Most of the people who are injured in a construction accident are working on-site. Yet construction accidents are more simple than mere workers compensation cases. This is because every construction site involves multiple parties.

For example, imagine that you’re a building inspector visiting a site to conduct a safety sweep. When you get injured, who covers it? Workers compensation, because you were on the job? The site owner who failed to correct a hazardous condition on the property? How about the company that’s providing the actual construction workers, or the architects who designed the building? If you were working on the road and a driver hit you, then how about the at-fault driver? 

Even the manufacturers of the crane or the bulldozer could have a hand in causing your accident.

In many construction accident cases there will be two cases at once. One will be a workers compensation case. The other will be a personal injury case against the party who actually caused the injury. 

The differences between these case types is important. On workers comp, your medical bills are paid. You also get ⅔ of your average weekly wage. That means all of your losses are not covered. You also won’t get any money for pain and suffering.

In a personal injury case, 100% of your lost wages will be covered. If, as is so often the case, your accident injured you to a degree that prevents you from ever working again, then you are compensated for your loss of earning capacity too, in some amount that is based on projections of what you would have made over the course of the rest of your working life but for the construction accident.

In addition, you will receive compensation for types of care that employers and workers compensation insurance often actively try to prevent you from getting, such as better prosthetics, physical therapy, chiropractic care, and psychological care. You will be compensated for your pain and suffering, too.

These two case types can work together in complex ways. For example once your personal injury settlement gets paid a portion of that settlement may be paid back to the workers compensation carrier, as you do not get to “double dip.” You’d get ⅓ of your lost wages back but the 2/3rds that were already paid out under workers compensation wouldn’t get paid to you a second time. You’ve already received that money. Instead the insurance company that paid it could get paid.

Nevertheless you will nearly always come out ahead if you work with an attorney who has the skill and expertise to hold all responsible parties accountable for your accident.

In addition, New York law allows employees to sue employers in personal injury cases if their managers failed to provide adequate protection from hazards for their working, or failed to handle their scaffolding correctly.

Reach out to Miller, Montiel, & Strano today to get a free consultation. We have won millions of dollars for our construction accident clients. There’s a good chance we can help you, too.

See also:

Construction Site Accidents

Construction Site Accident FAQs

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Car accidents are frightening, chaotic incidents, and the tragic results don’t always care about fault. There have been many accidents where the at-fault driver has died and the blameless driver has lived.

Fortunately, the at-fault driver’s status doesn’t make a lot of difference to how your Long Island personal injury case will unfold. Insurance policies pay for personal injury claims, not individual drivers.

Insured Driver

Most drivers will be insured. The fines for going without insurance or for allowing someone to drive your uninsured vehicle can be as much as $1500. The exact amounts will depend on the number of days your policy has been lapsed. 

If the driver was insured you’ll file your claim against the at-fault driver’s insurance as normal. You’ll still want to hire a personal injury attorney, as the at-fault driver’s company will definitely have its own lawyers working your case. 

If the at-fault driver’s policy limits won’t cover your entire settlement we may be able to make a claim for the remainder against the at-fault driver’s estate. This is certainly often easier than making a claim against a living driver’s assets.

Uninsured Driver

Hopefully you had insurance, even if the at-fault party did not. If you did, you would be able to file your claim against your own uninsured/underinsured (UIM) policy. 

About one in eight drivers are uninsured, so we always urge our clients to buy as much of this kind of coverage as their wallets can stand. That’s 4.1% of all New York drivers. The $25,000 per person basic UIM coverage is rarely enough to cover severe injuries of any kind.

If you don’t have sufficient UIM coverage we may be able to make a claim against the at-fault driver’s estate, just like any other creditor, but this is rare: drivers who have estates rarely go without insurance. 

Get Help Today

Before you can start worrying about how to get an at-fault driver to pay up, you have to prove that they were the at-fault party at all. Shifting blame onto the plaintiff is a time-honored tactic for these insurance companies.

The earlier you involve an attorney, the better. Reach out to the personal injury lawyers at Miller, Montiel, & Strano. Your no-obligation case consultation is absolutely free, which means you don’t have to engage in guesswork about whether or not your case is strong enough to proceed. You can just get the help you need fast.

