Grossman 7/10/20 – Drug Injury & Death – gtg

Fentanyl Attorneys on Fentanyl Pain Patch Recalls

Of all the dreaded diseases that plague our society, cancer is one of the worst. It is a common ailment that people in the United States are stricken with, unfortunately. Most people either know somebody who has been diagnosed with some form of cancer or they have been diagnosed with it themselves.

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), more than a million people are stricken with the dreaded disease each year in the United States. And that doesn’t include the twelve (12) million victims already living with the disease.

It used to be that being identified as a cancer patient, apart from the type of cancer, was no worse than being sentenced to death. But new technology, decades of investigation, and research funds has opened up new treatments for cancer that lead to remission. It’s the next best thing to a cure. Yet with so much focus on inventing a cure for cancer, the researchers have spent very little time on pain management with it comes cancer patients. That’s where Fentanyl pain patches come in. Fentanyl pain patches are used as pain management for cancer patients; nevertheless, the product was recalled because it has been reported as a contributing factor in the deaths of and suffering of many people.

If you are suffering from a leaky Fentanyl pain patch, call the Fentanyl lawyers at our Law Office today. We’re waiting to go over the options of your case. Your family could opt to file a personal injury lawsuit against the corporation which produced the leaky pain patch. You should call to find out more. Your initial consultation is free.

Researchers say that victims of cancer suffer more than once: They suffer first due to their cancer cells being destroyed in the area of their body where the disease developed; and they suffer a second time because of the unbearable pain most patients experience. Although it’s not common knowledge, most people are living with an undetectable amount of cancer cells somewhere in their bodies. The term “cancer” just means there is the presence of deformed cells in a person’s body. The deformity occurs because most people don’t breathe in enough clean oxygen to help their healthy cells regenerate properly. It can happen when someone lives in a home with asbestos mixed in the building materials or they work in an old building with asbestos in the insulation. Or maybe they live in a smog-filled city and they don’t get enough exercise in the open air. So they don’t get enough oxygen for them to renew themselves normally. Cells that are cancerous also multiply in the body when you eat or drink too much white sugar. Cancerous cells feed on white sugar and it strips away the nutrition trying to replenish our healthy cells. Cancerous cells are unable to live in an oxygen-rich atmosphere. Cancer and oxygen are like oil and water: they don’t mix. The more clean air someone breaths the less cancerous cells can thrive. But when there is a lack of oxygen normal blood cells start to mutate. And those mutated cells start to regenerate. So, most people carry a small amount of cancer in their bodies throughout their lives. And that’s okay.

Cancerous cells will attack different parts of the body. And if it is not quickly diagnosed those cancerous cells start to destroy the organs that it attacks. If it’s colon cancer the patient might have to get a part of the colon removed. If it’s skin cancer the patient might have to have a skin graft. It takes a microscope to see this cellular attack going on. But self-examinations and regular doctor visits can locate unnatural lumps underneath the epidermis. Just because a patient feels healthy today doesn’t mean cancer isn’t growing somewhere undetected in the body.

They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Still, twelve million victims find themselves living with cancer and anxiously awaiting a cure. That could be considered a good thing, except the longer patients live with the disease the pain makes it harder for them to operate normally. To help cancer victims withstand their aches medical researchers have approved and allowed the use of illicit drugs including marijuana, morphine, and Fentanyl in hospitals and by caregivers in hospices. While marijuana is known for its subtle effects, morphine is known as one of the strongest pain killers available. But Fentanyl is one hundred (100) times more powerful than morphine. And now it’s being used to treat cancer patients who are in chronic pain. Fentanyl is even used to deaden the pain of surgery patients and those in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The strength of the drug is indicative of the need for closer medical oversight when it is prescribed. But Fentanyl was approved for use in the privacy of patents’ homes. So, pharmaceutical companies created Fentanyl nose sprays, Fentanyl lozenges, Fentanyl inhalers, Fentanyl lollipops, and transdermal pain patches. The patches have been a problem since day one, leaving more sickness and death in its wake. The Fentanyl patch has a leak in it that allows more of the Fentanyl to seep into the patients’ bloodstream during the three-day treatment than intended. It could cause patients to overdose and die. Hundreds of people complained to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concerning the number of patients who died from using the Fentanyl pain patch. And finally, after a few hundred victims had lost their lives, the FDA forced the drug company that manufactured the Fentanyl pain patch to issue recalls. Needless to say, some of those companies are in litigation over the faulty patch.

