Brooklyn · Kings County · Construction injuries
Brooklyn Construction Accident Lawyer for Injured Workers
An injured worker usually faces two different questions: what benefits are available through the workplace system, and whether anyone outside the employer may be legally responsible.
A fall, falling material or machinery incident deserves investigation. None automatically proves a Labor Law claim. You do not need to know every contractor on the site before calling.
Two separate paths
Workers' compensation
Report through the workplace process. Generally notify the employer within 30 days.
Possible third-party claim
Depends on who controlled the work and how the accident occurred.
After the injury
Preserve what you can safely preserve
Get medical care first and tell the treating professional how the injury happened. Report the accident through the workplace process and keep a copy of the report if you receive one.
Site conditions rarely stay fixed. A scaffold may be dismantled, materials removed and crews reassigned. Record what you personally observed without guessing that a photograph proves the cause.
Get medical care
Tell the treating professional how it happened.
Report it at work
Keep a copy of the report and note the date and method.
Note the details
The task, the exact location, what moved or failed, and who saw it.
Photograph only if safe
Do not reenter a hazardous area or move equipment to recreate the event.
Keep the paperwork together
Medical visit dates, work restrictions and missed-work records.
The New York Workers' Compensation Board's filing guidance says workers generally should notify their employer within 30 days, preferably sooner, and describes the claim process. That notification clock is not a universal deadline for a separate lawsuit.
Benefits and liability
Compensation benefits and a third-party case are separate paths
Workers' compensation has its own benefits and filing process for an injury at work. Depending on the jobsite relationships and how the accident occurred, there may also be a claim involving a legally responsible party other than the employer.
Workers' compensation
- Starts with
- Notice to the employer and the Board's claim process.
- Key question
- Which benefits apply, and what the claim process requires.
- Bring
- Compensation letters, claim numbers and medical restrictions.
Possible third-party claim
- Starts with
- Identifying who performed and controlled the work at that exact location.
- Key question
- Is a party other than the employer legally responsible?
- Bring
- The site address, employer name, and who gave directions and supplied equipment.
An owner, general contractor or subcontractor may have a different role under a contract than workers saw on site. A company name on a vest or truck is a lead, not proof of legal responsibility.
Do not assume that accepting compensation benefits means you have waived every claim involving another party. Likewise, do not treat the possibility of another party as a guarantee that a third-party case exists.
The firm's construction accident practice page describes the broader service. Hurt by a forklift in a Brooklyn warehouse or at a loading dock? See our forklift accident page for how workers' compensation and third-party claims fit together. This page focuses on Brooklyn jobsite intake.
Published firm results
Construction and work accident results
These are the construction and work accident results in the firm's published archive. The published descriptions do not say where the injuries occurred, and they are not presented here as Brooklyn cases.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case depends on its own facts.
See the full verdicts and settlements archive$8,000,000
$8 Million Dollar Settlement — 2nd Department
Plaintiff sustained a series of fractures and other injuries to the right shin, heel and foot, requiring nailing of the right tibia with two proximal and two distal locking bolts, ultimately resulting in below-the-knee amputation.
$750,000
$750,000 Settlement
Plaintiff injured when telephone pole struck him causing a traumatic brain injury and shoulder injury requiring surgery.
$1,157,000
$1,157,000 Award
Plaintiff injured at worksite sustaining traumatic tear of the left biceps tendon with tendon retraction which required surgery.
New York safety laws
When New York's construction safety laws may matter
Two Labor Law sections come up often after construction injuries. Each has its own requirements, and neither can be resolved without the work assignment, hazard and parties being identified.
§ 240(1)
Certain elevation-related hazards
It is not a general rule that every fall, ladder incident or object striking a worker produces liability. The task, the height-related risk and the required safety devices matter.
The Court of Appeals' discussion in Narducci v. Manhasset Bay Associates is one reason to investigate a falling object's circumstances rather than label it a Scaffold Law case on sight.
§ 241(6)
A specific Industrial Code provision
This theory calls for a sufficiently specific, applicable Industrial Code provision tied to the work and condition. A statement that a site was generally unsafe is not enough by itself.
Misicki v. Caradonna addresses that specificity issue. Other negligence or site-control questions may also arise.
If you have a ladder, scaffold or opening photograph, explain what it shows and when it was taken. A lawyer can look for records that put it in context: contracts, site logs, equipment information and witness accounts.
For the first conversation
A practical account of the jobsite
Put the facts in order. Separate what you saw from what a coworker later told you. If you do not know who owned the property, a site address and employer details are a useful starting point.
Some evidence may require an investigation rather than a worker obtaining it personally. You should not alter equipment or try to retrieve restricted site records.
- Who assigned the task
- Where you were standing or working
- What you were using or carrying
- What fell, shifted or gave way
- What happened immediately afterward
- What treatment followed
Past outcomes are not a measure of the value or viability of a new injury. A review should address this worker's site, medical evidence, available benefits and any potential responsible third party.
Questions
Questions injured Brooklyn workers ask
Workers' compensation and a claim against a legally responsible party other than your employer are separate paths. Receiving benefits neither creates nor rules out the second claim. The two can interact, so bring your compensation letters and claim details to a legal review.
No. Section 240(1) concerns certain elevation-related hazards in covered work. The task, the height-related risk and the required safety devices matter. A fall or a falling object deserves investigation, but neither automatically proves a Labor Law claim.
The New York Workers' Compensation Board says workers generally should notify their employer within 30 days of an injury, preferably sooner. That notification clock is not a universal deadline for a separate lawsuit. Save the date and method of your report, and ask an attorney about the distinct rules that may apply.
Keep the original and make a separate, dated note of the discrepancy. Do not revise someone else's record to make the two accounts match. Tell the lawyer whether you saw the condition before the injury or only afterward.
It can. Tell the reviewing lawyer who gave daily directions and who supplied the equipment. Those answers help identify documents to request, but they do not settle the legal duties of each company.
Discuss the Brooklyn worksite injury
If you are already receiving compensation, bring that file. Whether a separate claim exists, against whom and on what deadline requires individualized legal advice.
What to bring
- The job address and employer name
- Any accident report and photographs
- Witness names and texts about the assignment
- Compensation correspondence and medical restrictions