Dallas Workers' Comp Lawyer

Dallas Workers Comp Lawyer Michael Grossman on Your Next Steps Following an On-the-Job Injury

Suffering an injury while on-the-job can be frustrating for a number of reasons, including the actual injury sustained and the fact that your injury has likely left you unable to continue working at your same level or even working at all.

Work-related injuries can happen in a wide variety of ways, from slips and falls to lifting injuries to the more severe injuries that occur in places like construction sites. When such an on-the-job accident occurs, the victim is likely entitled to be compensated for their injury by the liable party or parties. However, seeking such compensation can often be an additionally frustrating experience, as the legal hurdles that must be overcome to be fairly compensated are often numerous and high. With the complexities of workers comp law and the common possibility of multiple liable parties, seeking compensation for on the job accidents can be nearly impossible without the help of a Dallas work injury attorney. With 20 years of experience in helping injured workers get back onto their feet and back to working if they’re capable of doing so, Dallas workers comp lawyer Michael Grossman can assist you in seeking full and fair compensation from a workers comp policy or from any other liable party responsible for your work-related accident.

The Question of Workers Compensation Insurance Coverage

Since Texas is one of the few states that does not mandate that all companies must carry workers compensation coverage, one of the first issues that a Dallas or Fort Worth workers comp lawyer must put to rest is the question of whether or not a liable employer is covered by workers comp insurance. If the employer is a subscriber, i.e. they have workers comp coverage, then an injured employee or a bereaved family member cannot bring a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit against that employer. The victim or family member must seek compensation through the workers comp policy. This is one of the strongest benefits that a subscribing employer possesses when they opt to purchase workers comp coverage. However, if a negligent employer does not have workers compensation insurance, i.e. is a non-subscriber, then legal action can be brought against that employer through a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit. As you can tell, establishing whether or not an employer is covered by workers comp is often the first issue that must be properly assessed since the ramifications of the employer’s coverage requires that two entirely different legal approaches must be taken in order for an aggrieved party to be fairly compensated.

However, because Dallas companies and other employers in Texas know about the laws forbidding an aggrieved party from filing a lawsuit against a subscriber, some companies will act as if they’re covered by workers compensation insurance, when in fact they’re not. In some instances, even those that one might suppose would know the answer to that question, like a manager or supervisor, are ignorant about a company’s workers comp status. Additionally, since workers comp insurance can sometimes be cost-prohibitive for an employer, they may attempt to skate along without such insurance in the hopes that an injurious or fatal accident doesn’t occur. When such an on-the-job accident does occur, which, sadly, they inevitably do, then the non-subscriber will attempt to conceal their lack of coverage through various means.

In some instances, a company may attempt to compensate an injured victim or a bereaved family member out of their own pockets, while telling the aggrieved party that the money is actually from their insurer. While this may be helpful in some ways to the victim that might have medical debt and may be in real need of quick compensation regardless of the dollar amount, such a compensation package is often quite less than what is fair, or what is adequate to cover all of the damages incurred, or what could likely be gained through a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit. If it is found out that the negligent company is not in fact a subscriber to worker’s compensation insurance, then such lawsuits can be brought against them. Often, the only way to truly know whether or not an employer is covered by workers comp insurance is to contact an experienced Dallas workers comp lawyer like Michael Grossman. With two decades of prior experience in investigating these types of claims, we can help you figure out your company’s actual coverage, and then provide you with your possible legal options so that you can stand to be fully and fairly compensated for your injury or loss.

What Are My Options if My Employer Has Workers Compensation Insurance?

Since employers that carry workers compensation insurance in Texas are afforded many benefits for opting to do so, an aggrieved party can often experience certain difficulties in seeking compensation through the workers comp process. Since a lawsuit cannot be brought, unless gross negligence resulted in a death, an injured worker or bereaved family is often left with one possible route toward securing compensation for their injury or loss. Unfortunately, even this route is somewhat limited in scope due to the benefits that Texas workers compensation law allows for the businesses that choose to purchase workers comp coverage. For example, compensation through a workers comp claim is limited to 70% of the wages lost while gone from work due to the injury, and is capped at $600/week. If a permanent disablement has resulted from your work injury and you’re unable to work for the rest of your life, this may be the only benefits you could receive for the rest of your life. While workers comp policies will reimburse a victim for medical treatment, drugs, medical supplies, and travel expenses in relation to medical help sought, such a policy will not compensation you for your pain and suffering or other types of general damages that can be sought in a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit.

