- Slip-and-falls, trip-and-falls and falls from heights.
- Trenches caving in.
- Walls collapsing.
- Ladder and scaffolding accidents.
- Being crushed by heavy equipment.
- Electrical accidents.
- Being hit by construction vehicles.
Third Party Liability
The general rule is that workers’ compensation benefits are an injured workers’ sole and exclusive remedy for injuries suffered at his or her job. An exception to that rule is often seen in the context of construction accidents when an employee of one company is injured as a result of the negligence of an employee of another company. For example, an employee of Eel Electric might be seriously injured as a result of the negligence of an employee of Drysdale Drywall when both are at the same job site. In that case, the electrician isn’t limited solely to workers’ compensation benefits. Arizona law allows the filing of a personal injury lawsuit too. The lawsuit can even be filed at the same time that that the employee is receiving workers’ compensation benefits. That exception is known as third party liability.
The Advantage of Third Party Liability
Workers’ compensation benefits are limited. Three different types of benefits are covered. Those follow:
- Reasonable and necessary medical expenses in connection with the accident.
- Temporary total disability payments for lost earnings while the employee can’t work and is recovering from their injuries.
- A lump sum payment for any permanent partial disability.
Here is What Workers’ Compensation Doesn’t Cover
What comes to issue with workers’ compensation benefits is that they don’t cover what are known as non-economic damages. Those might consist of damages like pain and suffering, diminished quality of life or loss of consortium. Along with the same damages that workers’ compensation provides for, Arizona law allows these types of damages to be considered in a personal injury lawsuit. The bottom line is that a client’s net proceeds might be significantly higher in a personal injury lawsuit rather than in a workers’ compensation claim.
Contact our personal injury law offices right away if you were injured while at work as a result of the carelessness and negligence of a third party. Our objective is to maximize any proceeds that you might derive by a settlement or award.