Nashville Construction Accident Lawyer

Construction work is some of the most dangerous work in existence. In fact, construction generates more workplace injuries and fatalities than any other industry. Many construction workers have families to support, and an accident can threaten not only their own livelihoods but the livelihoods of their families as well. What often makes it worse is that, in many cases, the party responsible for compensating you tries to evade their responsibility or even blame you for your own injuries.

At Labrum Law Firm Personal Injury Lawyers, our dedicated Nashville construction accident attorney vigorously fights for the rights and well-being of injured workers and their families. We are ready to safeguard your interests against powerful insurance companies and entrenched administrative bureaucracies. 

We represent accident victims, never defendants. And our track record of success proves that we know what we’re doing. Contact our personal injury law firm in Nashville, TN, today to get started with a free consultation. 

How Labrum Law Firm Personal Injury Lawyers Can Make a Difference After a Nashville Construction Accident

It still angers us to see how careless behavior and cutting corners on safety have impacted our clients’ lives. We channel this anger in healthy ways—by letting it fuel our unwavering dedication and our relentless pursuit of justice. If all of this sounds like something you cannot afford, the truth is that you can.

With a strong claim, you can hire us without a dime in your pocket. And you’ll never owe us anything in attorney’s fees unless we win your claim. Essentially, it is the defendant who pays your legal bills.

Our Nashville personal injury lawyer is equipped to support your claim in a multitude of ways, including the following tasks.

  • Contact experts who can help you determine the viability and true value of your construction accident claim.
  • Identify any safety violations committed by the defendant that might buttress your claim.
  • Gather evidence that is both persuasive and admissible under the Tennessee Rules of Evidence. 
  • Explore all avenues of compensation, including medical expenses, lost earnings, and non-economic damages such as pain and suffering.
  • Draft and send a demand letter, complete with supporting documents, to the opposing party.
  • Negotiate with the opposing party (probably an insurance adjuster) to secure fair compensation for you. Remember, we cannot accept a settlement offer without your permission.
  • File a lawsuit if necessary. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to trial.
  • Draft a settlement agreement for you and the opposing party to sign.
  • Fight it out for you in court, if that’s what it takes. 

Be aware that very few of our clients end up at trial. That is because we settle almost all claims out of court. Sometimes we need to file a lawsuit for strategic reasons, but we usually manage to make a deal; at that point, we withdraw the lawsuit in exchange for a reasonable out-of-court settlement.

Contact our legal team in Nashville, Tennessee, today to set up your free case review.

Construction Accidents: By the Numbers

The accident numbers for construction workers are disturbing:

  • 18% of work-related fatalities are in construction work.
  • Slip and fall accidents cause over one-third of all construction accident-related deaths.
  • Every year about one percent of all construction workers suffer an injury that was serious enough to cause them to miss work.
  • Nearly 200,000 construction accidents occur every year. 
  • More than 25% of construction workers have failed to report a construction injury.

 After a brief downturn during the COVID-19 years, construction accidents are on the rise again. 

Typical Construction Accidents in Nashville, Tennessee

Common construction site accidents include the following scenarios:

  • Falls from heights
  • Slips and trips
  • Falling objects
  • Electrocutions
  • Caught-in/between equipment
  • Machinery accidents
  • Vehicle-related accidents, such as rollover accidents
  • Pedestrian accidents
  • Overexertion injuries
  • Exposure to harmful substances
  • Fires and explosions
  • Trench or scaffold collapses
  • Repetitive motion injuries
  • Falling debris accidents
  • Ladder accidents
  • Power tool mishaps
  • Welding accidents
  • Noise-related hearing loss
  • Heat stress or stroke
  • Cold-induced injuries
  • High-pressure line accidents
  • Asbestos exposure
  • Electrical burns
  • Eye injuries from flying particles
  • Crane accidents
  • Hand and finger injuries

The “big four” most common construction work injuries are falls, being struck by a falling object, electrocutions, and “caught between” accidents.

