Three Reasons You May Need An Attorney After An Industrial Work Injury
by Becky Freeman
If you get hurt on the job, you cannot just sue your employer for negligence. This is something that many people do not understand, it is a trade-off between maximum compensation for work-related injuries and clogging up our court system. This is the reason workers' compensation insurance exists. The initial law was passed by Congress but is expressed in specific laws at the state level. However, even without suing your employer, there are reasons you may still need an attorney when you've been injured on the job. The following are three of them.
You may be denied workers' compensation
Just because workers' compensation exists, does not mean you will get it. When too many claims are made on an employer's insurance, premiums are sure to rise. There are safety protocols that can be implemented to keep the number of claims low, but an employer may still challenge a claim or the insurance company may just reject the claim outright. When this happens, you need to contact an attorney with workers' compensation experience. They can listen to your case and the circumstances of your injury. They can then determine if there's a strategy forward that you can take to receive your benefits.
You may have a third-party claim against another company
Although you can't sue your employer, even in the case of negligence, it is still possible to sue a third party for your injury. This is in addition to workers' compensation. This is often seen in the case of defective equipment that your employer was using. An attorney may be able to demonstrate that this equipment was defective and that it was the responsibility of the company that manufactured it. Perhaps it was a problem with the design or a problem with the quality of manufacturing. If it weren't for the company that built this piece of equipment, you would not have been injured.
You may have a third-party claim against the driver of another car
Another example of a third-party claim is a car accident. If you are driving, either a company vehicle or your own, in a work-related capacity, while on company time, you may have a case against the driver. Although your injuries will be covered by workers' compensation, if the accident was the other person's fault, you may be able to sue them as a third party for your work-related injury.
Although you can't sue your employer for a work-related injury, you can still be denied workers' compensation, so you may still need an attorney for this. In addition, you can still sue third parties for negligence. This may include equipment used on the job, or the driver of another car when the traffic accident was their fault.
Reach out to an industrial accident law firm to learn more.
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About Me
Hello and welcome, I'm Winfred Paulo. I have a passion for civil court cases of all kinds. Some time back, I ended up in the thick of a civil case after a lengthy dispute with my neighbor. The dispute went on for years and ended badly with an incident that landed us both in court. We had to prove our side of the case in an effort to obtain a positive outcome and recoup our losses. Unfortunately, I lost the case due to a lack of evidence. Since then, I've maintain a strong interest in civil cases and their proceedings. I will share information about civil cases on this site to help others understand these proceedings better. I may talk about legal terms, and expected outcomes for each case type. I hope you visit often to learn more. Thanks for stopping by my website.