- January 1, 2025
- Tucker Law
- Work Injury
If you’re a construction worker in New York and you get hurt on the job, you have legal recourse. Many injured workers start by filing a workers’ compensation claim. Workers’ compensation will often pay for medical costs and replace a portion of lost wages. However, if your injury was caused by a third party, you may be able to pursue a personal injury lawsuit. Personal injury lawsuits usually allow you to recover more than just economic damages. The tangible and intangible costs you may be able to receive compensation for can vary based on your claim details. Below, you’ll find a general guide to some of the factors that could influence your settlement value.
Depending on the circumstances of your work injury, you may be able to file a workers’ compensation claim, a personal injury lawsuit, or both. An experienced attorney can help you decide which option is best for you.
Economic Damages: The Tangible Costs
When it comes to determining the value of any settlement you receive for a construction injury, economic damages are among the most important factors. In the legal world, “damages” refers to compensation for losses. Economic damages describe compensation for losses that can be quantified. In the case of a construction injury, you might have economic losses like these:
- Medical expenses
- Lost wages (over the course of healing)
- Long-term lost wages (in the event of long-term or permanent disability)
- The cost of physical therapy and other kinds of rehabilitation.
When your lawyer is calculating the potential value of your case, they will need as much evidence as possible of the financial costs you’ve dealt with. Make sure to keep copies of medical bills and receipts for all expenses related to your accident.
Non-Economic Damages: The Intangible Costs
The Cost of an Injury Isn’t Just Monetary
While workers’ compensation cases don’t generally compensate you for intangible losses like pain and suffering, personal injury lawsuits usually do. In a personal injury lawsuit, your lawyer may seek non-economic damages or compensation for intangible losses. Non-economic damages often include compensation for losses like these:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- The psychological impact of disfigurement.
Calculating the value of non-economic damages is more difficult than doing so for economic damages. When valuing a case, many attorneys (and insurance companies) use what’s called the multiplier method. This involves adding up your total economic losses and multiplying them by a number between 1.5 and five. The more impact your injuries have on your daily life, the higher the multiplier is likely to be.
For example, imagine that you were involved in an accident and have $20,000 in medical bills. You suffer a few painful broken bones, but they heal completely within a year. In this case, your case might be assigned a multiplier of 1.5, meaning your non-economic damages would be $30,000. That brings your total compensation to $50,000.
Now, imagine that you have the same $20,000 in medical bills. However, instead of suffering a few broken bones, you become paralyzed from the waist down. Because this is an incredibly serious injury that permanently upends your life, your case might have a multiplier of five. That means your non-economic damages would be $100,000, making your total compensation $120,000.
If you’ve suffered a serious construction injury, don’t wait — call Tucker Lawyers at (516) 399-2364 or get in touch online for a free consultation.
Additional Factors Affecting Settlement Value
It can be challenging to predict what kind of compensation you will receive in a personal injury lawsuit. That’s due in part to the many factors that can influence the value of your case. Part of the role of an experienced personal injury lawyer is to give you an idea of what your case might be worth. When making that determination, your attorney will take the following factors into account:
The Severity of Your Injuries
More serious injuries aren’t just more expensive; they also cause more physical pain, greater emotional distress, and a higher degree of disability. As a result, more severe injuries usually lead to higher settlement values.
Your Level of Negligence
New York is one of only a handful of states that use a pure comparative negligence standard. Many states have a modified comparative negligence standard that bars you from recovering compensation if you were more than 50% (or sometimes 51%) at fault. In contrast, New York allows you to attempt to recover compensation regardless of your level of fault. However, the total amount you recover will be reduced by your percentage of fault.
For example, suppose that you’re in an accident where you are determined to be 10% at fault. A judge awards you $100,000, which is then reduced by 10%. This means that you would recover a total of $90,000.
Whether You Had a Pre-Existing Condition
If you had a medical condition prior to your injury, that pre-existing condition might have made the injury worse. Even if this happens in your case, you can still recover compensation. However, the other side might argue that your injury is only as bad as it is because you had a related pre-existing condition. For that reason, certain pre-existing conditions may lead to a lower settlement amount.
Insurance Limits
Often, the amount you can recover is limited by the at-fault party’s insurance coverage. If you are filing a lawsuit against a major corporation, that corporation likely has millions of dollars of liability insurance. However, if you are suing an ordinary driver who hit you and caused a serious injury, that driver’s liability insurance likely has a limit of a few hundred thousand dollars at most.
The Strength of Your Case
The more evidence your attorney has against the other party (and proving the extent of your injuries), the greater your likelihood of a higher settlement.
Have You Suffered a Construction Injury?
Let Tucker Lawyers Help You Recover the Compensation You Deserve
In New York, the laws surrounding construction site accidents and other workplace injuries can be complicated. The team at Tucker Lawyers has extensive experience helping hardworking New Yorkers like you receive the compensation they need to get their lives back. We can review your case and help you understand your options for filing a workers’ compensation claim, a personal injury lawsuit, or both.
If you have been injured in a worksite accident, reach out to Tucker Lawyers at (516) 399-2364 as soon as you can. We’re here for you.
Managing Attorney John. J. Tucker, Esq.
John has personally handled thousands of clients who were victims of another’s negligence and fights relentlessly for their rights. John enjoys bringing closure to a client’s matter so that the injured party can move forward with their life. His background enables him to evaluate complex liability related claims and bring resolution to claims in a record time frame. [ Attorney Bio ]