If you think your loved one died due to a leaky Fentanyl pain patch contact the Fentanyl lawyers at our Law Office today. Call to discuss the specifics of your case. Your family might be eligible to file a personal injury case against the company that manufactured the leaky pain patch. You might also be able to file a class-action lawsuit and join other families affected by this faulty product. But you won’t know if you don’t call. Your initial consultation is free.

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Fentanyl Recalls Go Back Seven Years

Fentanyl pain patch recalls have been going on for at least seven years. Janssen Pharmaceuticals was the first company to issue a recall in 2004. At first, it was just one batch, called a lot or a group of products. A lot number is attached to every product that is made in bulk. Lot numbers assist manufacturing companies to audit and readily identify its inventory. But after the first batch of pain patches, the FDA and Janssen expanded the recall to include more lots.

Most people would shy away from a product that is plagued by problems. But when a product like Fentanyl brings in millions of dollars company executives are too greedy to turn away from that. So other companies started to manufacture their own version of the Fentanyl pain patch. But the Alza Corporation had to recall 32 million Duragesic patches in 2008 because they too leaked. Days after Alza’s vast recall, another company, Actavis, Inc., a recall of fourteen lots of Fentanyl pain patches that it produced. It was the third recall in four years on the same product. Company executives pushed to keep producing the patches despite the problems. Only Alza halted production for a few months. But they resumed production in the summer of 2011. The profits must have been too much for them to ignore.

Fentanyl Brand Names and Alternative Delivery Systems
Like so many pharmaceutical drugs, Fentanyl is sold under different off-brand names. They include:

Abstral, a lozenge which is similar to a cough drop. It’s made by ProStraken, Inc.
Instanyl, a vapor nose spray which is produced by Nycomed, Inc.
Onsolis is applied inside the mouth and is made by Aveva Drug Delivery Systems
Actiq is a lollipop made by Cephalon, Inc.

Fentanyl is sold in different dose measurements with different strengths. Only the patch has been recalled. So if your physician has prescribed a pain patch to help suppress the pain of a cancer patient, call the physician or the pharmacist to get answers. Then if you need to speak with the Fentanyl drug lawyers at our Law Office, do so today. Our Firm has more than twenty (20) years experience litigating these kinds of personal injury lawsuits. If someone you know has been the victim of a leaky Fentanyl pain patch contact the Fentanyl lawyers at our Law Offices today. Call to discuss the specifics of your case. Your family might be eligible to file a personal injury case against the company that manufactured the leaky pain patch. But you don’t know until you call. Your initial consultation is free.

The side effects of cancer are bad enough without having to be concerned about the side effects of the drug meant to subdue the pain. Still, some side effects of Fentanyl include:

Cramping;
Anxiety;
Hallucinations;
Dry mouth;
Vomiting;
Rapid weight loss.

If the cancer victim has these signs plus seizures and irregular heartbeats, see your doctor immediately.

In addition to the leaky Fentanyl patches, patient advocates complained about what they call the misuse of the Actiq Fentanyl lollipops. These suckers have been prescribed to patients who have no sign of cancer. And some of those patients have been harmed because the lollipops were used to medicate them. This is a classic case of a product liability lawsuit. So if you were prescribed the Fentanyl lollipop and you have not been diagnosed with cancer, call the Fentanyl drug attorneys at our Law office.

In their effort to make more money some drug company executives blindly jumped onto the Fentanyl bandwagon. They saw their profits more than they saw a way to help cancer patients live more comfortably while living with cancer. So if you or someone you know has been harmed by the negligent behavior of your physician who prescribed the medication or the drug company that manufactured it, it’s your right to file a product liability personal injury lawsuit. The attorneys at our Law Office can investigate your sickness and the medication you might be taking to collect evidence to build your case. But time is not on your side. Call our Law Office today for your free consultation.

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Legal Remedies For Injury or Wrongful Death From Pharmaceutical Error

All of us would like to think we can trust our bespectacled, smiling neighborhood pharmacist, but the raw reality is, nearly one in twenty prescriptions in the U.S. are filled in error and 100,000 people prematurely die annually because of pharmaceutical mistakes or pharmacy misjudgment.

Although not every improperly filled prescription leads to injury or death, every time an error does occur, the needed medication is not given to the patient who is often in dire need of the proper medication for their condition.

