Call Us 919-240-4054If you were hurt at work, your injury is probably covered by workers’ compensation. That can help replace your lost wages, and it will pay your medical bills. But as workplace injury lawyers of North Carolina, we see that sometimes an injury at work was caused by an outside person – a company your employer does business with, or a dangerous machine, or a random driver, for example. If that happened to you, that you were hurt by someone or something not connected to your employer, you may have what is known a third party claim.
Third party claims
With a third party claim you may be entitled to compensation above and beyond your workers’ compensation benefits. You may be entitled to compensation for physical pain and suffering, inconvenience, and the change in your activity level from your workplace injury. Also, your spouse may be entitled to compensation for their time spent caring for you or taking over your responsibilities.
We are work-related injury lawyers who know how to bring your workers’ compensation claim and know how to bring the personal injury case. We have years of experience going to the courts for injured workers, as well as going to the Industrial Commission for their workers’ compensation cases. Sometimes we have gone to trial, and other times the cases have settled. It depends on the circumstances of each case.
Examples of our workplace injury cases:
- We recently won a substantial jury verdict for a paving truck operator who was injured while filling his work truck with hot “tack” which is a paving material. The jury found that the tack production company was at fault for our client’s work-related injury; their operator was negligent in the way he put the tack in the truck. The tack came bursting out of a pipe, and knocked our client off the top of his truck. His knee was shattered and he had a serious permanent injury.
- As workplace accident lawyers, we have helped many workers who were burned in explosions and fires at their jobs, from equipment that was installed improperly, and from materials that exploded in the workplace. Sometimes contractors have caused work related injuries by releasing flammable materials into a plant or work area. A lot of times in these cases, the companies that caused these work injuries misrepresented their skill levels and failed to warn employees that what they had done or installed was dangerous.
- We have helped injured workers who were hit on the head while they were stocking shelves or taking inventory. Some workplace accidents have happened because employees fell trying to avoid flying objects, or when they ran into a hidden danger. These work related injuries can range from traumatic brain injury to broken bones.
- Often as workplace injury lawyers we bring cases and file lawsuits for clients who were hurt by car and truck drivers. The more a worker is on the road, the greater is their chance of getting hit, which is why we represent many bus drivers who are hit by trucks or other vehicles.
The process of a personal injury claim with a work related injury in North Carolina
If you were injured by a third party driver while you were working, for example, you will have a claim against that person, just like you would if you weren’t working. However, since it happened at work, we suggest that you have a work-related injury lawyer who understands how to coordinate the workers’ compensation benefits you receive with any payment you get from the third party driver’s insurance company. We want to make sure that you get to keep as much compensation in your pocket as possible.
If you were injured by a fire or explosion, or a falling object, we suggest that you hire a workplace injury lawyer early, so that a proper investigation can get started quickly, while the evidence is still fresh and you can figure out what went wrong to begin with.
You also need to know that in a third party claim, the workers’ compensation insurance carrier may have a lien on any funds you get from the person or company that caused the injury. The best workplace injury lawyers work hard to keep these liens as low as possible, you get the most money to compensate for our injury.
If you had an injury at work and have questions, we will be happy to answer them, whether it’s about how to protect your rights or what to expect from the process, call our Durham workplace injury attorneys at 919-240-4054. We will talk with you for free about your case and answer any questions you may have.