When to Hire a Construction Accident Lawyer

What does a Construction Accident Attorney Do?

The ultimate aim of a construction injury lawyer is to help construction workers or contractors who were injured on the job with his or her legal case. . A construction accident lawyer specializes in working with personal injury cases and would be the best person to help you get compensation for your injuries.

It’s important to know the specific responsibility of an employer when it comes to construction accidents. An accident at the workplace might have resulted in a person losing his/her job, or maybe even resulted in permanent or temporary disability. 

Any compensation claim for any injury is a matter of law. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration  help regulate and set workplace safety standards, but despite their suggestions, it’s common for employers to neglect their guidelines. 

Will I have to Pay Out of Pocket Attorney Fees?

Here at Wagner and Jones, we offer a free consultation and won’t charge unless we win your case. Our construction accident attorneys have decades of experience and a winning record.  

For any type of construction accidents, the first (legal) thing to do is consult with a personal injury https://wagnerjones.com/personal-injury-lawyer-fresno or construction injury attorney. Our free consultations will help determine if there is legitimacy to a case and will provide you with guidance on how to best approach your situation. It is not easy to recover damages from an employer in any case and if you are an injured employee, our construction injury lawyers can provide the best advice and services so that you will get what you deserve.

All the states have their own laws that may be used to determine whether a person is actually entitled to a compensation or not. The construction injury lawyers at Wagner and Jones are the top rated in California law and are based out of Fresno, Ca. 

If you are an employee in an office environment and get injured, you can potentially sue for personal injury. In cases where an employer caused injury in a workplace, there is more emphasis given to these cases. On the other hand, in cases where the injured employee was at fault in an accident, the owner of the company might avoid the brunt of the claim and it will be difficult for an employee to win.

What if There Are Multiple Construction Companies Involved in my Personal Injury?

The construction industry is very large and there are hundreds of thousands of jobs that are out there and depending on how severe the injuries were, it is not uncommon for several companies to be involved in a construction accident lawsuit. Most of the claims have to do with severe and sometimes fatal injuries and in the past, cases have even resulted in a lawsuit for wrongful death, read more here: https://wagnerjones.com/wrongful-death.

The best way to defend yourself is to always have a lawyer in the case of a personal injury. They will help you in representing yourself in the court of law. If you have been involved in a car accident, please visit this page: https://wagnerjones.com/car-accident-lawyer-fresno

A construction accident lawyer will take care of all legal services for you and it can save you time, money, and help get you a fair compensation. 

Wagner and Jones

1111 E Herndon Ave #317

Fresno, CA 93720

 

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Fresno, California: What Type Of Legal Cases Do Personal Injury Lawyers Work With?

Personal injury law, also known as tort law, is all about injured people and all the remedies that are available to them. It allows an injured person to seek compensation when harm is brought to them by the intentional or negligent conduct of another. Personal injury lawyers, like the award winning attorneys at Wagner and Jones, deal with torts, and they have to deal with a lot of different cases on a daily basis. All of these different cases give a person the opportunity to make a valid claim of personal injury. Now, we should remember, however, that personal injury doesn’t always lead to liability in the legal sense. So what kind of personal injury cases do personal injury lawyers deal with? Here are some of the most common ones. 

Car Accidents

Car accidents (especially in Fresno) happen to be the most common cause of personal injury cases in the United States. Accidents typically happen when someone somewhere isn’t driving as carefully as they should, or when someone on the road isn’t following the rules. Careless drivers, in particular, are usually help financially responsible for the injuries they cause in a car accident. There are also a number of “no fault” states where exceptions exist. In such cases, the driver should collect from their insurer, unless there was a legally ‘serious’ injury. 

Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice is a special type of tort that occurs when a health professional, such as a medical doctor, provides treatment that fails to meet the medical standard of care for their particular line of work. The patient has a valid personal injury claim against that health care professional if that medical malpractice leads to personal injury. It is important, however, to keep in mind that not all bad results from treatment mean malpractice. There are exceptions, of course.

