Have you been the victim of a worksite or construction accident in Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee or Mississippi? Although most people are familiar with the concept of workers compensation insurance, which is designed to compensate workers who are injured on the job, workers compensation is not the only remedy available to compensate those who are injured on a worksite. Under normal circumstances, if an employee is injured at work, workers’ compensation insurance will cover the injured party’s medical bills, medications, transportation costs, and other reasonable out-of-pocket expenses as well as a certain proportion of the employee’s lost wages. If you are non-employees, workers compensation laws do not cover your injuries on a worksite and you would instead have a personal injury claim against the owner and/or operator of the work site, depending on the circumstances. In addition, if your injuries were caused by defective equipment, a subcontractor or some other negligence, a third party may also be at fault. This would entitle the individual to recover any financial losses incurred as a result of the worksite incident, including any lost wages, medical bills, and pain and suffering the victim’s injuries caused him or her.
Common Injuries That Are Suffered by Non-Employees on a Worksite
Unlike employees of a business, for non-employees who are injured on a worksite, their recourse would be against the owner and/or operator of the worksite by means of a personal injury claim. Common scenarios in which non-employees are injured on worksites include slip and fall accidents, motor vehicle accidents and falling debris. For example, a pedestrian may be walking by a construction site and is struck by falling debris from a negligently maintained piece of scaffolding on a worksite. Another common worksite accident occurs when someone who may happen to visit a worksite is injured by slipping and falling on a foreign substance after it has rained. Finally, a pedestrian may be walking by a worksite and may be struck by an automobile that is backing out of the worksite without looking, knocking the pedestrian down and causing him or her to suffer injuries. These are just some of the common scenarios in which non-employees visiting a worksite may be injured, but is by no means an exclusive list.
Third Party Claims
In addition, sometimes a worker or other party can be injured due to the negligence of a third party other than the primary contractor or developer. For instance, a piece of defective equipment may collapse, a careless subcontractor may negligently install scaffolding that collapses, or some other problem may occur that gives rise to a claim against a third party in connection with their negligence on a worksite. This could result in an employee or other individual on the worksite having a legal claim, such as negligence or product liability, against the subcontractor or other person or entity that may be responsible for injuries suffered on a worksite. If you are injured on the worksite, contact Schwed, Adams & McGinley and our experienced personal injury attorneys will assess your situation and determine who the appropriate party that should be held responsible for your injuries is.
Damages Available in Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi for Worksite Accidents Involving Non-Employees
If you have been injured in a worksite accident, you are entitled to recover damages commensurate with whatever losses you suffered as a result of the accident. This includes any medical bills relating to treatment you were forced to undergo as a result of your injuries suffered in a worksite accident, any pain and suffering you may have suffered as a result of those injuries, and any loss of income you were forced to forego as a result of your injury or injuries. In Tennessee any award for pain and suffering would be capped at $750,000, unless you suffered catastrophic injuries, in which case you could recover up to $1,000,000. In Mississippi, you would be entitled to recover up to $1,000,000 in non-economic damages, including pain and suffering. There would be no caps on the amount of pain and suffering that could be recovered in a personal injury action involving a worksite incident in Florida or Arkansas under either state’s respective laws.
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