If you have suffered injury because of an incorrectly filled drug prescription or pharmaceutical error at your pharmacy, the medical malpractice specialists at our Law Office want you understand the inherent complexities of these cases, so that you can make an educated decision about what legal options you should take.

How Do Pharmacy Mistakes Occur?
Most of the time, pharmaceutical mistakes occur because of the following:

The doctor incorrectly, or just not quite legible enough, writes a prescription that is difficult to read and results in a patient being given the wrong dose or wrong medication altogether.
A pharmacist makes an error in filling the prescription.
Often, the prescription drug itself can pose a danger. In that case, the drug pharmacy isn’t responsible if the correct medication was prescribed, the prescription was filled as instructed, and the drug was taken as advised. In these circumstances, the damages were caused by the drug itself, and the pharmaceutical drug company should be held liable or responsible for the injury.

Which Type of Lawsuit Should I File?
The type of lawsuit you file is dependent upon the type of pharmacy error committed. You will be filing a medical malpractice lawsuit, regardless of whether it was your doctor or your pharmacist that was responsible for you receiving the incorrect medication. Yet, the strategy involved in building an effective case is different, depending on if the liability arose from the doctor or the pharmacist.

Do I Need A Lawyer?
The medical and health care industry has been protected, in many cases, from illegitimate or frivolous lawsuits by recent tort reforms. Concurrently, those reforms have also resulted in legitimately injured individuals now finding it more difficult to get the compensation they deserve. It is very common nowadays, for cases without the proper documentation to be dismissed. Only an experienced, competent medical malpractice legal specialist in this field will understand how to locate expert medical testimony and the procedures for issuing subpoenas for the appropriate records.

We’ve won hundreds of cases against all the major insurance companies in the U.S. These firms are familiar with our success and reputation and in many instances will fully cooperate with our attorneys so they will not have to confront us later in court. We have a successful track record to stand up to your opposition and help you receive the justice and equitable compensation you deserve for your injury or loved one’s death.

Our attorneys are dedicated to providing you with the help you need to recover from your injuries incurred by the wrong prescription drugs. We have been litigating medical malpractice claims for two decades and have seen millions of dollars awarded to hundreds of injured clients. Call us today for a free consultation if you’ve suffered a prescription drug injury. We can discuss your legal options and the steps needed for you to recover physically and financially, so you can get back on your feet and move confidently into the future.

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Grossman 7-10-20 – Mesothelioma & Asbestosis – gtg

A Word from the Product Defect Attorneys of our Law Office on Mesothelioma & Asbestosis Due to Asbestos Inhalation

If you have recently received a diagnosis of mesothelioma or asbestosis from your doctor, you are likely to have several questions about your condition related to the causes of mesothelioma and asbestosis. Should you attempt to procure economic reimbursement through an insurance policy or seek the counsel of a trained attorney? What causes these conditions to occur?

The experienced attorneys of our Law Office are here to give details on what mesothelioma & asbestosis are, what your legal rights entail, and how we can help you seek fair restitution.

What are Mesothelioma & Asbestosis?
Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that can develop from asbestosis. It takes its name from the mesothelium, which is a membrane that lines vital organs. It is this membrane that mesothelioma assaults when it is malignant. The following are three different types of mesothelioma:

Pleural mesothelioma – the most common form of this cancer, accounting for 70% of mesothelioma diagnoses. Pleural mesothelioma targets the pleura or lung tissue lining.
Peritoneal mesothelioma – targets the peritoneum or abdomen tissue lining
Pericardial mesothelioma – targets the pericardium or heart tissue lining
Asbestosis is a condition that targets lung tissue, causing it to become inflamed. It occurs as a result of inhaling asbestos fibers over time. It usually shows up after many years. The condition of asbestosis can also lead to mesothelioma.

How do Mesothelioma & Asbestosis Develop?
Inhalation of asbestos fibers over a long period of time is usually how mesothelioma & asbestosis are contracted. What is asbestos, anyway? Asbestos most often refers to one of six natural silicate minerals that have a long history of use as insulation due to their heat resistance and sound absorption. The use of industrial asbestos today has been strictly regulated or even prohibited in numerous countries because of the perils associated with the effects of its inhalation in humans over sustained periods of time. These perils include an increased risk of contracting mesothelioma & asbestosis.

