Accidents on construction sites can result in serious injuries and endanger the lives of workers, nearby pedestrians, and site visitors. Construction sites are often fraught with potential safety threats, from powerful machinery to unsecured equipment and hazardous chemicals.
Injured parties in construction site accidents have the right to recover compensation for their losses, such as medical bills and lost wages. To protect your right to pursue a workers’ compensation claim or a construction site accident lawsuit, you should seek out the counsel of a personal injury attorney with experience negotiating these types of claims. A West Palm Beach construction site accident lawyer is ready to help.
At Keller, Melchiorre & Walsh, we understand that it can be intimidating to consider filing a claim for compensation while you recover from a construction site accident. That is why injured West Palm Beach clients have turned to KMW Legal for years to negotiate their construction site accident claims.
Our years of helping clients have taught us that construction site accidents can quickly devolve into a complicated process that demands an expert’s help. With our team by your side, you can feel confident in taking on an insurance company that wrongfully denied your workers’ compensation claim or pressured you to accept an inadequate settlement offer.
We will not hesitate to take your claim to trial if the insurance company refuses to pay out what we believe you deserve for your losses. Contact us at your convenience to request a free strategy session with our legal team. We will evaluate your injuries in the context of your lifestyle, provide you with valuable insight, and help you get your life back on track after a construction site accident.
While fall injuries are considered the most deadly type of construction site accident by the CDC, construction workers and anyone in the vicinity of a job site face a myriad of other threats. Due to the nature of construction work, there are often risks like exposed electrical wires, debris in walkways, slick surfaces, and jobs that require working from elevated platforms. Construction work can also involve the use of hazardous substances, which can be incredibly toxic or corrosive.
When you factor in the chaos to the inherent threats of a construction site, it becomes clear how a person might miss a warning to dodge falling debris or the horn of a dump truck in reverse, resulting in a serious struck-by or caught-in-between accident, respectively. Workers who are busy carrying heavy lumber or pedestrians in a hurry may also miss hazards like spilled substances, resulting in serious slip-and-fall accidents.
Construction workers are expected to abide by certain industry guidelines to protect themselves and the public from injury, such as wearing protective gear and securing materials so they do not become tripping hazards. When caution is neglected, and a construction site accident occurs, the resulting injuries can jeopardize the financial, physical, and emotional well-being of the victims for years to come, and you need a West Palm Beach attorney.
Opportunities for serious injuries abound on construction sites. With the presence of heavy machinery, sharp tools, and a high-pressure environment, injuries are all too common. Something as simple as dropping a heavy box on your foot, tripping over a loose wire, or being struck by a piece of lumber may result in a trip to the emergency room for treatment and thousands of dollars in medical bills.
For example, you may have tripped on a raised step and sustained a compound fracture to your leg. You may be forced to miss weeks of work from a physically demanding job, rely on a wheelchair, attend therapy, or deal with complications from surgery.
Even after treatment, your ability to go for a morning jog, climb stairs, or perform your job may be permanently impaired. You need to carefully consider the impact that your injury will have on your ability to provide for yourself and your family in the immediate future, as well as in the long term.
After sustaining a construction site injury, prioritize seeking medical attention and report your injuries as soon as it’s possible for you to do so. Seeking prompt medical treatment shows that you attempted to mitigate your potential damages, which prevents insurance companies from claiming you exaggerated your injuries to falsely inflate the value of your claim. Your construction site accident lawyer in West Palm Beach will be able to leverage your medical records and reports to support your claim for damages.
If you have been injured while working on a construction site, it is your prerogative to seek workers’ compensation. Unlike an injury lawsuit, workers’ compensation only pays for medical bills and lost wages. You are still able to recover these costs even if the accident was completely your fault, as long as you were working within the scope of your job.
There are several conditions that need to be met in order to be considered eligible for compensation, such as a verified report of the accident being filed within 30 days. A construction site accident lawyer in West Palm Beach will be able to help you keep track of critical deadlines and ensure that your rights are being upheld.
In rare cases, you may be able to file a secondary lawsuit to make up for damages that are not covered in workers’ compensation claims, such as compensation for pain and suffering or loss of quality of life. Construction site accident lawsuits are more often brought by parties like pedestrians or invitees to the job site.
While it takes more work to recover damages compared to a workers’ compensation claim, the potential reward is greater. Construction accident lawsuits depend on the plaintiff and their West Palm Beach attorney being able to establish that another party’s negligence is responsible for their injuries and damages in order to recover compensation. The statute of limitations for claims based on an act of negligence is 4 years or 2 years in cases of wrongful death.
Victims should be aware that determining liability in construction site accident lawsuits may not be as straightforward as a case of seeking damages from the driver of the forklift who ran over your foot. For example, if the manufacturer of the forklift produced brakes that were known to be faulty, they may shoulder a significant portion of the liability and, by extension, responsible for your compensation.
Regardless of whether you were injured on a construction site as an employee, contractor, pedestrian, or visitor, seeking practiced legal representation can mean the difference between recovering the full value of your damages and having to take a subpar settlement.
Insurance companies may reject your workers’ compensation claim or offer a paltry sum. Construction site accident lawyers in West Palm Beach are trained to examine the case from all angles to thoroughly ascertain the root of the negligence and provide evidence of the impact your injuries have had on your life.
At KMW Legal, we will work to ensure that your settlement or benefits are not diminished by an insurance company looking to avoid paying out your workers’ compensation claim or acknowledging their policyholder’s liability.
After being severely injured in a construction site accident, you cannot risk choosing a West Palm Beach lawyer who is unwilling or unable to succeed in the courtroom. KMW Legal has over thirty years of combined experience handling complex construction site accident lawsuits, in addition to a background in trial law.
Insurance companies for the construction company or other defendant parties will typically want to avoid the hassle and exposure of a trial. They will often be more willing to negotiate if they believe the plaintiff’s lawyer is actually capable of escalating the construction site accident lawsuit. With KMW Legal by your side, your claim will be taken seriously.
Our clients expect outstanding service, and we consistently deliver in the form of maximum compensation. KMW Legal will review medical records, draft statements for insurance companies, ward off bill collectors, coordinate and translate paperwork, and negotiate for a fair settlement that recognizes the scope for past and future losses.
At 117,415 and growing, West Palm Beach is a coastal city located north of Boca Raton in Palm Beach County. It boasts easy beach access, a rich history, and an admired arts scene. KMW Legal has spent the last decade attuning ourselves to the needs of injured construction accident victims in order to better serve our West Palm Beach clients.
We have successfully relied on our methodical and relentless approach to recover maximum compensation for our clients who were injured in construction site accidents in West Palm Beach. KMW Legal has earned recognition from our peers for our efforts, including our own Paul Walsh’s award for being one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in the U.S.
A construction site accident can upend your life in an instant, burdening you with medical debt, compromising your ability to work, and inflicting stress on your mental health. To give your claim the best chance of a successful outcome, you should hire a construction site lawyer who is prepared to combat the tactics insurance companies may use to diminish a workers’ compensation claim or a personal injury lawsuit.
KMW Legal’s legal credentials extend beyond our impressive track record of results. We have been bestowed with numerous prestigious awards, but the opinions that we value most highly are those of our clients. They have helped us build a word-of-mouth reputation that has allowed us to expand our offices to both coasts.
At Keller, Melchiorre & Walsh, our clients are the priority. Reach out to our West Palm Beach construction site accident lawyers today to schedule a no-cost, no-commitment strategy session to start the process of recovering your damages. KMW Legal looks forward to advocating on your behalf to help you restore your losses after a construction site accident.
