Riverside Construction Accident Lawyer

Construction accidents are among the most dangerous when it comes to the number of catastrophic injuries and deaths. The emotional, physical and financial fallout from these accidents often affect victims and their families for the rest of their lives. If you or a loved one has been injured in a construction accident, we can help. Contact Hanson & Mouri today for a free consultation.

Why Choose Us?

• At Hanson & Mouri, our Riverside personal injury attorney have over 20 years of legal experience representing clients in all matters of personal injury law, including construction accidents.
• Our lead attorney is a former insurance defense attorney. He is able to utilize his exceptional level of knowledge of the inside workings of insurance companies to your advantage.
• You will be provided personal attention from start to finish. First, you will meet with our experienced Riverside construction accident attorney, not an assistant or a paralegal. As your case progresses, we will keep in close communication with you and will personally return all of your phone calls.
• If a case cannot be settled outside of court, we are experienced litigators that are prepared to go to trial in order to obtain the maximum compensation for our clients.
• To ensure that our services are available to all, we establish a contingency fee with our clients. This means that you will not have to pay any legal fees unless compensation is secured on your behalf.

Common Construction Accident Questions

• Why Hire a Riverside Construction Accident Lawyer?
• How Much Does a Riverside Construction Accident Lawyer Charge?
• Common Construction Accident Injuries
• 4 Most Fatal Construction Site Accidents
• How to File a Construction Accident Claim in Riverside
• Who is Liable for my Injuries?
• How Do Construction Accident lawyer Collect Evidence for My Case?
• How to Effectively Document Evidence After a Construction Accident Injury
• Get Experienced Legal Help Today – Contact Our Firm

Why Hire a Riverside Construction Accident Lawyer?

Amidst all of the confusion and hardship that can arise after suffering a construction accident injury, you may be wondering whether or not to hire a workers compensation lawyer to handle your case and help you deal with any involved insurance company. Having an experienced Riverside personal injury attorney at your side can improve your chances of recovering workers compensation and other losses in addition to reducing or eliminating the paperwork and hassle that you and your family must deal with during this trying time. The settlement that may be offered to you by insurance companies is likely not in your best interests. You may face serious financial losses and a decrease in the quality of life if you accept an offer that does not reflect the true extent of your damages.

How Much Does a Riverside Construction Accident Lawyer Charge?

After a serious construction accident and injury, your finances have likely taken a hit. Fortunately, most lawyer charge on a contingency fee basis when taking on Riverside construction accident cases. That means your attorney will not be paid unless they win you a settlement or favorable verdict. In effect, you can pursue compensation without risking any money upfront. 

Contingency fees are calculated as a percentage of your total winnings at the end of your case. The percentage amount can vary depending on the complexity of your case and how long it takes to resolve. For the most part, you can expect a contingency fee amount between 20% and 40%. You may be able to negotiate the attorney’s percentage on either a sliding scale or a tiered fee. 

• Sliding scale: for example, 33% of a recovery up to $300,000, and 25% of a recovery from $300,000 up to $600,000, etc. 
• Tiered fee: increases the contingency percentage as your case progresses. For instance, 25% if your case settles, 33% if it goes to trial, 40% if you appeal.

There may also be some small filing fees and other costs associated with going to court. You can demand that these expenses your lawyer advances (e.g., expert fees, obtaining evidence, court costs, etc.) be deducted from the settlement total before the contingency fee. 

Here’s an example, a jury awards you $100,000, your litigation costs are $20,000, and your attorney’s contingency fee percentage is 30%. If you pay your litigation costs after your attorney deducts their fee, your attorney gets $30,000 (30%), and you get $50,000 after paying $20,000 in litigation costs. Whereas, if litigation costs are deducted from your award first, your attorney gets $24,000 (30% of $80,000) and you recover $56,000 ($80,000 – $24,000). 

Whichever type of contingency fee arrangement you agree upon, you will never owe your construction accident lawyer more than you can afford. 

Common Construction Accident Injuries

Numerous injuries may be sustained at a construction site, ranging from minor to catastrophic or fatal. Common injuries include, but are not limited to: 

• Amputations
• Broken, fractured, and crushed bones
• Burns from fires, explosions, or electrocutions
• Cuts or lacerations
• Eye injuries or loss of vision
• Head or traumatic brain injuries
• Loss of limbs 
• Loss of hearing
• Muscle and ligament damage
• Neck, shoulder, and spine injuries
• Paralysis
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Respiratory diseases
• Repetitive motion injuries
• Strains and sprains
• Toxic exposure to chemicals
• Wrongful death

When negligence is a factor on construction sites, people will get hurt, no matter their position or who they work for. If you are injured while at work, you are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. Your employer’s insurance company should pay for your medical treatment and a portion of your lost wages. 

4 Most Fatal Construction Site Accidents

OSHA has identified the 4 leading causes of wrongful deaths in the construction industry. The following four types of construction accidents were responsible for more than half of construction worker deaths in 2017. 

• Falls: 381 out of 971 deaths in 2017 (39.2%)
• Struck by an object: 80 death in 2017 (8.2%)
• Electrocutions: 71 death in 2017 (7.3%)
• Caught in/ between: (this category includes those caught in, struck by, or crushed by equipment, material or a collapsed structure) 50 deaths in 2017 (5.1%)

Eliminating these accidents would save almost 600 lives a year in the U.S. Out of a total of 4,674 worker fatalities in private industry in a recent year, 20.7% (971) were the result of construction accidents. This means that effectively 1 in 5 worker deaths that year were in construction, making it the leading cause of worker deaths in the private sector. 