There has been much debate over the hazards to human health posed by exposure to asbestos and subsequent inhalation of asbestos fibers. More recently, scientific research has pointed towards a causal link between asbestos inhalation and mesothelioma & asbestosis. Since asbestos has been used for so long, why did it take so much time to establish the connection? The primary reason is that it usually takes a lot of time, several years, or even decades, for the symptoms of these diseases to show up in people following exposure. Unfortunately, despite the growing concerns over the health hazards inherent in asbestos, numerous companies continued to make use of it in their industrial products. This use carries with it the potential to cause thousands of cases of mesothelioma & asbestosis. With approximately 10,000 deaths occurring annually from inhalation of asbestos fibers, asbestos lawsuits constitute the principal mass tort in the United States to date.

Let the Mesothelioma & Asbestosis Lawyers of Our Law Office Assist You
There are many intricacies inherent in a case involving long-term asbestos exposure or inhalation of asbestos fibers after a number of years. Regulations must be researched and asbestos companies must be investigated. The job is frequently too difficult a task for the inexperienced lawyer. Fortunately, the case law for asbestos lawsuits has been well-established. Nearly a million lawsuits have been filed.

Having an experienced mesothelioma & asbestosis attorney on your side is invaluable in attaining the financial reimbursement that you deserve. Our Law Office has 20 years of experience in dealing with these types of cases. During this time, the amount of mesothelioma cases we have won is numbered in the hundreds. The companies primarily responsible in these cases are well aware of us, and will frequently settle out of court to avoid the legal battle that will otherwise ensue. For this reason, we are regularly able to secure economic compensation for our clients without the hassles intrinsic to dealing with a court case.

If you or a family member is currently suffering from mesothelioma due to the long-term inhalation of asbestos, call our Law Office to begin your free consultation. Let the mesothelioma & asbestosis lawyers of our Law Office help you secure the appropriate financial restitution that you are entitled to.

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Grossman 7/10/20 – Workers Comp page 3 – gtg

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 Workmans’ compensation are called non-subscribers. 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 non-subscriber. 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. And 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.

A Word About Workers’ Compensation
If your employer has workers’ comp, you will need to inform your company immediately after the workplace incident. By law, you have thirty days to report the accident and your injury, but if you delay, many employers will try to deny or minimize your benefits. It is in your best interest to report your medical care as soon as you can. Texas law protects subscribers to workers’ compensation by giving them immunity, with strict exceptions to lawsuits by employees who’ve suffered an injury or loss in the workplace. Employees who’ve been injured due to outrageous carelessness or gross negligence are able to file a personal injury claim, and if the accident was fatal, the immediate family members of the deceased can file a wrongful death claim. Also, in many workplace accidents a third party, such as a contractor, vendor, or supplier may have partial or complete liability for the mishap that caused your injury or loss. Our attorneys can help you disentangle the liability of two or more parties that are responsible for your pain and suffering.

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What if My Employer Doesn’t Carry Workers’ Compensation and is a Non Subscriber?

Non-subscribers are those employers who do not buy state-supported Workmans’ compensation insurance. The procedures for seeking relief and filing claims is vitally different than seeking compensation and filing claims under workers’ comp. When you deal with a non-subscriber, you are in for an experience that can be very expensive, time-consuming, and completely frustrating.

The main difference between subscriber and non-subscriber claims is that a non-subscriber employee who has been injured in a workplace accident is that the injured worker has much more legal freedom to initiate a lawsuit against his or her careless or negligent employer for his or her harms and losses. With subscriber claims, most injured employees deal with workers’ compensation administrative bureaucracies and bureaucrats, and as a result, they are dealing with the force of state government. With non-subscriber claims, however, most injured or harmed workers find themselves dealing with the Texas judicial system and Texas civil law. Because these claims tend to find their way to the courts, it is easier for victims of workplace injuries to seek relief since they are not fighting against government-supported employers, but instead, they are up against negligent employers who’ve failed to provide safe and secure workplaces. Nevertheless, a lawsuit against a non-subscriber employer is an extremely difficult undertaking.

Though an injured worker as a non-subscriber employee has more workplace rights than the others, it doesn’t mean they should try to represent themselves when pursuing legal action or settlement. The law and regulatory regime in place are far too complicated to understand for those who have no experience of it and who do not work with it on a daily basis, so it is necessary to secure the services of a non-subscriber attorney to help you navigate your way through the dangerous shoals of non-subscriber workplace injury law. The non-subscriber specialist attorneys at our Law Office can help you seek, negotiate, or win the full and fair compensation that is rightfully yours.

