense is not the only way non-subscriber fatal construction injury defendants have to evade liability after an employee has been killed on the job site. Many clever employers avoid their legal obligations by saying your loved one was technically not an employee in the first place. State law says that employers are not responsible for injuries that befall contractors who are injured on their job site. So many of them hire their employees and immediately begin laying a paper trail that says they’re contractors when the true situation is altogether different. But by claiming this, the employer believes he can deny an employer-employee relationship existed between your deceased family member and his or her company. Then they use this faux-technicality to deny your family’s rightful fatal construction accident claim. The logic is simple, why should the “employer” be responsible for an injury to a person who actually was never their employee to begin with?
While many local construction companies might claim they hire their employees as contractors or as temp workers through a third-party, many times the employer knows full-well that an actual employer-employee relationship exists and the surviving family members of a fatally injured worker can still win compensation. So don’t be misled by this hoax. Even though the employer claims your family member was a contractor, he or she may in fact have been an employee, and you are entitled to recover compensation for your loved one’s fatal construction injury.
The true existence of an employer-employee relationship can be established by meeting at least one of the following standards:
Withholding and Social Security were deducted from your family member’s paycheck by the construction employer.
The essential equipment for the job was supplied by the employer.
Your loved one’s work was regularly managed, overseen, or inspected by the employer.
A specific work schedule was set for the job by the employer. Your loved one was not free to come-and-go as he or she pleased.
The employer required you loved one to sign a document that limited their rights while working for the employer. The most common examples are taking a drug test or signing a document that states your loved one complied with an employee handbook.
Your loved one was employed for an undetermined period of time and not just for a single job.
Your loved one was paid a salary or an hourly wage and not on a by-the-job basis.
In cases where a worker is borrowed from another company, or a third-party employment agency, the rules for determining the working relationship are related, but there can be some crucial differences. Some of these conditions may include:
If the borrowing employer has the power to hire or fire a borrowed worker at any time, the worker is clearly an employee. Otherwise, the worker is a contractor
Most of the time, if the borrowing employer is allowed to pick a specific worker, then the worker is an employee. If the agency that provides the worker is allowed to send any worker they choose, the worker is a contractor.
If the worker must provide their own tools and equipment, that person is a contractor. If the employer provides them, the worker is an employee.
If the agency can substitute the borrowed worker for another at-will, the worker is a contractor. If the lending agency cannot, then the worker is an employee.
If the worker is borrowed indefinitely, then the worker is an employee. If the worker is borrowed for a specific project with a specific date of completion, the worker is a contractor.
If a worker is being borrowed or “leased” because of a skill that is unique or hard-to-find, then the worker is a contractor. But on the other hand, if an employer borrows a worker to fill a position that just about anyone can fill, then the worker is an employee.
If the borrowing employer agrees to pay the worker’s social security and income tax, then the worker is an employee. If the borrowing employer does not accept this responsibility, then the worker is a contractor.
So, if your loved one was hired by an employment agency or another provider to work at an “employer’s” company and suffered a workplace-related accidental death, your attorney must determine if the agency or third party has workers’ comp. If this then applies to your case, then you would file a workers’ comp wrongful claim against the agency, which would typically make the company where you actually performed the work a third-party defendant to the accident. This same rule applies if your deceased family member’s employer loaned him or her out to another company. This brings another important point to mind. As we have previously told you, workers’ comp claims are less-than-adequate when major injuries are involved, including wrongful death. So the traditional way for an injured worker to receive fair damage compensation is to file a workers’ comp claim against the agency (or the originating “employer”) and supplement it with the appropriate number of third party claims or lawsuits.
Our lawyers conduct a thorough investigation to demonstrate the existence of one or more of these standards, and with whom, in order to clearly prove an employer-employee relationship existed for you. We will depose co-workers, review contracts, and examine pay stubs to establish that you were, in fact, an employee when you suffered an on-the-job injury.
In all of these previous scenarios, the traditional way for your family to receive fair damage compensation is to file a workers’ comp claim against the “primary” employer if that company subscribes to workers’ comp, then supplement it with the appropriate number of third party claims or lawsuits.
An experienced construction accident attorney with our Law Firm will help you deal with your challenging injury/death case anywhere in Texas. We have spent over 30 years accumulating the expertise and skill you desperately need to be required to help win the compensation you deserve. If you want to know what your rights are, how to proceed with your claim, and how much compensation you can secure, then we can answer your questions. Call our Law Firm now for a free consultation and find out how we can help you.
