I’ve Been Hurt Falling from a Ladder at My Construction Job. Whom Can I Sue?

When you work in construction, especially when your job involves the regular use of ladders, the risk of accidents and injuries is very real. You may be given a defective ladder, a ladder that has not been properly maintained, or the wrong type of ladder for the task assigned to you. Whether your fall from a ladder (and subsequent injuries) was a result of one of these problems or something else, you may be entitled to compensation. To find out more about your rights and your options, contact a knowledgeable New York construction accident attorney, who can help you select a course of action that works for you.

One recent example of a construction worker who suffered an accident involving a ladder was the case of Pedro. Pedro had a job, which he’d held since 2006, working in construction for an employer based in Brooklyn. In June 2012, Pedro was working on a high-rise condominium building in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. He was responsible for scraping the building’s ceilings. Like many construction work requirements, Pedro’s job required him to use a ladder.

While Pedro was doing his scraping work, the six-foot-tall, A-frame ladder upon which he was standing shifted to the left. This caused Pedro to lose his balance and fall to the ground. The worker suffered injuries in the fall.

Pedro decided to sue and seek compensation through the legal system. New York law contains a statutory section that permits construction workers to hold site owners and general contractors liable for injuries that result from “gravity-related” risks of harm. This means falling things, whether it is you falling or something falling on you. The law says that the owners of the construction site and the general contractor on the project have a “non-delegable” duty to ensure the safety of workers at the site. That means that they must live up to their legal obligations and cannot use as a defense the argument that they handed off that responsibility to someone else.

The law may also, however, allow you to pursue more people or entities than just the general contractor and the property owner. In Pedro’s case, he sued, in addition to the owner, the owner’s managing agent. The Appellate Division court issued a ruling in which it said that Pedro’s inclusion of the agent was allowable. The important factor, in determining if an agent can be sued in this type of case, according to the court, is “not whether it actually supervised the work, but whether it had the authority to do so.” The defense had no evidence that the agent lacked the authority to supervise the work at the condo building, so that meant that the injured worker was allowed to include the agent in his lawsuit for damages.

Whether your construction job involves scaffolds, heavy machinery, power equipment, or even simply a ladder, it can be dangerous. If you have been injured on your construction job, talk to the skilled New York City construction injury attorneys at Arcia & Associates. Our team has many years of experience giving our clients effective representation and personalized attention to help them pursue the outcomes they need.

More Blog Posts:

You Can Win Your New York Construction Accident Lawsuit Even if Your Immigration Status is Undocumented, Blog de Abogado en la Ciudad de Nueva York, 13 de Abril de 2018

New York City Building Employee Wins Injury Case Due to Defective Ladder, Blog de Abogado en la Ciudad de Nueva York, 10 de Abril de 2018