New York City Forklift Accident Lawyer

Usually not. Workers' compensation is generally the remedy against your own employer, and it pays medical care and part of lost wages without proof of fault. A separate injury lawsuit is possible against someone who is not your employer, such as the property owner, a general contractor, another company whose driver hit you, the company that owned or rented out the forklift, or its manufacturer.

Not against the co-worker. Workers' Compensation Law 29(6) makes compensation the exclusive remedy when you are injured by the negligence of another person in the same employ. A claim may still exist against a different company whose conditions, equipment or workers contributed.

The company operating that warehouse or dock is not your employer, so you may be able to bring a negligence claim against it in addition to your own workers' compensation claim. Its training, traffic rules and the forklift's inspection records are usually the key evidence.

Under 29 CFR 1910.178, employers must ensure each operator is competent through training and evaluation, evaluate each operator at least once every three years, and certify the training. Trucks must be examined at least daily before use and removed from service if unsafe. Trucks may not be driven up to anyone standing in front of a bench or other fixed object, and no one may stand or pass under raised forks. A violation is evidence of how the work should have been done; it does not by itself create a lawsuit against your employer.

You can receive compensation and pursue a third-party claim. The compensation carrier has a lien on the recovery for the benefits it paid, and a settlement for less than the compensation provided by law requires the carrier's written approval or an applicable court order (Workers' Compensation Law 29). Settling without the required approval can put future benefits at risk.

Give your employer written notice within 30 days (Workers' Compensation Law 18) and file a compensation claim within two years (Section 28). Most third-party injury lawsuits must be started within three years (CPLR 214). If a city, county, school district or other public entity owned the site or the forklift, a notice of claim is generally due within 90 days (General Municipal Law 50-e). A wrongful death action must generally be commenced within two years of death.

Get medical care and report the injury to your employer in writing. If you can do so safely, photograph the forklift, its data plate, the load and the aisle or dock, and write down witnesses and the companies working there. Ask that the forklift be kept out of service and unrepaired until it is inspected, and do not give recorded statements to another company's insurer before speaking with a lawyer.

We represent injured workers and bystanders throughout the five boroughs of New York City, on Long Island in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, and in New Jersey, from offices in Uniondale, Brooklyn, Corona and New Jersey.