When you go to work, you want to know that your team members, supervisor, and landowner have your best interests at heart. If you have to step onto dangerous scaffolding, you also want to know that you have the safety equipment and training to keep yourself safe. Unfortunately, there are too many parties who can neglect your right to safety to save a buck.
Fortunately, you have a right to action in the face of dangerous workplace negligence. If you suffer a scaffold accident or lost a loved one to a scaffold accident, you can work with a scaffold accident lawyer in Paterson, NJ, to fight for compensation. Morelli Law Firm can help you explore the interplay between your case, workers’ compensation, and your right to support.
Do You Need a Paterson Scaffold Accident Attorney on Your Side?
Workplace injuries have a tendency to throw a spanner into the legal process. If you or a loved one gets injured at work in New Jersey, you arguably have the right to workers’ compensation. However, certain parties can make an effort to deny you that right or otherwise limit the support you can get from workers’ compensation.
How, then, are you supposed to proceed? If your workers’ compensation claim goes through, how can you react if your coverage doesn’t cover the full extent of your injuries?
An experienced Paterson, NJ, scaffolding injury lawyer can help you navigate this legal miasma. While you have the right to untangle this web of financial opportunities and limitations yourself, attorneys who understand New Jersey law and have worked on cases like yours can cut the Gordian knot and get you the support you need with half of the hassle.
Taking Action After a Scaffolding Accident
There are several avenues that injured construction workers can take when fighting for post-accident compensation. What’s more, many of these avenues overlap with one another. Instead of letting this swath of opportunities overwhelm you, talk to an attorney about the nature of your accident and the support you want.
Once our attorneys begin investigating your case, we can determine which opportunities, or what combinations thereof, may best help you secure justice.
Workers’ Compensation Claims
New Jersey law requires employers to provide their employees with workers’ compensation insurance or the opportunity to self-insure. This should mean that you have the right to file for workers’ compensation after a scaffold accident, right? Yes, but no. While you can file for support, some employers may reject your claim or refuse to help facilitate your recovery.
Others may misrepresent your employment to avoid compensating you for your losses. New Jersey requires its employers to provide workers’ compensation, after all, but not clients. If you work as an independent contractor or if an employer misclassifies you as such, the state’s workers’ compensation requirement may not protect you from your accident’s losses.
Let’s say, though, that everything works out in your favor. You file a workers’ compensation claim, your employer approves it, and you get your post-accident support. That support only covers your accident’s economic expenses. This means you can count on workers’ compensation to address your medical bills and lost wages but little else.
All this to say, workers’ compensation claims can help you financially recover from a scaffolding accident. However, some employees, independent contractors, and related parties may find this support lacking.
Personal Injury Claims
If an employer misclassifies your employment or denies you a workers’ compensation claim, you have the right to bring a personal injury claim against that party.
Scaffold accident attorneys in Paterson, NJ, can help you investigate the negligence that led to your accident. We can then calculate the value of your economic and non-economic damages to find an estimated sum of your total possible compensation. You can choose to negotiate for a settlement or go to court upon submitting your claim to a civil judge.
Personal injury claims also come in handy if you believe that a third party, like a subcontractor or landowner, caused your accident. In some cases, you can file a personal injury claim against that third party while also requesting workers’ compensation from your employer. You can discuss your right to dual action of this sort during an initial scaffold accident case consultation.
Paterson Scaffold Accident Lawyer Near Me 877-751-9800
File Your Scaffolding Accident Claim Before Your Statute of Limitations Expires
If an attorney determines that you have the right to pursue a personal injury claim after a scaffolding accident, you must do so within New Jersey’s personal injury statute of limitations. The state outlines its statute of limitations in New Jersey Statutes section 2A:14-2.
According to this statute, you have two years and no longer to investigate your case and bring a complaint forward. If you cannot act within that two-year period, New Jersey civil courts have no obligation to consider your argument for scaffold accident compensation.
That deadline can seem harsh. In some cases, scaffold accident injuries may even make it seem impossible to meet. When you bring your losses to an attorney’s attention, though, Morelli Law Firm can help keep your relevant investigation on track. We can dig into questions of negligence and contracts while you focus on getting the medical attention you need.
It’s Time for You to Pursue Scaffolding Accident Compensation
Victims of scaffolding accidents deserve their hour in court. Don’t let anyone intimidate you out of your right to legal action or deny you your right to a claim. If you need financial help recovering from an accident that someone else caused, let Morelli Law Firm go to work for you. Our scaffold accident lawyers in Paterson, NJ, are courtroom-tried.
You can request a case evaluation from one of our team members by reaching out via phone or through our online contact form. Your first scaffolding accident case consultation is free of charge. Get to know our team, learn more about our services, and decide how you want to approach your right to post-accident legal action today.