Plaintiff v Construction Company: Tractor Accident - Accidents : Farming Accident
1.3 Million Dollar Settlement
Case Details: Our client was working for a a construction company, and he was out in the farm and fields that they were doing the construction on. The person working the tractor wasn't paying attention, and our client was leaning up against the tractor. Someone nearby heard the driver start the tractor as it ran our client over, killing him. With this unfortunate case, our California personal injury lawyer was able to prove that our client was not an employee, but an independent contractor based on the way he was paid. Typically if you're an employee working and you get hurt or killed, you're subject to Worker's Compensation. And if you have to go that route, and the recovery is not as good, and it doesn't approximate as much as a person injury case with the actual value for losses, but will prove because of the way you've been paid. The company at fault would be trying to avoid a lot of the responsibilities to him as an employee.
Our legal team concluded that he wasn't employed, and by uncovering this truth, his family is able to recover a better settlement. When a client is involved in a Worker's Compensation dispute, that's where those cases require a legal analysis by an experienced personal injury attorney. Most individuals are not subject to what steps to follow, and think they have no remedy. The good news is you'll have a legal team at your side who understands the differences between work injuries and personal injuries, and how to get out of the workers compensation system since it can be an unfair one. Worker's Comp is a no fault system, meaning it doesn't matter if the employee was negligent or not, but the possible damage recovered is extremely limited. This is why having a personal injury legal team makes it possible to get into the compensation realm on cases like those. The other way that you'd be able to cover ground and obtain some value is if you're an employee working, and you get hurt or killed, we'd find out if there was another trade or business there responsible for what happened when you were injured. The differentiating question to ask is was it an employers fault or someone else's? And were you acting in the course of work? You will be limited to certain degree by the role that your employer's negligence played in the case, but your recovery will be substantially greater in most circumstances if you just pursue the Worker's Compensation case.