What To Do After a Construction Accident in Nashville, TN

Take the following actions in the immediate aftermath of a construction accident:

  • Seek immediate medical attention, even if you believe your injuries are minor. “Minor” injuries can turn out to be major, and the opposing party will certainly use your failure to seek prompt medical treatment to cast doubt on your claim.
  • Photograph the scene of the accident. This needs to happen as soon as possible. If you cannot do it, which is likely, have a co-worker do it for you. In fact, this should be standard practice for your employer.
  • Schedule an initial consultation with a construction accident lawyer to discuss your claim. Most personal injury/workers’ compensation lawyers offer such consultations free of charge.
  • Submit a written report of the accident and your injuries to your employer. Keep a copy for yourself.
  • Keep a daily “pain journal” in which you report the pain and discomfort you are experiencing, and describe how your injuries are affecting your lifestyle.
  • Document your loss of income, with or without the cooperation of your employer.
  • Suspend all your social media accounts, and tell your friends not to discuss your accident. Social media posts are generally acceptable as evidence. You can be sure the insurance company will be watching your accounts for something they can use against you.

File your claim as soon as you have laid the appropriate groundwork. Don’t wait until the legal deadline is looming.

Workers’ Compensation Claims

The workers’ compensation insurance system governs most construction accident claims. What this means in practice is that you will be making an administrative claim. The main advantages of workers’ compensation claims are:

  • They are typically quicker to resolve than personal injury claims. 
  • They are no-fault. “No-fault” means you don’t have to prove your employer was at fault to win your claim. In fact, in most cases, you can win your claim even if you were at fault yourself.  

The main disadvantage of workers’ compensation claims is that compensation is very limited. Yes, workers’ compensation will cover your medical expenses. It will cover only two-thirds of your lost earnings, however, and even this much is subject to a maximum of less than $1,000 per week. You can seek economic damages (such as out-of-pocket expenses and all of your lost earnings) but not non-economic damages (such as pain and suffering).

Third-Party Personal Injury Claims

A workers’ compensation claim is a claim you assert against your employer. If you can find a third party who is responsible for your injuries, however, you can file an ordinary personal injury lawsuit against the at-fault party. You will have to prove that the third party was at fault, but you will be able to claim both economic damages and non-economic damages.

You can file a personal injury lawsuit even if you are not a construction worker. Suppose, for example, that you were injured on a construction site as a visitor or as an independent contractor. In such cases, you can file a personal injury claim even though you can’t file a workers’ compensation claim.

Possible Defendants

You might consider the following possible defendants for your personal injury claim:

  • The construction site owner, based on premises liability, if a dangerous condition on the property caused your injury.
  • The general contractor, if your employer was a subcontractor.
  • Other subcontractors, if the company or its employee was negligent.
  • Equipment manufacturers, if a defective product caused your injuries.
  • Architects and engineers, if a design flaw caused the accident.
  • Material suppliers, if defective materials caused the accident.
  • Property developers, if their decisions about the construction project resulted in unsafe conditions.
  • Equipment rental companies, if the equipment they rented out was unsafe.
  • Maintenance companies, if the cause of the accident was poor maintenance of the site or equipment.
  • Government entities, if public construction projects were involved.

A skilled construction accident lawyer might be able to identify other possible defendants, depending on the facts of your case.

Negligence Per Se

Most personal injury claims are based on negligence. To win a negligence claim, you must prove the following five elements:

  1. The defendant owed you a duty of care. A general contractor, for example, is responsible for overall safety on a construction site.
  2. The defendant breached their duty of care. To “breach” a duty of care is simply to fail to comply with its demands. Duty + breach = negligence.
  3. You suffered an injury.
  4. The defendant’s negligence was the actual cause of your injury.
  5. The defendant’s negligence was the foreseeable cause of your injury (proximate cause). “Freak accidents” generally do not generate liability.
       

Negligence per se comes into play when you can prove that the defendant violated a safety law or regulation. If you can, you have just proven negligence (duty + breach, items one and two above). In other words, negligence per se is a shortcut to proving liability. 

Wrongful Death Claims

Death benefits under worker’s compensation are relatively meager. In a personal injury lawsuit, however, damages for wrongful death can be immense. In Tennessee, certain close family members of the deceased victim, or the executor of the deceased victim’s probate estate, can file a wrongful death lawsuit, depending on the circumstances.

Don’t try to represent yourself for a construction accident claim unless you are pursuing a workers’ compensation claim of trivial value. The more valuable your claim is, the more resistance you are likely to encounter – and the more likely it is that you will need an experienced Nashville construction accident lawyer to help you. Contact us online or call us today to learn more.