If your employer is a non-subscriber and not enrolled in workers’ comp, you can bring a personal injury claim to seek compensation for your injuries and losses for:

Lost wages while recuperating and recovering for your injuries while hospitalized or otherwise on leave due to doctor’s orders
Loss of future wages and earning potential due to your accident and long-term disability.
Reimbursement for medical bills and expenses.
Property loss due to the workplace incident
Pain, suffering, and emotional distress.
Texas law grants non-subscriber employers only one real defense against liability for their negligence, and this legal defense is known as proximate cause. In order to prove proximate cause, your employer must demonstrate that you are solely and wholly responsible for your workplace accident. After your worksite mishap, your employer’s legal defense team will immediately begin to build a case against you in order to prove that you were in fact the negligent party and relieve your employer of any liability. For instance, if you have injuries that resulted from crushing your hand, your employer will try to show that you should have been wearing work-gloves for protection and the accident is your fault alone. Our non-subscriber attorneys have the skill and experience to show a relationship between your blameless actions and any harm by demonstrating that your employer did not exercise due care in providing you the right safety training and equipment necessary for you to perform your job with the utmost care. We can also show that other third parties may be negligent in providing for workplace safety, and we will accordingly hold them accountable for their carelessness and recklessness.

In order to prove a non-subscriber liable for your workplace injury and loss, it can only be done by engaging in difficult and complex legal work in which only the most experienced personal injury or wrongful death attorneys can be successful. We know how to establish to a judge and jury that your employer was careless in providing a safe work environment and that your injury is a result of employer negligence, and that you are truly innocent. We are dedicated to aggressively aiding you in receiving the compensation you deserve, regardless if your employer subscribes to workers’ comp or not.

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In Many Cases, There Is Little Difference Between Contract and Full-time Employees

Many employers wrongly believe that if they hire contract employees, then they will not be responsible for them should they suffer workplace injuries and losses. They hold this belief because Texas law usually exempts contract employees from enjoying the complete rights that regular full-time employees enjoy, including protection from on-the-job accidents and mishaps. Be that as it may, the State of Texas does not clearly define or distinguish between the rights of contract and full-time employees. In order for you to know and understand your status and its resulting rights, you will need the services of a workers’ compensation accident attorney to help you confirm your position. Texas law is extremely clear on this one position: when it comes to determining responsibility in the workplace, the real work done with the employer defines your status and your rights.

Many fundamentals can establish an employer-employee relationship, and the most direct is a contract of employment. Or, another instance of this relationship is when an employee serves as an agent of the activity of his or her employer. For example, even if you don’t have a contract to work for an event company, yet you wear the uniform, drive the company truck, receive the company’s money and set up and take down the company’s inflatable slides and bounce houses, then you are a company employee, despite the nonexistence of an agreement.

In many instances, however, the distinction between an employee and a contractor is not so easy to make. In the below situations, we’ve listed a number of circumstances which may determine your relationship with your current employer:

If the employee in question works for a number of clients: If an electrician is working on a number of assignments for several clients, he is an electrical contractor. If he works on many projects for one client, he is an employee
If the employee in question uses and is responsible for his or her own tools and equipment, then he or she is a contractor; if he or she uses and is responsible for the employer’s tools and equipment for the employer’s work, then he or she is an employee.
If the employee in question is paid at the end of a project, then the employee is a contractor. If the employee is paid hourly or paid a salary, then the worker is an employee.
If the employee in question has his or her work supervised and inspected at various stages of completion, then the worker is an employee. If the employer is only concerned with the final product, the worker is a contractor.
If the employee in question has the ability to determine how much time is spent on a project, then the worker is a contractor. If the employee cannot determine the amount of work time spent on a particular task, then the worker is an employee.
If you are a worker for an agency, the rules for establishing the relationship may be related, but there are significant differences. The conditions are:

If the employee in question’s employer has the right to fire the employee at any time, the worker is considered an employee.
If the borrowed employee is responsible for supplying his or her own tools and/or equipment, then the worker is a contractor; if the employer supplies the tools and equipment for the job, then the worker is an employee.
If the borrowing employer cannot replace an employee with another employee at will, then the employee in question is a contractor.
If the borrowing employer has the employee in question for only a specified length in time, then the worker is a contract employee. If the time period is indeterminate, then the worker is an employee.
If the borrowing company uses an employee due to a very specific skill. For example, if an employer borrows a legal researcher to interpret a certain contract, then the worker is a contractor. If an employer borrows an employee to do work that almost anyone can do, then the worker is an employee.
If an employer is responsible for paying an employee’s Social Security and income taxes, then the worker in question is an employee; if the borrowing employer is not responsible for paying Social Security and income taxes, then the worker is a contractor.

