A spinal cord injury can change how you work and manage daily tasks. As you focus on recovery, you may also need to find out who contributed to the unsafe conditions that caused the injury.
If you were hurt while working on a construction site, the person or company responsible may depend on how the injury happened and who controlled the hazard. Knowing which parties could share liability can help you understand what evidence may matter.
A fall from scaffolding, a falling object or a machinery failure may involve several entities. Liability generally depends on who failed to use reasonable care and whether that failure caused your injury. Potentially responsible parties include the following.
Your employer
Your employer may have failed to provide safety training, suitable protective gear or a reasonably safe work area. Whether you can bring a claim against it depends in part on whether it carries workers’ compensation coverage. Another company may also share responsibility for causing your injury.
A general contractor or subcontractor
A contractor may share responsibility if it controlled part of the work and failed to address a known hazard. A subcontractor could also be responsible if its crew leaves debris where you walk or operates machinery carelessly.
The property owner
Owning the site alone does not automatically make someone liable. Texas law limits some claims by contractor employees against property owners. Depending on the claim, you may need to show that the owner controlled how the work was done and knew about the danger. An exposed wire or unstable ground could be relevant if it contributed to your fall or another impact.
An equipment manufacturer or seller
A manufacturer or seller may be responsible if a defective tool, scaffold part or machine caused the accident. For example, a lift that suddenly drops because of a faulty component could point to a product defect. Evidence about the equipment’s design, manufacture and maintenance may help show what failed.
Once the cause is under review, determining fault can also affect your claim. Texas law may assign each party a percentage of responsibility. The court could reduce your compensation based on your share of fault. If the court finds you more than 50% responsible, Texas law bars recovery.
Why you should know how fault can affect your claim
Learning who could have contributed to unsafe site conditions can help you see why investigators typically examine more than one company. The party’s control over the work or site may affect its responsibility.
Since those details can be difficult to assess while you are recovering, an attorney may review the evidence and explain how fault rules and filing deadlines may affect your claim. This guidance could help you understand how the facts may define your legal options.