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We Can Help Your Family Recover from the Shock of a Loved One’s Fatal Construction Accident
If you have a relative or friend who is a lawyer, even though he or she might be looking out for your best interests and is swears to fight hard for your family’s legal rights, you might want to reconsider retaining anyone who might have a difficult time emotionally disassociating him or herself from your fatal construction accident claim or case. Personal injury law is quite intense and at times, very contentious. An attorney best serves his clients when he is pragmatic, focuses solely on the facts of a case, and is cool under fire in order to succeed on your behalf. Too much empathy is not always a good thing if it clouds one’s thinking.
What happens if that friend or relative attorney doesn’t win the case, or accepts a less-than-fair settlement because he knows how badly you need the money now, and leaves even more on the table than an experienced attorney would certainly not? How will you feel about your friend or relative then? Here’s a word to the wise. Family members or friends don’t belong in your legal business. And the sooner you accept that fact the better your chances of winning.
Our Law Firm exhausts every avenue to help you win the damage compensation your family deserves when your loved one has been killed on the construction job-site. We thoroughly investigate every accident scene to get to the bottom of how your loved one died. We track down every witness necessary to prove your damage claims. We determine if any third parties are responsible, and file claims, or lawsuits to make sure they too are held accountable. We make certain a jury knows how your family member died, why, and clearly identify all of the responsible parties.
We have litigated and resolved wrongful death cases from of all types for well over 30 years. We have successfully negotiated settlements and tried cases against every major insurance provider in the nation. Our history of success has won many high-dollar fatal construction injury settlements for our clients without having to go to trial. Insurance companies know our track record and don’t want to fight us in court. So they often offer our clients very fair settlements without the stress and uncertainty of a jury trial you certainly hope to avoid.
But if necessary, we won’t hesitate to fight them in court your family’s right to the highest fair compensation for your loved one’s fatal construction accident. Our Texas fatal construction accident lawyers do whatever is legally necessary to help you obtain justice and restitution for the loved one that has been taken from you. To find out how we can help, call us for a free consultation. Let it be the first step to your family finding peace-of-mind and honor the memory of your loved one.
Surviving Family Members Must be Rightfully Compensated for a Loved One’s Fatal Construction Accident
Accidents on construction sites are common in Texas, which seems to be in a state of perpetual building and change. If the injury is not serious, the employee is able to return work with little trouble or fanfare. But there are times when such an accident is serious. And sometimes these unfortunate mishaps can take the life of an innocent loved one happen with a certain amount of regularity. If you have lost a loved one in a construction accident, nothing can bring that beloved family member back to you, or replace their love. The only thing you can do is seek restitution for your family’s loss and other damages surrounding the fatal construction accident.
But the stakes can be very high when families seek survival damages. There are powerful forces that align against you to deny your insurance claim or legal case. Losing a “breadwinner,” especially if that family relies on not only his or her loving presence in the home but vital income in order for the family to survive, places acute strain on any family: both emotionally and financially. And the victim’s family deserves fiscal relief from their loss. The fatal construction accident attorneys with our Law Firm can help your family through this time of profound tragedy. We also feel a duty to help you understand your legal options. Construction workplace accident lawsuits can be very complex. Those that lead to wrongful death are even more perilous. Some of the facts of your case can also be very difficult to prove. Some burdens of proof when it comes to negligence that leads to a fatal construction injury can be greater than normal. And defendants often try to deny liability by alleging that your loved one was never their employee, to begin with. It’s no surprise that those who have little or no experience in handling wrongful death insurance claims or litigating these sorts of cases can easily be doomed to confusion and failure.
How to handle your insurance claim or civil injury lawsuit after a family member’s fatal workplace accident depends upon the actual details of the case and the events leading up to the catastrophe. But even more important is to know whether or not your loved one’s employer had workers’ compensation insurance. That question must be answered because it affects the route surviving family members and their attorney takes in order to be compensated.
An experienced construction accident attorney with our Law Firm will help you deal with your challenging death/injury case anywhere in Texas. We have spent over 30 years accumulating the expertise and skill you desperately need to be required to help win the compensation you deserve. If you want to know what your rights are, how to proceed with your claim, and how much compensation you can secure, then we can answer your questions. Call our Law Firm now for a free consultation and find out how we can help you.
