BirminghamConstruction Site Accident Lawyer  

Dangerous accidents on construction sites are all too common, many times leading to serious injuries. Unfortunately, workers’ compensation insurance does not always cover the full range of damages and expenses an injured worker may face. If you have been involved in a construction site accident in the Birmingham area, you need a skilled attorney who has experience handling the complex third-party claims that can arise from such accidents.

A Birmingham construction site accident lawyer could provide legal representation and pursue financial compensation for your injuries and help you file the right kind of claim for damages. They could help you determine if you have a third-party claim against the construction site owner or a manufacturer of defective equipment, chemical manufacturer, or provider of protective clothing. Most of these construction site accidents must be litigated in State or Federal Court to fully advance and defend the rights of the injured worker. En Español.

Common Accidents on Construction Sites

Construction sites can be extremely dangerous, rife with with toxic chemicals, heavy equipment, power tools, and hazardous materials and treacherous situations. The best training and equipment cannot protect a construction worker from every risk. Even the most experienced worker can be subject to equipment failures, weather-created hazards, and other construction accidents.

Construction workers often have jobs requiring they work at great heights or on unstable surfaces. Some typical construction site accidents include falls from roofs, scaffolding, ladders, derricks, and other construction equipment; woodworking and welding accidents; electric shock; harm from faulty or poorly maintained tools; fires and explosions; motor vehicle collisions; and forklift and other heavy equipment accidents.

Bystanders can also be injured by falling debris, trip hazards, or other unexpected dangers, and they may also have a right to compensation. Regardless of the specific cause, construction site accidents can lead to many types of injuries, including broken bones, joint injuries and sprains, burns, permanent disability, and death.

A Birmingham construction site accident attorney could help assess the injured party’s damages and work to identify the responsible individual or entities involved in the accident.

Third-Party Lawsuits

Workers’ compensation benefits probably will not cover all the costs related to a construction site accident, and an employer may not be totally or at all responsible for an injured worker’s accident. Parties other than the injured worker’s employer may be at fault. For example, an accident might be caused by the negligence of a subcontractor or other party at the construction site. If a defectively designed or manufactured piece of equipment or material hurts a worker, the manufacturer may be liable for the worker’s damages.

Under theories of negligence or product liability, injured workers may be able to bring a third-party claim against one or more parties for damages sustained from their injuries, including lost earnings, medical expenses, and pain and suffering.

The unique and complicated interplay among Alabama’s personal injury, product liability, and workers’ compensation laws in seeking damages from a construction site accident, can make a Birmingham construction site accident attorney particularly valuable in third-party claims.

Fatal Construction Site Accidents

Even when every worker, supervisor, and visitor on a construction site adheres to safety rules and wears appropriate protective gear, deadly accidents are all too common in this inherently dangerous industry. To make matters worse, some fatal accidents that involve construction site workers stem from negligence by a third party rather than a directly work-related incident, which can significantly complicate recovery efforts.

Fortunately, it is possible to file separate wrongful death lawsuits against negligent contractors, suppliers, and other third parties following fatal construction site accidents in Birmingham. A knowledgeable and compassionate construction accident lawyer could walk you through your legal options during a confidential consultation, and once retained, they could work tirelessly to pursue financial restitution on behalf of a deceased individual’s estate.

Proving Fault for a Fatal Construction Site Accident

Third-party litigation following construction site accidents generally follows the same rules that apply to personal injury litigation against an individual. In practice, this means that in order to recover compensation after a construction site accident in Birmingham that results in someone’s death, the party pursuing litigation must be able to prove that a third party’s negligence directly caused the accident in question, and that the deceased individual would have had grounds to file suit themselves had they survived their injuries.

Under state civil law, negligence has four components that all must be present for a defendant in a civil claim to be found liable for damages:

• A duty to act reasonably and safely in the interest of protecting others from harm
• A reckless or careless action that constitutes a breach of that duty
• A causal relationship between the breach of duty and the accident in question
• Compensable losses suffered by the plaintiff(s)

Assistance from dedicated legal counsel is often essential to demonstrating that all these elements apply to a particular case, as this process can require a great deal of evidence in various forms.

What Damages Could Family Members Recover?

Unfortunately, Alabama diverges significantly from most other states in not allowing family members of a fatal construction site accident victim in Birmingham to file suit on their loved one’s behalf. Instead, only a personal representative of the decedent’s estate may pursue such a claim, and they may only recover damages on behalf of the estate. The only option surviving family members have for seeking financial restitution following a wrongful death is demanding that a court hold the defendant(s) liable for punitive damages.

Rather than compensating family members for specific losses, punitive damages are meant solely to punish defendants for especially egregious conduct and to discourage other individuals from engaging in similar actions in the future. To convince a court to hold a third-party contractor or company liable for punitive damages in the wake of a fatal construction site accident, surviving family members must present clear and convincing evidence of deliberate oppression, fraud, wantonness, or malice.