Wrongful Death

Wrongful death, as implied by the name, is a type of personal injury claim that can be brought against someone whose negligence or recklessness led to the death of another person. Most of these suits actually arise during vehicle accidents, airplane accidents, construction accidents, medical malpractice, neglect at home, or situations where a dangerous or defective product was used. This lawsuit allows for damages to be recovered that are unique and distinct from the damages that can be received when someone has non-fatal injuries instead. 

Slip and Fall Cases

Slip and fall personal injury claims are yet another common type of personal injury claim. These cases come from the legal requirement that property owners keep their premises reasonably safe. The legal duty to keep one’s premises free of hazards does not only apply to property owners; it can sometimes also apply to renters. This is a way to prevent people on the property owner’s premises getting injured. That said, not all injuries that occur on a premises are going to give rise to valid personal injury claims. The landowner’s legal duty isn’t constant, but varies from one situation to another. In fact, in the United States, the legal duty will also vary according to the state in which the injury happened. 

Workplace Accident

Whenever someone is injured or dies while working for their employer, they are generally not allowed to bring a valid personal injury claim against their employer. What the employee or their family can do is use the Worker’s Compensation Act, where they institute a claim against the employer. The Act requires an employer to provide a range of benefits to their workers when injured. They include temporary total disability wages, medical treatment, and sometimes a lump-sum payment, which is known as permanent partial disability. This payment is to compensate the injured employee for the personal injuries suffered. The specific worker’s compensation law will be different from one state to another and there are many potential pitfalls and obstacles. A personal injury lawyer, however, can help you navigate those obstacles and pitfalls.  

Dog Bites

Dog bite injuries happen every day. Owners of dogs are typically financially responsible if their dog bites a person or causes any other kind of injury to them. However, the exact laws will depend on the state in which the personal injury happened. In some cases, the dog owner will still be held liable for the damage caused when a dog bites someone, even if the dog has never been aggressive in the past or had a tendency to bite. These are known as strict liability rules and they apply in some states. There are also states where so-called “one bite” rules prevail. In these states, the owner is only held liable for injury caused by the dog when it bites if there is a reason for that owner to believe that dog has a propensity to bite or has a history of aggression. 

Defamation (Libel and Slander)

Defamation can be in the form of slander or libel and is a name for the personal injury sustained by one’s reputation in the event of untrue statements. Again, the exact rules vary. The particular nature of what a plaintiff in a defamation case should prove will depend on the forum where the statement was made and where the plaintiff is. Typically, a plaintiff just needs to prove that the negative and untrue statement was made and that actual personal harm of a financial nature accrued from that statement. Public figures and celebrities have a greater onus of proof, having to prove that there was actual malice in the statement. They need to prove that the negative and untrue statement was either made recklessly or intentionally without regarding the truth. 

Assault & Battery

These along with other intentional torts, aren’t based on carelessness or negligence. They are given rise when one person intentionally commits acts to injure or harm another. Quite often such cases aren’t only civil, but also criminal, as a criminal charge can often be brought against the perpetrator. If one person physically attacks another, then that person will most likely face criminal charges. However, on top of the criminal charges, the victim can file a personal injury claim against the perpetrator in a civil court and demand compensation from the perpetrators for injuries or harm that resulted from their actions. 

Wagner and Jones

Email: info@wagnerjones.com

Telephone: (559) 449-1800

Url: https://wagnerjones.com

image:

1111 E Herndon Ave #317

Fresno, CA 93720

 

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PG&E loses gambit to avoid California’s inverse condemnation rules

PG&E loses gambit to avoid California’s inverse condemnation rules

NEWS

Nov. 27, 2019: “Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s bankruptcy judge has rejected the utility’s attempt to reduce its liability for the 2017 and 2018 wildfires by circumventing a tough California legal doctrine.” Continue reading on www.sfchronicle.com

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Paradise Residents Still Can’t Drink the Water

Paradise Residents Still Can’t Drink the Water

NEWS

Sep. 30, 2019: “Since last November, when the Camp Fire almost completely destroyed the town of Paradise, the cancer-causing chemical benzene has tainted the town’s water, leaving it undrinkable. Now an independent team of scientists will begin testing for the carcinogen and other pollutants inside the houses that the fire left standing.” Continue reading on www.kqed.org

