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Construction worker settles third-party claim for $1.5 million

This blog has frequently mentioned the value of third-party claims in Connecticut workers’ compensation cases. A recent settlement of such a claim by a worker who suffered a devastating eye injury demonstrates how such claims can dramatically increase the compensation that can be recovered by an injured construction worker.

Any worker who is injured on the job is entitled to recover benefits for the injury and any resulting disability from his or her employer. Unhappily, the schedule of benefits allowed by the state’s workers’ compensation regulations may fall far short of adequate compensation for the injury. In such cases, knowledgeable workers’ compensation attorneys look for parties other than the worker’s employer who may be liable for the injury.

The settlement in question was the result of an accident at a construction site in New York City. The carpentry foreman was checking the jacks as workers were constructing concrete forms on the first floor.

The foreman turned his head and was struck in the right eye by a clamp wedge spike that was lacking a protective plastic cap. After three surgeries, the worker was diagnosed as having permanently lost part of the vision in his right eye. He received $116,000 in workers’ compensation benefits from his employer, and then sued two third parties whose negligence was alleged to have caused the accident — the owner of the building and the general contractor. The case was settled for a payment to the worker of $1.5 million.

Anyone who has been injured or lost a loved one in a workplace accident may benefit from consulting an attorney who handles worker injury claims. A knowledgeable attorney can evaluate the facts and provide helpful advice on which parties may bear all or part of the liability for the claim.

Source: Staten Island Advance, “$1.5 million settlement for hard-hat in construction accident,” Frank Donnelly, Feb. 10, 2018

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