How to File a Construction Accident Claim in Riverside

After a construction accident, you will likely need to seek compensation for your injuries by filing a workers’ compensation claim. Injured workers are eligible to receive medical benefits and a portion of their lost wages regardless of fault under California workers’ compensation law. However, there are specific procedures to follow, forms to fill out, and deadlines to meet. 

It is in your best interests to report an injury or accident to your employer as soon as possible, but you have a deadline of 30 days from the date it occurred. Failing to report the accident on time can forfeit your rights to benefits. Most employers have procedures in place for when an incident occurs. Refer to your employee handbook or ask your supervisor how to go about reporting your injury. Once your employer is aware, you have one year to file a workers’ compensation claim. Any claims filed after the deadline are typically denied. 

If your employer is uncooperative and refuses to file a workers’ comp claim, it’s time to get a construction accident attorney involved.

When there are grounds for a construction accident claim against a third party, an attorney in Riverside can help you file a lawsuit against those responsible. Recovering compensation will require evidence of the third party’s negligence by demonstrating the following elements: 

• The third party owed you a duty of care (e.g., a driver must operate a construction vehicle safely; product manufacturer must ensure a product is safe for use; property owner must keep the premises reasonably free of hazards)
• The third party failed in their duty of care (e.g., operating a construction vehicle while intoxicated; a product with a defective part; failure to repair a known hazard on a property)
• You suffered injuries as a direct result of the third party’s violation of their duty of care (negligence). 
• Your injuries caused financial losses (e.g., medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, etc.)

Third-party claims are complicated and require the assistance of a skilled Riverside construction accident lawyer. 

Who is Liable for my Injuries?

Workers’ compensation is designed to assist workers that have been injured, need medical treatment, and are unable to perform their work duties. In many instances, however, these benefits are not substantial enough to cover your losses. At Hanson & Mouri, our experienced Riverside premise liability attorney will immediately determine if your case involves a third-party liability. 

If a third party is found to be liable, additional damages can be pursued through an injury claim or lawsuit. In many cases this can be a subcontractor, equipment manufacturer, or any individual or business whose negligence contributed to your injuries. The types of damages available in a third party claim include:

• Lost wages and benefits (the portion that workers’ comp doesn’t cover)
• Loss of future wages and diminished earning capacity
• Current and future medical expenses related to the injury (emergency care, hospital stays, surgeries, ongoing treatment, physical therapy, prescription medications, modifications to the home for disability, etc.)
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Punitive damages (in cases involving outrageous conduct)

When a worker is killed by a construction accident, the surviving family has the right to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the responsible third party. Available damages in a wrongful death claim can include medical bills and burial expenses, lost wages their loved one would have earned if they had lived, pain and suffering for their loved one’s absence, and punitive damages. 

How Do Construction Accident lawyer Collect Evidence for My Case?

Part of the way lawyer assist injured workers in obtaining compensation is by conducting thorough investigations to determine how and why your construction accident occurred. Construction accident lawyer will first get as much information as possible from you. Depending on the needs of the case, they will then either investigate your accident alone or work with other professionals and experts in the field to collect evidence and track down witnesses. Documentation is a primary means of supporting your claim; therefore, your lawyer will attempt to gather the following: 

• Injury Report: the report notifying your employer of your injury will be valuable in documenting that it occurred at work.
• Witness Statements: statements from coworkers or other individuals who saw your accident occur at the construction site.  
• Security Footage: your attorney will secure any available footage of the accident from surveillance cameras. 
• Medical Records: records of treatment are a crucial piece of evidence. Including the doctor’s assessment of the extent and cause of your injury, your work restrictions, and the the ongoing  you require.are you require.  
• Maintenance Records: any records that indicate if a piece of equipment has not been regularly serviced, or that proper safety measures are not being taken.

A good and experienced construction accident lawyer will take the time to uncover all the facts and evidence necessary to support and build a strong case. 

How to Effectively Document Evidence After a Construction Accident Injury

Immediately after a construction accident, promptly treating your injuries is the most important step in effectively documenting evidence. If you don’t feel like the injury requires an ER visit, go to your regular doctor as soon as possible. Some injuries don’t show symptoms right away, and you may not experience pain until days, weeks, or even months later. By that time, it may be too late to medically link your injuries to the construction accident if there are no medical records indicating you sought treatment previously. 

After the doctor determines your injury was a result of the construction accident, write a detailed account of everything that happened leading up to it. Then notify your supervisor and speak to any workers who may have witnessed your accident. Ask for their contact information, and if they’re willing, take a recorded statement. 

Take photos and/or video of the scene, your injuries, vehicles or equipment involved, damaged property, out-of-date protective gear, maintenance records, security cameras, and any other items you believe may be important. 

The last step is contacting a Riverside Construction Accident Lawyer. They will assess your case and the evidence you gathered, then advise you on how to proceed. As long as you sought out medical attention, reported the accident, and spoke to an attorney, you should be able to recover the compensation you need and deserve. 

Get Experienced Legal Help Today – Contact Our Firm

If you are currently coping with a construction accident injury caused by negligence in the workplace, do not delay in speaking with experienced legal counsel from our law firm to find out about your legal options. Contact Hanson & Mouri today for a free case evaluation online or by phone: (951) 419-3199.