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New data shows surge in home prices following Camp Fire

New data shows surge in home prices following Camp Fire

NEWS

Oct. 2, 2019: “The anniversary of the Camp Fire is less than a month away and now, new data reveals just how much average home prices went up since the fire.” Continue reading on www.abc10.com

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Access to health care was already difficult before the Camp Fire, according to new assessment

Access to health care was already difficult before the Camp Fire, according to new assessment

NEWS

Sep. 20, 2019: “Laurie Heer injured her shoulder when her dog panicked while they evacuated during the Camp Fire. But she couldn’t find her Paradise doctor to prescribe her pain medication and get her on the path for surgery for several months. Now she’s struggling to pay for gas to drive from Lime Saddle Campground, where she’s temporarily living, to Chico every week for appointments with a physical therapist and a psychiatrist. Her dentist has a seemingly interminable waitlist.” Continue reading on www.paradisepost.com

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Don’t be Fooled: PG&E $11 Billion Settlement Over the Butte County Camp Fire Not What It Seems

Camp Fire victims are being shorted, an unlikely duo has teamed up for a hostile company takeover, and a whole lot of people wondering what’s going on with the PG & E settlement. 

To untangle the mess, this article will go over what’s going on, when things happened, and we will also do our best to explain why they happened.

Starting off, let’s talk about the claim amounts.

• Victims claim PG & E owes $54 billion.
• PG & E claims that it could only owe $30 billion.
• The September 9th Plan offers $17.9 billion.
• To date, they have negotiated $12 billion in settlements, with $11 billion going to insurance companies and $1 billion going to government entities.
• They’re trying to settle the rest, with the victims, for $8.4 billion.

Next, there are 3 major “groups” involved with the PG & E lawsuit.

1. You have the insurance companies who have paid out to the victims.
2. You have individual parties with individual claims against PG & E.
3. You have a wildfire group that has teamed up with hedge funds in order to stage a hostile takeover of PG & E.

Now we’ll talk about the events and how the developed.

September 9: The chaos started with PG & E unveiling their plans for a company reorganization that would pay out $17.9 billion – slightly over half of the initial amount of claims. $8.4 billion would be for wildfire victims, $8.5 billion for insurance companies, and $1 billion for local government entities.

Right off the bat, it’s easy to see why both insurance companies and individual plaintiffs were upset – the compensation was just too little compared to the damages. 

September 13th: PG & E announces an $11 billion settlement with insurance groups. This settlement is the second , with the first one being $1 billion to government entities, and is for an insurance group that represents around 85% of the claims for the both the Butte County Camp Fire of 2018 and the Northern California fires of 2017.

While some are happy, others aren’t. In a statement from the Ad Hoc Subrogation Group, they’re expecting this initial settlement to “pave the way for a plan of reorganization that allows PG & E to fairly compensate all victims and emerge from the Chapter 11 by the June 2020 legislative deadline”.

With the individual victims, all parties were outraged. According to California law, the victims are to be compensated first, and attorneys feel that PG & E is instead putting insurance companies ahead of the victims. with the settlement and the plan.

Attorneys are now furiously battling in the bankruptcy courts as the deal will require sign off from US Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali.

These series of events then leads us to third major development, the hostile takeover of PG & E. For those who aren’t familiar, a hostile takeover is when “Company A” goes directly to the shareholders of “Company B” in order to buy enough shares to take over “Company B”. What makes it hostile is that “Company B” does not want this to happen.

In this case, the various wildfire victims that felt shorted, joined forces with Wall-street hedge funds in an attempt to takeover PG & E and plan out a more fair settlement that would include $24 billion to a trust responsible for paying off the wildfire liabilities. The payout would be a mix of both cash and PG & E stock.

The stakes are higher than ever as victims of the wildfires are running out of time to get their claims in. If you or someone you know were a victim to the Butte County Camp Fires or the Nor Cal wildfires, please contact our award winning attorneys immediately for a free consultation at 559-449-1800. Once again, time is running out and there are only days left. Do not hesitate.

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