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A Non-Subscriber Attorney Can Help You With Your Situation

Our Law Office attorneys can help you receive your full and fair compensation for your work-related injuries and losses. Whether your employer has workers’ compensation or not, we can help you receive compensation for your harms. We can also aid you in identifying the party or parties who may be financially liable for the injuries you’ve endured from your job-site mishap. If your employer does not carry worker’s comp, we can aid you in building a strong and substantial case against non-subscribers, and if your employer uses a legal defense team, we will battle them to the end to show your innocence and prove your employer’s negligence for your workplace accident injury and loss. Before talking to your employer’s insurance company and being possibly manipulated, coerced or otherwise persuaded to settle for compensation that is far from adequate for your needs; or before you decide to take on an aggressive, skilled and legal defense team on your own, contact the non-subscriber attorneys at our Law Offices to learn about your legal alternatives and the true value of your claim and potential compensation.

Our Texas non-subscriber workplace accident law firm has over twenty years of experience negotiating and litigating full and fair compensation for our clients; and we’ve taken on cases the less experienced lawyers refused to take on. We just dealt with an incident in which an employee suffered a job site accident where he had signed a contract defining him as a contract worker. More than six law firms argued it was not a good case to litigate. Our Law Office, though, took on the negligent employer and won for our client a settlement valued at over a million dollars.

Our non-subscriber attorneys have over two decades of experience in personal injury and wrongful death litigation. We have successfully taken on hundreds of workplace injury cases in Texas and throughout the United States. We have negotiated with or litigated against every single major insurer in the nation, and defense attorneys know and respect our reputation. They know we are dedicated, aggressive, and relentless when we fight to protect our clients’ rights and interests, and they are scared to take on our attorneys in legal action. We have a reputation as tough and fair negotiators for settlements, but we are more than willing to enter a court of law. We will do everything we can to get you fair and full compensation for your injuries and losses. Call us for a free legal consultation do discuss your settlement and legal alternatives.

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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 injury attorneys have over twenty years of experience handling cases involving worksite back and lifting injuries. If you’ve been injured while employed doing 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, then 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 then 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, yet 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 Workers’ 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 workers’ 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 workers’ comp cases, we are 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 workers 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, then certain necessary conditions required to form an employer-employee relationship for legitimate workers’ comp insurance claims is dissolved. It follows in this scenario that a contract worker who suffers an on-the-job back injury is not covered by workers’ 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 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.

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Our Law Office Can Help With Cases Involving Lifting Injuries

If you’ve suffered a workplace back or lifting injury, then 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 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 injuries 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. But should the case go to court, you should know that one of our work accident attorneys 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 Lawsuits
If your employer is not a Workers’ Compensation Insurance subscriber, you may pursue any of the following legal remedies:

Construction Accident Law Suit – This kind of lawsuit can help you recover:
Past and future medical expenses.
Lost wages from time spent recovering from injuries.
Compensation from lost earning capacity due to your injuries.
Compensation (damages) for your physical pain and mental anguish.

What if my employer thinks they are not liable because I was working alone and the accident was my fault?
Many construction companies may think that makes it a clear cut case in their favor, but the truth is, that even if you were working alone, your employer was responsible for providing you with the proper tools and safety training. Consider the following:

Did they provide you with proper training for lifting heavy objects, working high above the ground, or handling hazardous materials?
Did they provide you with proper safety equipment that was maintained and in good repair?
Did they fail to provide you with enough fellow employees to assist you in the task in which you were injured that the injury could have been prevented?

If the answer to any of these questions is NO, then your employer may still be liable for your injuries if they are a non-subscriber. Our experienced attorneys can trace back through the factors involved in your workplace accident and uncover any parties who may share liability for your injuries and help you assess which legal remedies are worthwhile for you to pursue.

