Beverly, MA Construction Accident Lawyer
Construction sites are dangerous places where employees and passersby might be injured by negligence or recklessness, entitling them to compensatory damages.
Injuries on construction sites primarily occur because of falls, explosions, and auto accidents, though many more incidents might injure workers or passersby. These accidents and others might cause expensive economic damages for victims, which our lawyers can track throughout their claims. Intangible damages, available only from lawsuits and not Workers’ Compensation, cover victims’ pain and suffering, which might be considerable after suffering permanent, disfiguring, or painful injuries. Immediately after an accident, we can confirm your path to recovery and start preparing your case so you get compensation as soon as possible.
For a free case assessment from our construction accident lawyers, call the Law Office of John J. Sheehan now at (617) 925-6407.
Examples of Construction Accidents and Injuries in Beverly, MA
Various accidents could happen on any construction site, such as injuries from falls, explosions, and auto accidents. Our lawyers can review the circumstances of your recent incident to confirm whether you can file a lawsuit and recover full compensation for all damages.
Falls
Falls, whether from high heights or standing, are common on construction sites and often happen because of a lack of safety equipment or messy work sites. For example, workers on scaffolding might fall because their harnesses fail or the scaffolding itself collapses, which might happen if it is not properly constructed or regularly inspected for safety.
Falls from any height pose the risk of fatal or traumatic head injuries, especially on construction sites, where victims might fall onto hard ground like concrete or asphalt. There is also the risk of spinal cord injuries during falls, which might lead to full or partial paralysis, affecting a victim’s quality of life and preventing them from returning to the same earning capacity.
Explosions
Defective machinery or power tools might cause explosions on construction sites. Faulty or exposed wiring might also cause electrical fires. The blast from an initial explosion might cause severe injuries, such as limb loss, internal organ damage, traumatic brain injuries, and disfiguring burn injuries. These injuries are not only physically painful but often emotionally difficult to deal with, causing victims to incur non-economic damages as well as expensive medical bills.
When explosions happen because of defective machinery, the negligent manufacturer may be liable, enabling our construction accident lawyers to pursue a third-party work injury claim against them. This would open the door to additional damages unavailable in Workers’ Compensation claims, like non-economic damages for emotional distress.
Auto Accidents
Auto accidents also happen relatively frequently and might involve drivers passing by roadside construction sites or vehicles on construction sites, like excavators, forklifts, cranes, and bulldozers. If a negligent driver ran into a roadside construction site, injuring you in the process, you may be able to file a lawsuit against them. Our lawyers will compare your injuries and damages to Massachusetts’s serious injury threshold under Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 231, § 6D to confirm this is true in your case. Your case would unfold as a typical car accident claim, meaning your personal injury protection insurance would apply unless your injuries or medical damages are great enough.
Proving Your Financial and Intangible Losses from a Beverly, MA Construction Accident
To prove victims’ losses from accidents, our lawyers will organize evidence of damages, like medical bills, proof of income, and testimony from mental health experts confirming their pain and suffering.
Financial Losses
Your financial losses are any concrete bills or expenses you have incurred directly because of a construction accident. If you cannot return to work for the foreseeable future, those lost damages would be compensable. Since your inability to work and earn income is directly caused by injuries sustained in the accident, the at-fault party should be liable.
Injured workers who only file Workers’ Compensation claims receive a portion of their lost income but not all of it. For many victims, filing third-party claims is paramount so our attorneys can investigate whether machinery manufacturers or other parties, but not your employer, were negligent and contributed to an accident.
Lawsuits and Workers’ Compensation claims should cover all reasonable and necessary medical damages associated with a construction accident injury. For this to happen, victims must present evidence of their medical expenses, which requires careful organization of all hospital bills and invoices they get throughout their treatment.
Intangible Losses
Again, intangible damages are not recoverable in Workers’ Compensation cases, so confirming if you can file a lawsuit against a negligent party other than your employer is crucial, particularly if your injuries are permanent or especially severe. To prove your pain and suffering in a third-party construction accident lawsuit, our lawyers may use several tactics, including getting mental health experts to offer supporting statements. These experts can assess you during your physical recovery and document the emotional distress, anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder you are experiencing. Quantifying non-economic damages requires the use of complicated calculation methods, which our lawyers can employ after confirming your diagnosis and anticipated physical recovery timeline.
Underestimating the value of your non-economic damages could leave you uncompensated for all losses, so our attorneys will evaluate settlement offers carefully to ensure they cover your intangible damages.
Not all construction accident victims are workers. Passersby struck by falling objects or otherwise injured because of negligence on construction sites can pursue compensation for all damages, including non-economic losses. While employees cannot file lawsuits against negligent construction sites and instead must file third-party injury claims to get full compensation, passersby are not bound by Workers’ Compensation and can sue, provided they do so within three years, according to Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 260, § 2A.
Call Us Today for Help with Your Compensation Case in Beverly, MA
For a free case review from the Law Office of John J. Sheehan, call our construction accident lawyers at (617) 925-6407.
