Were you recently injured in an industrial accident at work? If so, then you are not alone. Last year, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that almost 3 million injuries took place at a worksite.
Are your coworkers and family members urging you to find some legal assistance to help process your case? Learn more in this helpful guide on hiring an industrial accident attorney is your best move.
Then you can turn your attention to the critical work like getting back to good health.
When Industrial Accidents Happen.
When a victim becomes injured at work because of an existing workplace condition, they can file a worker’s compensation claim. The claim will request payment for their medical costs.
Worker’s compensation claims can also apply to illness due to onsite equipment or materials exposure. The trial court system provides a forum for any workplace victim to recover their expenses with the help of an accident injury attorney.
What’s a Houston Industrial Accident Attorney?
An industrial accident attorney represents an injured worker. They help victims whose injuries resulted from unsafe work conditions or worksite negligence. Roughly 80 out of every 100 industrial accidents occur on the job because of improper precautionary measures.
Industrial accident lawyers guide clients through the worker’s compensation process. They’ll help with all negotiation settlements with the employer and its insurance provider. They will also guide an industrial accident lawsuit through the trial court system.
An industrial accident attorney is sometimes called a personal injury attorney. These professionals specialize in a field of law referred to as personal injury law.
What Else Can an Industrial Accident Lawyer Do For You?
While you’re recovering from your industrial accident injuries, the best accident attorney will be hard at work for you. They’ll be completing complex services and tasks on your behalf. These services include:
Collect Evidence For Your Claim
Industrial accident lawyers start building a client’s case by collecting evidence and other facts. Most industrial accidents will have accompanying workplace accident reports.
They might also have a police incident report. These attorneys also collect statements from onsite witnesses or your coworkers and take pictures of the worksite.
Prepare a Demand for Compensation
A formal Demand for Compensation document summarizes the injured employee’s case. It will also state why they think their employers should pay their medical fees.
Demand for Compensation letters will highlight any specific damages and the expenses that were incurred.
Sometimes an employer rejects a worker’s demand. An industrial accident lawyer can then file a workers’ compensation claim on the victim’s behalf to recover damages when this happens.
Consider a worker’s compensation claim as an official notification. It lets the local justice system know that you intend to seek reimbursement. An industrial accident lawsuit will include the victim’s workplace site evidence and all legal arguments.
Navigate the Pre-Trial Process
Pre-trial procedures include a session where the injured victim and their employers meet with a judge. During these meetings, injury lawyers will request the employer’s witness evidence.
They’ll also request witness testimony and other legal arguments. This meeting is called the “discovery” process.
As the discovery process moves forward, the accident attorneys will schedule time for depositions. Depositions cover the process where they can cross-examine your employer’s representatives. They can also question other witnesses who are a part of your case during this time.
Negotiate Alternative Settlements
Your industrial accident attorney can also help you through alternative dispute resolution. Alternative dispute resolution includes other procedures called mediation and arbitration.
Mediation is the process where both sides of a workplace injury lawsuit can resolve the case outside of the justice system. Attorneys on both sides of the matter draft the settlement documents. These documents summarize all the outcome details, and details can include final payout amounts or due dates.
Arbitration is where an injury lawyer presents their client’s claim to a non-judge or neutral decision-maker. These kinds of decision-makers have the authority to make a binding decision.
Present Your Argument For Assigning Responsibility
In the US, states have laws called at-fault laws. At-fault laws mean that when someone gets hurt in an accident, they can’t be more than 49 percent responsible for the accident.
If they are more than 49 percent responsible, they can’t receive reimbursement for their damages. If an investigation reaches this level of review, the lawsuit is transferred over to the trial court system.
There a judge decides the lawsuit’s outcome. If your case reaches this level, your accident lawyer will help you present your arguments to the judge.
Investigate Conflicting Medical and Insurance Reports
If conflicting facts show up in your accident’s medical or insurance reports, your case could be denied. An industrial accident attorney will investigate your claim and present their evidence with yours. Their added evidence can help dispel those contradictions included in the other reports.
Identify Any Third-Party Responsibility
Not all workplace injuries are the employer’s fault. Sometimes other coworkers are responsible for someone else’s injuries on the job site.
When this happens, the victim has two claims to file: a case against their employer and the other employee. The other employee is now known as a third party.
A third-party liability lawsuit is a claim filed against a coworker responsible for the victim’s injuries. Industrial accident lawyers will tell their clients if they think a third-party liability lawsuit is worth filing. They’ll also tell them how they should prepare for it.
What’s Your Next Step?
Does your recent worksite industrial accident sound like any of these circumstances? If so, then hiring an industrial accident attorney is your next smart move.
Look for a lawyer who has significant experience with personal injury law. This experience will be vital if you decide to negotiate a settlement. It will also help your case if it moves forward to the hearing phase at your local trial court.
You can also head over to our website for more pointers on workplace accidents. Just follow these insights so that your claim receives the best possible outcome.