Artículos publicados en Falling Objects and Worker Falls

There are lots of things you may have to fight against in your New York construction injury case. You may have to fight against arguments that the injury you suffered wasn’t a type that’s covered by the law. You may face assertions that the activity that you were performing isn’t something that permits compensation under the statute. One thing you shouldn’t have to face is an opponent that doesn’t “play fair” with regard to pre-trial and trial procedural tactics. That can be difficult, though, as you may not know how to go about contesting the impermissible things that your opponents seek to do. Your skilled New York City construction injury attorney will know, however, and that is just one more among many vital reasons why it pays to have experienced counsel on your side.

What do we mean by “play fair”? D.F.’s case from Buffalo is a good example. Reportedly, D.F. was substantially injured when a load of rebar fell from a crane and crashed into his head.

For workers who are injured in a manner like D.F. was, there are several things that you have to do in order to get the fair compensation you need. You have to show that you were engaged in a type of construction activity that is covered by the law, which D.F. was. You have to demonstrate that yours was a covered type of injury. Under Section 240(1) of the Labor Law, injuries arising from worker falls and objects falling onto workers are generally covered. Clearly, this worker’s injury was one that the scope of the law encompassed.

This year, a string of fatal New York City construction accidents clustered close together in April led the city’s Department of Buildings to perform a “two-week-long sweep of construction sites across the five boroughs.” What they found might have been shocking for the public but was regrettably less so for those who work in construction in the city, as well the lawyers who represent those workers.

The report by WNYC revealed that the crackdown led to 322 immediate stop-work orders, with an additional 1,081 violation on top of those 322. This, unfortunately, is a reminder that not only is construction work in New York City dangerous, but that too many jobs are more unsafe than they should be. If you find yourself hurt as a result of a construction accident, you should take action promptly by retaining the services of a skilled New York City construction attorney to protect your rights.

The event leading to the crackdown was a terrible week in which three construction workers died, two from falling objects and one as a result of a fall. On April 8, a construction worker from Queens died after a piece of building façade broke loose and hit him in the head. On April 10, a worker in Brooklyn died after falling from the roof of a 13-story building. Early on April 13, a counterweight from a crane fell on a worker in Manhattan and killed him.

When you are hurt while working at your construction job and, as a result of that injury, it becomes necessary to go to court, you can probably count on facing strong opposition. The defendants you sue will likely have shrewd lawyers capable of making clever and persuasive arguments to try to keep from paying you the compensation you need. Fight back by making sure that you have a knowledgeable and persuasive New York City construction injury attorney battling for the recovery you deserve.

When it comes to construction injury lawsuits in New York, there are several arguments that are frequently used by defense lawyers. If your lawsuit alleges that you are entitled to compensation under a statute called the “Scaffold Law,” the defense may try to persuade the court that the work you were doing isn’t covered under that law. Alternately, the defense may assert that the injury you suffered was not one of the types that the statutes cover. Achieving your fullest success, then, means being prepared to take on these or whatever defense arguments come your way.

Look at a recent case from Queens for an example. F. R.-P. was, along with a co-worker, unloading flooring materials from the back of a flatbed truck. The way that job worked was that the materials were on pallets and a hydraulic lift lowered each pallet from the truck bed to the ground, which was a distance of about four feet. Each pallet weighed roughly 2,500-3,000 pounds. During the job, one pallet, which was loaded onto the lift at the time, fell off the lift and hit F. R.-P.

When you are injured at your construction job and it becomes necessary for you to sue in court to get the compensation you deserve, it is important to understand several things. One is that succeeding in your lawsuit will require proving that your accident and injuries met all of the required elements of the statute under which you brought your lawsuit. To make sure you have all of the proof you need to get the successful outcome you deserve, be sure you’ve retained an experienced New York City construction injury attorney.

What do we mean when we talk about covering all of the “elements”? Take a look at the case of C.S. for an example. C.S. was working in Manhattan for a cleaning services company at a site owned by a major energy company. C.S.’s job on the day of his injury involved transporting a steel plate to the site and unloading it. The plate weighed roughly 4,000 pounds. It was as the worker was performing the unloading task that he was injured.

If you’re hurt in an accident like C.S.’s, there are certain factual aspects of your case that should give you great hope for success in court. Section 240(1) of New York’s Labor Law says that the general contractor on your job, as well as the site owner, have a mandatory duty to provide you (and all workers at the site) with proper safety protections against injuries resulting from “gravity-related risks.” That includes things like objects falls on you.

So, imagine you’re a worker in New York City and you’ve suffered a fall at your construction job. You were hurt as a result. The injuries may have caused you to rack up large medical bills and may have forced you to miss work. You may be wondering… what should I do? One of the things you should investigate doing is pursuing legal action to recover compensation for your injuries. To do that, you should start by consulting with an experienced New York City construction injury attorney.

S.C. was a worker who faced that kind of circumstance. S.C. was hurt while working as a dock builder foreman on a project on Fifth Avenue. According to his lawsuit, S.C. made a step onto “what appeared to be a stable floor of concrete” to inspect a bracket. In reality, the surface was neither concrete nor solid. S.C. fell through water that was roughly eight feet deep, suffering substantial injuries in the process.

In a case like S.C.’s, one potential legal option for compensation is Section 240(1) of the Labor Law. That law says that construction project site owners and project general contractors are required to provide all workers with adequate safeguards to protect them from “elevation-related” risks of harm. In other words, risks of things falling on you or you suffering a fall.