See also:

Staten Island, NY – Child Killed in Fatal Pedestrian Accident on Forest Ave.

Queens, NY – Critical Hit-and-Run Bicycle Accident on Queens Blvd.

Brooklyn, NY – Bus Crash With Injuries at Kingston Ave & Eastern Pkwy.

Posted in Motor Vehicle Accidents | No Comments »

The New York State Department of Health maintains a website that offers information about local nursing home performance. You can also find nursing home ratings for Suffolk County on this site. 

Even US News and World Report participates in nursing home ratings. Quite a few Long Island nursing homes have made this list. 

The federal government also runs a ratings system.

Unfortunately, even shopping around to find the best nursing home for your elderly loved one does not guarantee that they won’t be abused or neglected at these facilities. According to The New York Times, it’s common for nursing homes to violate federal regulations, and it’s just as common for the government to avoid reporting these incidents to the public or factor them into their rating systems.

If the federal government isn’t disclosing all the information the it’s difficult to believe that state agencies or private sites will do much better.

In the federal cases, incidents uncovered by state inspectors got quashed during “a secretive appeals process,” reports The Times. 

“The Times this year has documented a series of problems with Medicare’s ratings system. Much of the data that powers the system is wrong and often makes nursing homes seem cleaner and safer than they are. The rating system also obscures how many residents are receiving powerful antipsychotic drugs.”

Often the appeals process excludes patients and their families. 

The oversights are serious.

• More than 2,000 5-star facilities weren’t following basic infection-control precautions.
• At 40 5-star facilities, inspectors didn’t think sexual abuse was a problem. 
• Multiple homes have failed to prevent the spread of Covid-19 on their premises. 

Nursing homes have a duty of care to their residents. If your loved one gets injured or sick because they weren’t supervising them closely enough, did not take adequate safety precautions, or had staff members who just downright physically, emotionally, or sexually abused them the you have a right to pursue justice on their behalf. 

Know the signs of abuse:

• Frequent, unexplained injuries.
• Fall injuries.
• Stained or dirty clothing or bedding.
• Bedsores or blisters.
• Weight loss.
• Signs of overmedication such as confusion, lethargy, or depression.
• Changes in behavior, such as crying, fear, or withdrawal. 

Money from a nursing home settlement includes medical care costs for correcting the abused, your own lost income if you have to take time off work to care for an abused loved one, pain, suffering, and other losses such as recompense for money missing from your loved one’s account or valuables missing from your loved one’s room. 

If you think you might have a case, don’t delay. Contact us for a free case evaluation.

See also:

Nursing Home Injuries

Posted in Nursing Home Abuse | No Comments »

Brooklyn, NY (October 31, 2021) – At 4:52 p.m. on Friday afternoon, October 29, a house fire occurred in Brooklyn that injured several firefighters. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Garden City Personal Injury Blog | No Comments »

Manhattan, NY (October 30, 2021) – Around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, October 30, a boy was killed in a fatal apartment fire in Manhattan. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Garden City Personal Injury Blog | No Comments »

Staten Island, NY (October 29, 2021) – At 1:45 p.m. on Friday afternoon, October 29, a child was killed in a fatal pedestrian accident on Staten Island. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Garden City Personal Injury Blog | No Comments »

Queens, NY (October 28, 2021) – At 1 a.m. on Thursday, October 28, a hit-and-run bicycle accident occurred on a roadway in Queens. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Garden City Personal Injury Blog | No Comments »

Brooklyn, NY (October 27, 2021) – Around 5:35 a.m. on Tuesday morning, October 26, a bus crash with injuries occurred at an intersection in Brooklyn. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Garden City Personal Injury Blog | No Comments »

Patchogue, NY (October 26, 2021) – At 6:20 p.m. on the evening of Monday, October 25, a child was killed in a fatal pedestrian accident in Patchogue. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Garden City Personal Injury Blog | No Comments »

Queens, NY (October 25, 2021) – Around 10 p.m. on Sunday night, October 24, a child was killed in a pedestrian accident in Queens. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Garden City Personal Injury Blog | No Comments »