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Subscriber vs. Non-Subscriber
The way your case is handled depends almost entirely on whether the construction company either purchased, or “subscribed” to, worker’s compensation, or chose not to pay for workers’ comp insurance, and is therefore a “non-subscriber.” There is a vast difference in the manner in which claims are handled between the two.

Subscribers
The State of Texas strongly encourages companies of all types to purchase workers’ compensation insurance in order to stem the tide of lawsuits involving injuries or death, lawsuits that further choke an already exceedingly over-burdened legal system. Thus, when an employer purchases workers’ comp, it’s getting more than just insurance – it’s buying lawsuit protection. The reason is simple; family members of those killed in construction accidents cannot sue a subscribing company unless gross negligence occurred. Workers’ comp is designed to compensate loved ones for the loss of a family member, however, a lot of times insurance companies will attempt to goad you into settling for an offer that doesn’t come close to compensating you for the tragedy you and your family have experienced.

Insurance providers are in business for one reason – to make money. They are not concerned with helping you and your family heal from your devastating loss. If there’s any way they can get you to accept less money, they will make more money. Hundreds of families of construction workers who die due to a workplace accident in Texas either see their claims flat-out denied or significantly under-cut, all in the name of making the insurance company more money.

Most insurance companies respect only negotiations with lawyers. If a representative of an insurance provider walks into a negotiating room and sees someone sitting at the table without legal help, he or she will probably laugh quietly, then celebrate later after you have settled for a ludicrously low amount of money. You simply must have an experienced lawyer on your side if you have any intention of getting fair restitution.

There are only two instances where family members of a loved one wrongfully killed in a construction accident can sue a subscribing company:

If the death occurred due to the gross negligence of the construction company.
When there may be more than one party in addition to the employer that may be to blame for the wrongful death. Other employees, other contractors, or independent third parties that provided malfunctioning equipment could be liable for either all or part of the death and a lawsuit may be filed against them as well.

A skilled wrongful death attorney is very familiar with examining all of the details surrounding a case and formulating a plan of attack to get the compensation you have coming. The attorneys at our Law Firm will immediately launch an investigation of the accident scene to ascertain what third parties may share responsibility and make them all pay dearly for your family’s tragic loss.

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Gross Negligence Defined
The only way you can sue a company that is a workers’ compensation subscriber it by proving its gross negligence led to the death of your family member. Instances such as the momentary lapse of focus or reason, or an isolated error, are considered standard negligence and are protected by workers’ comp. If either an employer or one of its employees habitually displays recklessness or carelessness in the performance of their duty to protect others, that is considered gross negligence. Say a fellow worker accidentally knocks a cinder block off the roof of a building and crushes an employee standing below. This is an example of standard negligence. But if the construction company habitually allows a construction site to pose a hazard due to debris constantly lying around, and other objects have repeatedly been knocked from the building, then that is gross negligence. The worksite’s foreman should have been reasonably able to anticipate the possibility that a fatal accident could have been a consequence of that hazardous environment.

One of our clients was the family member of a construction worker who died when his boss ordered him to work on a crane without a properly functioning safety harness. Not only did the worker’s harness malfunction and cause him to fall to his death, but the owner of the company also had the sheer audacity to race to a nearby hardware store, buy a new harness, and attach it to the corpse before the death was even reported. Because we undertook an investigation and interviewed other workers who were at the scene, we were able to expose the owner’s callous attempt at a cover-up.

In order for your family’s wrongful death lawsuit to be successful, you need to have an experienced attorney on your side who can strategize a rock-solid case that can meet the high standards necessary to prove gross negligence.

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Non-Subscribing Companies
Because a non-subscribing company did not purchase workers’ comp insurance, the only way to gain restitution is through a lawsuit. In this case, however, the plaintiff needs only prove the occurrence of standard negligence to win restitution, and standard negligence has a much lower standard of proof.

The State of Texas, in effect, punishes non-subscribers by making it easier for a plaintiff to win a wrongful death lawsuit. However, the litigation involved in such a case can be much more intricate and emphasizes, even more, your need to have an experienced attorney on your side. Not only must the plaintiffs in this kind of case prove their loved one’s death was due to the company’s standard negligence, but they must also prove the amount of compensation they are trying to obtain is fair and just.

Available Damages
The compensation associated with wrongful death damages include:

Medical and funeral expenses as a result of the construction fatality.
Financial support provided by the victim lost as a result of his or her death.
The mental and emotional trauma as a result of the family member’s death.
The consortium and love provided by the deceased that cannot be replaced.