Furthermore, the effort required to get through the bureaucratic red tape of the the workers compensation process is often immense and time-consuming. Compensation will likely not be quickly forthcoming. As the workers comp policy is held by an insurance company intent in retaining their assets where possible, the claim will also likely be investigated, which can sometimes lead to a contested claim which must be decided upon in a special workers compensation court case. Without proper legal help to guide you through this process, you could stand to lose necessary compensation which may be your only possible route toward compensation. Dallas work injury attorney Michael Grossman has the knowledge and experience to help you in such workers compensation cases. By having knowledgeable legal experience on your side, you can make sure that you’re not being taken advantage of by an insurance agency that would likely just rather make quick and cost-efficient work of your claim by having it denied or diminished.

Other Viable Options When a Dallas Employer is Covered by Workers Compensation

While the compensation awarded through the workers compensation process may seem lacking in some respects, there are other options that may be viable routes toward additional compensation dependent on the specifics of the work-injury accident. For instance, as previously stated, if a worker is killed due to the gross negligence of an employer and the employer is a subscriber, Texas workers comp law allows for the family of the decedent to sue the negligent company. However, proving gross negligence requires a high standard of proof since it must be shown that the negligent employer knew that there existed a high likelihood of a fatal accident occurring and did little to nothing to prevent it from occurring. Without experienced legal help like Dallas workers comp lawyer Michael Grossman and his investigative team at Grossman Law Offices, proving the gross negligence of an employer can be quite challenging to those without prior, similar experience.

Furthermore, on-the-job accidents often have multiple causes or contributors, meaning that there are likely multiple liable parties that each hold a certain degree of liability for their role in the accident. As such, any of the other entities that are not subscribers to workers comp can be held accountable for their negligent actions through a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit. In other words, an injured worker could seek compensation through a workers comp claim from his employer, and could seek additional compensation through a personal injury lawsuit if a fellow worker that was a contractor contributed to causing the accident. While these issues are highly dependent on the specifics of the accident, it is often the case that an aggrieved party could stand to be fairly compensated for their injury by ensuring that all liable parties are identified and held accountable for their negligent behavior. Grossman Law Offices works every accident site in order to ensure all liable parties are discovered so that our clients can stand to be compensated by all responsible parties.

What Are My Options if My Employer Is Not Covered by Workers Compensation Insurance?

Texas workers comp law punishes, in many ways, the companies that do not choose to subscribe to workers compensation insurance. For instance, if a worker is injured or killed while working for a non-subscriber, the employer can be sued without limit. This can be beneficial to the victim for a number of reasons, including the amount of compensation that could possible be due to them, as well as the fact that such a victim does not have to go through the bureaucracy of the workers comp system in order to receive compensation. However, these types of non-subscriber personal injury and wrongful death cases often require the help of an experienced attorney since these types of cases are often challenged. As such, an injured victim or a bereaved family will need to be able to prove their case in order to show that the employer was somehow negligent in regards to their care for their employee’s safety. Additionally, the damages incurred by the worker must be totaled and then justified so that the amount of compensation sought is fair in regards to the damages incurred by the victim. In the case of severe personal injury or loss of life, calculating these damages can prove to challenging to lawyers with little to no experience in doing so. With 20 years of experience of being able to faithfully calculate all damages incurred, Michael Grossman works to ensure that a victim or a victim’s family is properly compensated for their injury or loss.

Possible Obstacles in Non-Subscriber Cases

While a non-subscribing employer will lack a workers comp policy, they will likely still have some type of insurance policy that will be responsible for paying part of your claim. As a result, an insurance company will likely be involved in the legal fight. Depending on the severity of the accident and the size of the insurance policy at stake, highly experienced insurance adjusters and defense attorneys will likely be sent to work the claim or case. With many years of prior experience in seeing past, similar claims denied or diminished, these professionals can often make quick work of your claim, unless you have experienced legal help on your side that can watch out for your best interests at all times.

Furthermore, defense attorneys for non-subscribers are relegated to having only one defensive measure that they can employ in defense of their clients. This measure, known as the sole proximate cause defense, means that the defense must be able to prove that the injured or deceased victim was entirely responsible for the accident, thus releasing their client, the non-subscribing employer, from any liability for the accident. Such a defensive measure means that an employee’s work history will be pored through and their competence to do their jobs correctly will be called into question. This can be especially difficult for family members that have lost a loved one due to a fatal Dallas job accident since their loved one is not available to speak for themselves. In that instance, having a strong case built through relevant evidence is paramount toward the successful outcome of a wrongful death case since the evidence must be able to speak on behalf of the decedent. Fort Worth workers comp lawyer Michael Grossman and his team at Grossman Law Offices conduct extensive investigations in order to build such a strong case so that all liable parties are held accountable for their fair share of liability in the accident.