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You Have Legal Rights After a Crane-Related Injury
Construction cranes are marvelous and complicated machines. According to the latest research by the Society of Crane and Rigging, there are around 125,000 cranes operating in the U. S. on any given day. They’re used for installing heavy machinery and supplies in the construction of large buildings ranging from commercial warehouses, skyscrapers, the expansion of Kyle Field, and a variety of other large buildings. The use of other equipment can complicate the operation of a crane. This can make the crane’s operation both problematic and at times, quite dangerous both for the operator, or workers, and even innocent bystanders.
Crane accidents can be terrible and very grisly. People can be crushed when the cable snaps or the crane drops its payload. Occasionally the crane itself can topple causing it to crash into buildings or other structures. Construction workers can be caught up in the apparatus’ mechanical workings and suffer severe crush injuries. Operators can be electrocuted when cranes strike power lines, an injury that is usually easy to avoid if the employer provides the right non-conducting or grounding device. The number of injuries and fatalities from crane injuries is extensive and can include: brain trauma, dismemberment, spinal cord injury, electrical shock, and burns, among others. A large number of crane accidents cause deaths.
How to handle your claim or civil injury case depends upon the details of your case and the events leading up to the accident. You need to know whether or not the company you work for has workers’ compensation insurance, which pays some reimbursement for medical expenses, lost wages, and smaller amounts for pain and suffering if there is a long-term disability. You also need to know what to do if other “third parties” might have helped cause the accident. And you need to know whether, in the eyes of the law, you are an employee or merely a contractor. Your ability to obtain compensation – and how much – depends on the answer to each of these questions.
Resolving crane injury cases is frequently very complex due to these factors mentioned above, as well as others that impact any crane injury case. Furthermore, the complexity and occasional ambiguity of some of our laws permit employers and their insurance providers to unfairly refuse the rightful claims of too many injured crane workers every year. It’s almost certain that inexperienced lawyers will fail to secure the maximum work-injury settlement in crane accident cases. And it’s all but inevitable that those with no legal experience who insist on representing themselves in such matters will fail.
An experienced construction accident attorney with our Law Firm will help you deal with your challenging crane-injury case anywhere in Texas. We have spent over 30 years accumulating the expertise and skill you desperately need to help you win the compensation you deserve. If you want to know what your rights are, how to proceed with your claim and how much compensation you can secure, then we can answer your questions. Call our Law Firm now for a free consultation and find out how we can help you.
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Strict Guidelines for Cranes and How They are Used Help Your Injury Case
Because of the innate risks of operating cranes and the appalling injuries and deaths that generally result when things go wrong, the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has established guidelines for the use of cranes on construction sites:
Employers must comply with all manufacturer limitations and instructions regarding the operation of the crane.
Instructions and warnings regarding the load capacity and safety warnings must be visible to the crane operator while he or she is operating the crane.
The employer must make certain that the crane has been inspected by a recognized safety inspector prior to use. If there is any broken or defective machinery, it must be replaced before it is used.
The employer is responsible for ensuring that the crane is placed at a safe distance from overhead electrical lines. In cases where a crane must be operated near an electrical line, then the employer must take action to ensure the electrical line is not operational and that the proper grounding apparatus has been installed and working properly.
If your employer has failed to comply with any of these standards and you have been injured, then you have the right to not only seek compensation but have clear standards for determining employer (or the owner of the crane’s) liability. But how you succeed depends on whether or not your employer purchased workman’s compensation insurance. And we’ll talk about that in a bit.
The crane accident attorneys at our Texas Law Offices have invested over 30 years of their lives into fairly resolving personal injury claims and civil cases on behalf of construction and crane workers. We use our expertise to help you clearly understand the laws surrounding such cases and all the legal avenues open to you from your crane accident-related injuries. And we are just as adept at representing surviving family members when a construction worker or crane operator has been killed on the job site.
An experienced construction accident attorney with our Law Firm will help you deal with your challenging crane-injury case anywhere in Texas. We have spent over 30 years accumulating the expertise and skill you desperately need to help win the compensation you deserve. If you want to know what your rights are, how to proceed with your claim and how much compensation you can secure, then we can answer your questions. Call our Law Firm now for a free consultation and find out how we can help you.