Survival Damages
Restitution for survival damages include:

Medical expenses arising as a result of the construction site accident.
Salary lost while the victim would have been hospitalized, or salary that would have been lost by the victim because of long-term disabling injuries caused by the accident.
Mental and emotional turmoil that the deceased would have experienced had he or she survived.
The physical pain and suffering experienced by the deceased.

Hurdles in Obtaining Wrongful Death Case Compensation
Non-subscribing companies have very few options in trying to avoid paying a construction wrongful death claim, because, as stated above, the State of Texas designed workers’ compensation laws to try and reduce the number of lawsuits, and thus strongly encourage companies to subscribe. Even a non-subscriber has a couple of tools it can try to utilize to defeat a wrongful death claim. These are described in detail below.

Sole Proximate Cause
This only true defense a non-subscriber can use to avoid paying a claim is the Sole Proximate Cause defense – that the deceased employee was 100 percent responsible for his or her own death. The only way an employer can successfully prove this defense is by making your family out to be a habitually incompetent employee who was negligent on a regular basis. If successful in proving Sole Proximate Cause, the employer will be able to keep from paying your family the compensation that you deserve.

While it’s true the company did not see fit to pay for workers’ comp insurance, you can guarantee that company will open its checkbook and pay big money to a defense lawyer who is adept at dragging deceased construction workers through the mud. It is imperative you have an experienced and effective attorney by your side to defeat those lowdown tactics and protect your loved one’s reputation.

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The Employer/Employee Relationship

A few employers will try and skate the rules by claiming the deceased worker was never really a “true employee,” but a contractor. And in Texas, contractors are solely responsible for their own safety in the workplace. But merely making that claim does not mean that Texas law will view that worker as a contractor. Attorneys with our Law Office are very adept at proving that an employer/employee relationship existed by examining pay stubs and contracts and interviewing fellow workers in order to satisfy one of the several standards that prove an employer/employee relationship. These include:

The employer held back Social Security or taxes from the worker’s paycheck.
The employer was responsible for providing the equipment necessary for the worker to perform his or her job.
The worker was expected to follow a set schedule established by the employer.
Your family member either signed a document or performed a task, that limited his or her rights while working for that company. For example, he or she signed a document that stated he or she agreed to comply with an employee handbook or took a drug test.
The worker was not hired for an isolated, single job, but rather for an extended, undetermined amount of time.
Your loved one was paid via salary or hourly wage instead of job-by-job.

What Can You Do?
The first thing NOT to do is to ever, ever give up your right to sue by signing any sort of admission of your family member’s liability for the accident in exchange for a woefully inadequate settlement.

Next, you must act immediately to find a lawyer, or at least as soon as you can. It can be very difficult, and require a lot of proof, to protect the reputation of your deceased loved one.

Every minute you wait to hire an attorney is every minute that evidence disappears – witnesses’ memories become cloudy, and the physical characteristics of the accident scene itself begin to alter. The longer you wait to seek legal help, the more difficult time you’ll have unearthing the evidence that is crucial to prevailing in your case. A detailed investigation needs to immediately be launched; after all, the construction company, insurance provider, and defense lawyers will already be working for the other side. You need a tenacious and passionate attorney working on your side to match them stride for stride.

The wrongful death attorneys at our Law Office have helped the devastated families of construction fatality victims for two decades. We’ve won hundreds of wrongful death cases that resulted in millions of dollars in judgments for our clients. When hired, we will launch an immediate investigation into the circumstances surrounding your family member’s death and gather the evidence you will need to prove your case. We will not hesitate to pursue legal action against any liable third parties if necessary in order to ensure all of those responsible for the death of your loved one are held accountable. Our attorneys have either negotiated settlements with, or won lawsuits against, every major insurance company in the United States, so their high-powered operatives are well aware of our courtroom acumen. As a result, there are many times an insurer will choose to make our clients a reasonable settlement offer rather than risk losing a much larger amount of money in a lawsuit. And if they choose not to engage in negotiations, we’ll be well prepared to face them in court and make them regret that decision. If you have lost a family member due to a fatal construction accident, call our Law Office as soon as you can for a free and confidential consultation with an experienced wrongful death attorney and find out how we can help you get the justice and fair restitution your family deserves.

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