Proving the Employer-Employee Relationship

Another major issue in many workers comp claims and claims related to work-related injuries is the relationship that exists between a worker and the employer. If a worker can be proven to have been a contractor at the time of the accident, then the employer will not be held liable for the accident, since a contractor is responsible for their own safety while on the job. This is part of the reason why many Dallas construction sites hire mostly contractors. However, if an employer-employee relationship can be proven to have existed at the time of the accident, then the employer could be a liable party. In many instances, such a relationship can be established through a few pointed questions, even if the worker was always referred to as a “contractor” by their employer. This is so because Texas law contains an expansive definition for an employee. As such, the following questions can help you to ascertain whether you or a loved one would likely qualify as an employee:

• Was the worker paid per hour instead of per project?
• Was the worker hired to work for an indefinite amount of time as opposed to working to complete a certain task?
• Was the worker supervised or inspected as work was on-going, or did such inspections occur after the job was completed?
• Was the worker provided by the employer with tools or materials to accomplish their job, as opposed to having to furnish their own equipment?
• Was the worker’s schedule set by the employer, instead of set by themselves?
• Was the worker required to have signed a document stating that they were an employee, like an employee handbook?
• Did the worker’s employer withhold social security or taxes from the worker’s paycheck?

If answers to the previous questions are in the affirmative in regards to the first half of the questions, then the worker can likely be argued to have been an employee, as opposed to a contractor. Consequently, this means that the employee can then seek compensation from the employer for any negligence they may have shown that resulted in their injury or loss. Again, with 20 years of experience in these types of cases, Dallas worker comp lawyer Michael Grossman is well-prepared to help defend your rights against a negligent employer that may be trying to eschew liability by claiming a worker was a contractor when in fact they may have been an employee.

Will OSHA Assist My Work-Injury Case?

While OSHA serves a valuable and beneficial purpose, their involvement in a work-injury accident case seldom means much to the aggrieved party. Their goal is to inspect a work site in order to see what went wrong and if a similar accident can be prevented from happening in the future. They can also levy fines against an employer, but OSHA is seldom concerned with the rights of the injured victim or the bereaved family. Furthermore, OSHA reports can often be somewhat vague and may prove to be fairly useless in regards to building a strong case against a negligent employer. As such, relying on an OSHA investigation seldom does much toward assisting an injured victim or a bereaved family to receive proper compensation for their injury or loss.

What Should I Do Following an On-the-Job Accident?

First, seek medical attention. This may be an obvious step, but there are some who refrain from doing so for various reasons. If you’re unable to seek medical help due to financial circumstances or because you fear taking time off from work in order to seek necessary help, our law offices may be able to assist you. We are familiar with a large number of medical professionals that can help you and will take your financial status into consideration. Furthermore, we may be able to find medical help for you that costs nothing. Additionally, medical bills and lost wages can likely be compensated for by the liable defendant. It should also be noted that an injured victim has a duty to mitigate their damages. This means that they must seek medical attention within a reasonable amount of time so that their injury does not worsen. If the injury worsens to an intense degree and the victim has still not sought medical help, the victim may not be able to bring a claim against a negligent party at all.

Secondly, an injured victim should never agree to accept a settlement package from an employer or other liable party without the help of an experienced work injury lawyer to look over such a settlement. More often than not, such a settlement is a low-ball compensation package offered to make quick and cost-efficient work of your claim. This settlement is often much less than what is fair or what could be obtained through a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit. Furthermore, when a victim agrees to such a settlement by signing a document, they’re also likely signing away their rights toward seeking further legal action against that negligent party. In those instances, there is often little that can be accomplished by even an experienced attorney in order to assist a victim who has signed such a document. Ensure that this scenario doesn’t happen to you by enlisting the help of Dallas workers comp lawyer Michael Grossman to help make sure that you’re not being taken advantage of by an insurer or defense attorney that simply wants to see your claim denied, dropped, or diminished.

Contacting your own legal help in the immediate aftermath of experiencing an on-the-job accident is an important first step towards ensuring that you stand the greatest opportunity at receiving full and fair compensation for your injury or loss. As time goes by, relevant evidence can be lost and key witnesses can become difficult to track down. Furthermore, evidence can be tampered with or destroyed by those that would rather not be held accountable for their actions. By allowing our experienced investigative team to get onto an accident site as soon as possible after it has occurred allows us to start building a strong case on your behalf so that all liable parties are brought to justice.

Contact Grossman Law Offices at 1-855-326-0000 (toll free) for a free legal consultation. Share the details of your accident with us and we’ll provide you with your possible legal options. You’ll also be able to ask any questions you may have regarding your possible workers comp claim or non-subscriber case. With 20 years of experience in seeking compensation for on the job accidents for our clients, Dallas workers comp lawyer Michael Grossman and his team at Grossman Law Offices are ready to help you get back on your feet, back to work if possible, and back to living your life.