We handle, and I specifically handle, a number of construction cases, and what’s unique about a construction case is that you are dealing with generally a laborer or a trade like a carpenter or an electrician on a jobsite, and when that individual is injured, that person is part of a family.  There’s a wife and there’s children.  And the most important thing that we focus on in the beginning of these construction cases is making sure that the Worker’s Compensation benefits for the injured construction worker are immediately implemented and paid so that the family knows that their mortgage will be paid, their health insurance will be paid, and that there’ll be some stream of income while this case goes on and while the injured person is out of work.  So that’s our immediate focus.

After that there are a series of very important things that we have to do immediately, because when you have an individual injured on a jobsite, you have to start with the owner of the jobsite, determine who it is and what responsibilities the owner has.  Then you have to go to the general contractor or the construction supervisor because there’s always one entity or person who’s responsible for overall safety on a jobsite.  

An employee of a company cannot, unless there are very, very limited circumstances,  but generally cannot sue the employer, so that injured construction worker has to look to see who was responsible for the condition that caused the accident, who was responsible for overall safety, and look to either other trades on the job – let’s say he’s a carpenter and this was caused by excavators or this was caused by a pluming issue or an electrical issue – and then ultimately look to the general contractor to see who that is and what that general contractor’s relationship is with the owner and with the trades on the jobsite.  

Who is responsible for safety?  You have to know about OSHA regulations, which are federal laws that control construction sites.  You have to know the contracts as to what the obligations are, where the insurance coverage is.  And generally speaking you have to conduct a thorough investigation.  You have to do it right away.  More likely than not there’ll be a police report.  There’ll be photographs.  There is an art to getting the OSHA report.  There are things that you can get from the federal government.  There are things you cannot get from the federal government.  But all in all, because of the severity of these cases, you have to act quickly and promptly to do your investigation, secure the family.  And then as you know, these cases take several years, so you have to stay vigilant throughout that period of time.