Construction Accident Wrongful Deaths

San Antonio, Texas Wrongful Death Attorney Michael Grossman Discusses Construction Worker Wrongful Deaths

If you or a loved one works construction, you know how dangerous the job can be. Many workers die each year due to disorganized and hazardous job sites, badly-maintained equipment, and a lack in proper safety procedures and protocol.

If a loved one has been wrongfully killed in a construction accident, you may be considering seeking justice through a wrongful death lawsuit. The San Antonio wrongful death lawyers at Grossman Law Offices understand the pain you are going through, and we can help. We have successfully assisted hundreds of families who have lost family members in construction accidents.

What is a Wrongful Death?

While it can sometimes be tricky to determine if someone’s death is truly a wrongful death, Texas law does give us four broad conditions which must be met in order for a wrongful death claim to proceed:

• Another person or entity must have caused the victim’s death, in part or in whole, through negligent action or inaction
• The responsible party was reckless with the victim’s safety and well-being
• There is some surviving family member or beneficiary who is eligible to file a claim
• The victim’s death resulted in some sort of financial damage to the potential plaintiff

A wrongful death claim is used to hold a negligent party responsible for the death of another (even when no criminal charges are filed.) For example, if a faulty excavator caused a fatal accident, the equipment manufacturer may be sued for wrongful death (a civil charge), but the company will not be charged criminally because the company did not deliberately kill the driver. Although not criminally charged, the company may be found negligent in assembling the vehicle, therefore liable for damages relating to the accident.

Should I File a Wrongful Death Claim?

If you should choose to attempt to seek justice, you will most likely do so by filing a wrongful death lawsuit against all parties responsible in the fatal accident. Unfortunately, wrongful death lawsuits can be extremely technical, but the attorneys at Grossman Law Offices are here to explain your options in a clear and concise manner. It is our mission to help you make the best decision for your family.

There are two reasons for filing a wrongful death lawsuit. The first reason is to ensure that the family of the victim receives fair monetary compensation for their losses. Compensation can cover all financial expenses (including loss of future income), as well as the pain and suffering due to losing the emotional support provided by someone you love. The second reason for filing a lawsuit is to punish the negligent party in order to prevent a similar accident from happening to somebody else. A wrongful death lawsuit work to force negligent individuals and organizations to mend their ways in order to protect future employees.

Challenges You Will Face When Attempting to File a Lawsuit

Filing a wrongful death claim in a construction accident can be very challenging in Texas. A number of factors contribute to the complexity, including whether or not the victim was an employee or a contractor, and whether or not the company subscribes to workers’ compensation insurance. The answers to these two questions will determine the best possible path for you to recover damages, and an attorney can guide you through the entire process.

What Does Workers' Compensation Have to do With my Wrongful Death Case?

Basically, the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act provides an opportunity for a company to be immune to lawsuits simply by subscribing to Workers’ Compensation Insurance. Workers’ compensation is only meant to protect employees; not all workers. When an employee is killed while working for a company that subscribes to workers’ compensation insurance, the victim’s surviving spouse (or spouse and children) receive death benefits based on a percentage of the employee’s wages, subject to a cap. A burial allowance is also available, but that is it. The family (in almost all cases) is ineligible to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the employer.

Workers’ Compensation Non-Subscriber Cases

In Texas, Workers’ Compensation insurance is not compulsory. Many companies (the construction industry in particular) choose not to subscribe to workers’ comp largely because the subscription fees are high in the construction industry. While the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act works to protect subscribers, non-subscribers are left to fend for themselves. Lawsuits are allowed and there are no limits to how much the victim may recover. There is also no innate legal defense available to a non-subscriber company. The only defense the employer can make would be that the accident was 100% the fault of the employee (sole proximate cause). The employer will attempt to build a case against the employee in an attempt to persuade a jury that the employee was careless, incompetent, and that his or her death was due to their own recklessness. At Grossman Law Offices, we have a long history of successfully fighting these accusations in court, and we are fully dedicated to ensuring that those liable for your loved one’s death are brought to justice.

Many construction companies actually choose not to subscribe to workers’ compensation insurance because they feel that they have beaten the system. On the surface, Texas workers’ comp law would seem to state that employers are not legally liable for the safety of contractors. Construction companies are very aware of this, and they’ll often attempt to hire almost exclusively contractors, and then not subscribe to workers’ compensation. The employers believe that this will protect them from legal responsibility, letting them avoid paying the expensive subscription fees, and allowing them to build a working environment with minimal focus on safety. In my twenty years of practicing personal injury law, I can say that unfortunately this tactic is often successful. Only a small handful of lawyers have a wide enough understanding of workers’ comp insurance and construction accident law to effectively pursue settlements in cases where the victim was a contractor. Many attorneys will automatically decline to assist you with your case once they learn that your loved one was not an employee.

Our Wrongful Death Attorneys can Help

The San Antonio attorneys at Grossman Law Offices have a broad understanding of construction accident law, and we know how to pursue wrongful death claims in situations where other attorneys have given up. For example, numerous conditions in an employer-contractor relationship can lead to that working relationship being considered an employer-employee relationship from a legal standpoint, regardless of how the worker was originally hired. Often times in construction, workers are injured by heavy machinery or falling from scaffolding. In these situations, the victim’s family may be able to sue the product manufacturer due to a product defect in addition to receiving benefits from a workers’ compensation claim.

Ultimately, construction fatality cases are extremely complex. Many families do not know if they have a valid wrongful death claim or not. They also do not know whether they have a subscriber or a non-subscriber case, or how many defendants might be liable. Many times, a family might not even be able to get a complete story about what truly happened. Our San Antonio attorneys want to help you with your case. Attorney Michael Grossman has 20 years of experience working with construction accident and wrongful death cases, and at Grossman Law Offices, we will do everything we can to help your family through this trying time. Whatever your situation, contact our lawyers. We can listen to your case, and explain to you what options you truly have available. If you have lost a loved one in a construction accident, contact a San Antonio construction accident lawyer at Grossman Law Offices today, and let us help your family secure the compensation it needs and the justice it deserves.