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The Next Line of Defense: Questioning the Employer-Employee Relationship
The sole proximate cause defense is not the only way non-subscribers have to deflect liability after an injury has been suffered by an employee. When legal push-comes-to-shove, many employers try to distance themselves from you as an employee, and their responsibility to fairly compensate you. Many construction companies hire their employees as contractors. By calling you a contractor, your employer can deny that a formal employer-employee relationship existed. Then they say your claim is unfounded because of that non-existence. Their logic is simple, why should they be responsible for an injury to someone who was never their employee?
While many Bexar County employers claim they hire their employees as contractors or as temp workers through a third-party, the employer knows the real truth: a true employer-employee relationship usually exists and the injured worker deserves compensation. But don’t be misled. You may still be considered an employee in the eyes of the law and entitled to fair legal compensation for injuries suffered on the job.
A crafty, experienced Texas crane accident attorney knows how to prove the employer-employee relationship by meeting at least one of the following standards:
Your employer withheld social security or taxes from your paycheck.
The essential equipment for the job was supplied by your employer.
Your work is regularly managed, overseen, or inspected by your employer.
A specific work schedule has been set for the job by the employer. You are not free to come-and-go as you please.
Your employer requires you to complete a task or sign a document that limits your rights while working for the employer. The most common examples are taking a drug test or signing a document that states you have read and will comply with an employee handbook.
You have been employed for an undetermined period of time and not just for a single job.
You are paid by a salary or an hourly wage and not on a job-by-job basis.
In cases where a worker is borrowed from another company, or a third-party agency, the rules for determining the working relationship are related, but there can be some crucial differences. Some of these conditions may include:
If the borrowing employer has the power to hire or fire a borrowed worker at any time, the worker is clearly an employee. Otherwise, the worker is a contractor
Most of the time, if the borrowing employer is allowed to pick a particular worker, then the worker is an employee. If the agency that provides the worker is allowed to send any worker they choose, the worker is a contractor.
This answer is the same when it comes to tools and equipment. If the worker must provide them, that person is a contractor. If the employer provides them, the worker is an employee.
If the agency can substitute the borrowed worker for another at-will, the worker is a contractor. If the lending agency cannot, then the worker is an employee.
If the worker is borrowed indefinitely, then the worker is an employee. If the worker is borrowed for a specific project with a specific date of completion, the worker is a contractor.
If a worker is being borrowed or “leased” because of a skill that is unique or hard-to-find, then the worker is a contractor. But on the other hand, if an employer borrows a worker to fill a position that just about anyone can fill, then the worker is an employee.
If the borrowing employer agrees to pay the worker’s social security and income tax, then the worker is an employee. If the borrowing employer does not accept this responsibility, then the worker is a contractor.
Our Law Firm conducts a thorough investigation to prove the existence of one of these standards and show that a true employer-employee relationship existed. We will depose co-workers, review contracts, and examine pay stubs to illustrate that you were, in fact, an employee when you suffered your injury.
If you were hired by an employment agency to work at an “employer’s” company and suffered a workplace-related injury (or a wrongful death occurred) your attorney must determine if the employment agency has workers’ comp. If so, then you file a workers’ comp claim against the agency. This makes the company where you actually performed the work a third-party to the accident. Or if your employer loaned you out to another company where the accident occurred, the same issue of workers’ comp subscription with your employer is clarified. Once accomplished, then the company where you suffered your injury then becomes a third-party defendant in any civil claim or lawsuit.
Additionally, as we have previously told you, workers’ comp claims provide less-than-adequate compensation to employees who suffer major injuries or to a family who seeks wrongful death compensation. So the most practical way to recover fair damage compensation is to file a workers’ comp claim against the employer of-record (assuming that employer subscribes) and then supplement the claim with the additional third-party claims or lawsuits against those defendants.
An experienced construction accident attorney with our Law Firm will help you deal with your challenging injury case anywhere in Texas. We have spent over 30 years accumulating the expertise and skill you desperately need to help win the compensation you deserve. If you want to know what your rights are, how to proceed with your claim and how much compensation you can secure, then we can answer your questions. Call our Law Firm now for a free consultation and find out how we can help you.
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Your Sly Opponents are Very Tricky During Your Crane-Related Accident Case
In all non-subscriber and third-party crane-type injury claims, defendants can have large insurance companies with lots of good attorneys to oppose you. Or your employer will be “self-insured” or maybe not even insured altogether. Regardless, they all fight terribly hard to avoid paying your legal damages.
