Jersey City Scaffold Accident Lawyer

What’s more consistent in New Jersey than construction? While the constant development may be a bane to traffic and residents, it is a source of regular work for those professionals who’re good at their jobs. Unfortunately, there are contractors and subcontractors who choose to put experienced pros at risk, either due to their own negligence or personal choice.

If you walk off a construction site as the victim of a scaffold accident, you have a few paths to compensation available to you. Morelli Law Firm’s scaffold accident lawyers in Jersey City can talk you through the basics of a worker’s compensation claim and help you decide when it may be in your best interest to pursue a personal injury claim instead.

Understanding Scaffold Accidents

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration establishes its expectations for construction sites and related high-risk areas that must be upheld. Unfortunately, subcontractors or even your direct supervisors may neglect those expectations to reduce a project’s runtime or pad their budgets. 

If you fall victim to a scaffold accident, you can likely blame someone else’s negligence for your resulting injuries. Today’s scaffold accidents most often involve:

• Missing or inappropriately-installed safety features
• Neglected scaffold training
• Negligent supervision or scaffold maintenance
• Defective construction equipment or improper scaffold construction
• A lack of appropriate scaffold safety gear

Any scaffold accident that involves these forms of negligence can see a construction site manager or plot owner held accountable for on-the-job negligence. You, in turn, may be entitled to financial support as you recover from your scaffold accident injuries.

Scaffold Accidents May Entitle You to Worker’s Compensation

Your right to worker’s compensation hinges on whether or not your employer invested in worker’s compensation prior to your accident. If your employer doesn’t have the insurance to help you recover from a work-related accident, you don’t have to go through the process of filing a worker’s compensation claim.

Unfortunately, some employers may also attempt to deny independent contractors the right to workers’ compensation. If you operate on a 1099, your employer or client may claim that you’re not actually their employer and thus are unable to file for financial support.

Should your employer have insurance and recognize your employee status, you can work with workers’ compensation attorneys to file for economic damages through your employer’s provider. This coverage should help you contend with your post-accident medical bills and lost wages.

Let’s Discuss Your Right to Third-Party Claims After a Scaffold Accident

Third-party claims in workers’ compensation cases allow you to file both a workers’ compensation claim and a personal injury claim. Your workers’ compensation claim can go through your employer’s insurance, while your personal injury claim goes through civil court.

That said, you can only file a third-party claim if you believe that a subcontractor, plot owner, or non-employer adjacent party’s negligence resulted in your scaffold accident. You can work with a scaffold accident attorney in Jersey City to assess your circumstances and determine your right to this dual action.

When to File a Scaffold Accident Claim

If your employer doesn’t offer workers’ compensation or otherwise denies your right to a claim, don’t panic. There are other routes to compensation available to you. You can, for example, file a personal injury claim against an offending employer or client. Your personal injury claim allows you to secure damages greater than or equivalent to the value of your accident’s losses.

You can specifically work with Jersey City scaffold injury lawyers to determine how best to compose a civil complaint brought against your client or a related party. At the end of the day, your complaint should detail:

• What duty of care do you believe you were owed at the time of your accident
• What negligence you believed contributed to your accident
• What evidence do you have of the aforementioned duty and negligence
• The total value of your accident’s losses and evidence thereof

While you may have the opportunity to expand upon this information if your case moves forward, you need to include the basis for your argument in your initial claim. This way, a court can more accurately assess your circumstances before deciding whether or not you should have the right to summon a liable party.

What Damages to Request in a Scaffold Accident Claim

You have the right to request economic and non-economic damages when filing a scaffold accident claim. Comparatively, you may only file for economic damages when pursuing a workers’ compensation claim.

The economic and non-economic damages your scaffold accident may entitle you to can include:

• Emotional distress
• Mental anguish
• Pain and suffering
• Medical expenses
• Property damage
• Lost wages

If a loved one endures a scaffold accident and can no longer represent themselves or dies due to their injuries, certain parties may pursue a personal injury case on their behalf. The pursuit of fatal scaffold accident damages may entitle a loved one’s remaining family to wrongful death damages, including compensation for loss of consortium or companionship.

File Your Personal Injury Claim Within New Jersey’s Statute of Limitations

Once you’ve estimated the total value of your scaffold accident’s damages and brought forward evidence of related negligence, it’s time to file your claim. You must do so within New Jersey’s statute of limitations if you want your case to move forward. Cases filed outside of this deadline may get turned away without consideration.

New Jersey Statutes section 2A:14-2 caps your right to a civil case at two years. This means you have no more than two years to investigate your scaffold accident’s negligence. Fortunately, a scaffold accident attorney in Jersey City, NJ, can pursue information about your case while you focus on recovering from your injuries and going back to work.

Let’s Fight for the Compensation You Deserve

Scaffold accidents can entitle you to compensation, but where does your fight begin? Whether you need assistance filing a workers’ compensation claim or want to take your case to court, let Morelli Law Firm help you along the way. Our scaffold accident lawyers in Jersey City, NJ, are ready to file a personal injury claim on your behalf.

Let’s talk over the details of your accident in a case consultation today. You can contact us by phone or online form to request your case evaluation. We’re prepared to fight for your right to the settlement you need to restore your pre-accident quality of life.