“At Munley Law, we understand the impact of work-related injuries. Our Pittsburgh-based attorneys are dedicated to providing expert legal support to workers injured on the job, ensuring a fair recovery.”

Why Are Workplace Accidents So Complicated?

Deadly workplace accident lawsuits in Texas are made much more difficult due to the fact that the state allows workers’ compensation insurance. Workmans’ comp is not a standard insurance policy in that it is supported by and highly regulated by the state. Yes, workers’ comp insurance usually does provide settlements to injured workers and their loved ones, but these settlements are rather small and they are usually not even close to being sufficient compensation for one’s injuries or for the deceased’s bereaved family. What most Texans do not know about workers’ comp, is that it was signed into law in order to protect businesses and corporations from lawsuits. After decades of pro-business interest lobbying, lawmakers put significant barriers in place in order to prevent injured employees or their families from easily pursuing litigation against careless, reckless, or otherwise negligent employers. In order to take legal action against a negligent employer for a personal injury or wrongful death suit, very specific conditions have to be met. Most non-lawyers are unaware that these types of cases are very exclusive. It is just a fact that if workmans’ comp insurance is not taken into consideration in your instance, you simply will not be successful. Fortunately, our very experienced and aggressive fatal work accident attorneys are extremely skilled in handling workmans’ compensation issues and can ensure that your family receives both justice and full and fair compensation. More about workers compensation Law here

Gross Negligence MUST be Proven in A Fatal Workplace Accident

There are two basic standards of negligence to consider when considering a deadly worksite accident legal action, and they are gross negligence and standard negligence. If the employer in question does not subscribe to workers’ comp insurance, then the standard you will need to meet is standard negligence in order to receive compensation for your loss and suffering. Should your loved one have been killed in a worksite where the employer carries workmans’ compensation insurance (these employers are called subscribers), in order for the employer to be found responsible for your family member’s death, you must be able to show gross negligence. The standard of proof to establish gross negligence is considerably higher than to show standard negligence, and in order to prove gross negligence, you must have an absolutely concrete case. Most non-lawyers and many attorneys without considerable experience many times will make a tiny mistake when pursuing these claims, mistakes that will let a negligent employer escape responsibility for their careless part in the accident. But what is important that you should know is that it is not a concern if the employer was negligent or not. In fact, the employer in question can admit to being negligent, and he or she may even admit that the employer’s negligence led to the death of your family member, but it will not matter if you cannot establish gross negligence. Most non and inexperienced lawyers do not know this, and they believe that just because an employer admits to being negligent, the case is already won. Never believe this.

The difference between the two standards of negligence has to do with the egregiousness of negligence. Normally, standard negligence is basically a simple mistake or a fleeting slip in paying attention that causes the mishap and injury. For example, a roofer sets a ladder upon unstable ground and causes another roofer to fall off of the ladder. In this case, generally, the employer can be held responsible by a legal principle known as respondeat superior. Respondeat superior means that an employer can be held responsible for the actions of his or her employees, and in this example, the employer likely would be found guilty of standard negligence. An employee made a simple mistake due to an error in judgment and as a result, caused a job-site injury, but this is not gross negligence.

Let’s take a different example. Now we will assume that the employee in question has a history of ladder accidents due to careless or reckless behavior and several employees have been hurt by his actions, and he has demonstrated that he simply does not care about safe ladder placement. It becomes safe to assume that this worker should not be allowed to place ladders for other roofers to use, since you can also assume more accidents will happen. Now if another worker is injured or killed due to a ladder accident where this employee had a hand in placement, then it is likely that this employer can be found guilty of gross negligence since the accident was foreseeable (since this employee has a history of ladder placement accidents) and preventable (the employer could simply prohibit this employee from placing the company’s ladders). Since the employer did not take active measures to improve job-site safety by banning this employee from placing ladders, the employer then becomes liable for gross negligence.

We can take another example and consider electrocution when laying power lines. If the electrocution was caused by some sort of bizarre incident that no one could even foresee, and if all the workers were following necessary safety and security protocols, then the electric company would more than likely not be found guilty of gross negligence, and the incident would be nothing more than a tragic mishap. But however, if workers and foremen repeatedly warned their employer about unsafe protocols and procedures, and if experts in laying power lines had warned that certain procedures and practices were unsound, then you can almost be assured the electric company would be responsible for gross negligence.