Non-subscribers’ insurance companies have very good attorneys either on staff or on permanent retainers. They – and their clients – are very confrontational but don’t always win, especially when you have an experienced Texas crane accident attorney who knows every trick they pull, and how to counter it.
But they have a certain amount of legal decorum they must follow, so that’s some comfort. But as bad as the insurance companies can be in any construction injury claim or lawsuit, self-insured employers or those who have no insurance whatsoever, use every trick in the book to defend themselves. Some are reprehensible. Others are downright illegal.
You will probably be dealing directly with an officer if the self-insured crane or construction company-defendant is a small one. This person’s salary is directly predicated on the company’s profits. Any injury claim amount paid to you comes directly out of company funds (or a bond if they have one). So by compensating you, your employer literally takes money out of his own pocket. Rare is the time when a sneaky, self-insured company officer doesn’t use any and all means to oppose your claim to protect his company’s (and personal) assets.
But self-insured companies can be the worst opponents. They often deliberately dispose of evidence as well as a bribe or intimidate witnesses. They can resort to physical threats. So every time we represent a client against a self-insured company, the first thing we do is to file motions in court to prevent anyone within that company from behaving inappropriately against our clients. Often these motions include clear demands that they make no attempt to communicate with our clients in any way without one of our attorneys present.
OSHA Is of Little Use in an Injury Liability Claim or Legal Case
Citing OSHA’s existing standards for crane and construction site safety. You might think OSHA will help you attain compensation. That just won’t happen. OSHA is not an advocate for injured workers. All it does is oversee the work environment in the U.S and keep statistics. And for the past 30 years, OSHA regulations, and the fines levied for employer non-compliance have lost many of their teeth.
OSHA sets safety standards in the workplace and fines transgressors: but only well after-the-fact And they do focus on the crane industry due to the high number of catastrophic and fatal injuries. But even so, fine amounts were established long ago in a different day and time. In today’s economy, they rarely carry the proper motivation to encourage compliance with government standards. Many of these fine amounts were set over 30 years ago. Thanks to inflation and other economic factors, OSHA fines are little more than a slap on the wrist today. OSHA is virtually useless in value when it comes to fighting for your rights because it cannot make any direct effort to help individually injured crane accident victims. So relative to your actual injury claim, OSHA is little more than closing the barn long after the cow escapes.
An experienced construction accident attorney with our Law Firm will help you deal with your challenging injury case anywhere in Texas. We have spent over 30 years accumulating the expertise and skill you desperately need to help win the compensation you deserve. If you want to know what your rights are, how to proceed with your claim and how much compensation you can secure, then we can answer your questions. Call our Law Firm now for a free consultation and find out how we can help you.
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The Most Important Things You Must Do (and Not Do) Right Now if You Want Your Case to be a Winner
The first thing you need to understand when it comes to any crane, or any workplace accident injury:
Before you speak with an insurance company, or accept even a single dollar of payment or compensation from your employer, or sign anything, or attempt to file a lawsuit on your own, you must contact a competent lawyer.
Did You Know?
Our attorneys have been fighting for construction accident victims` rights for over 30 years. Call us to discuss your case.
Your employer or third-party defendant (and its insurance provider) wants you to accept a “low ball” settlement in order to save themselves a lot of money. Don’t be taken advantage of! While we’re on the subject: it’s never a good idea to discuss any details of your intentions, or anything else surrounding the injury, with anyone outside of your immediate family. And that’s the first thing any experienced personal injury attorney will tell you.
Then, you must realize the critical importance of acting swiftly: that means start investigating as soon as humanly possible! In on-the-job crane accident cases, all evidence has a VERY SHORT SHELF LIFE because construction sites are a constant work in progress. The accident scene changes quickly, often in less than a week, and many times much sooner. Witnesses can change their stories, forget what they saw, or be “coached.” If you wait to hire an experienced crane accident attorney and put your counsel on the investigative trail, then you do irreparable damage to your ability to win the restitution you deserve.
An experienced construction accident attorney from our Law Firm will help you deal with your challenging injury case anywhere in Texas. We have spent over 30 years accumulating the expertise and skill you desperately need to help win the compensation you deserve. If you want to know what your rights are, how to proceed with your claim, and how much compensation you can secure, we can answer your questions. Call our Law Firm now for a free consultation and find out how we can help you.
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