Construction Accidents Outside Workers' Comp: Third-Party Claims Against General Contractors
A construction accident can leave you facing more than an injury. You may also be dealing with medical bills, missed work, and uncertainty about how you will support yourself and your family while you recover.
If your injury happened on a construction site, your employer may not be the only party whose actions contributed to the accident. New Jersey law may allow you to pursue a separate claim against another responsible party, depending on the circumstances of your injury.
At The Law Offices of Gold, Albanese, Barletti LLC in Morristown, New Jersey, we help injured workers understand their legal options and determine whether a third-party claim may apply. If you or someone close to you was injured on a job site, we can review the circumstances of the accident and explain what claims may be available. Contact us now to schedule a free consultation.
Why Workers' Compensation Isn't Always Enough
Workers’ compensation can provide important benefits after a workplace injury, but it may not cover everything you have lost. In New Jersey, workers’ compensation generally provides benefits without requiring you to prove that your employer was at fault.
Depending on your injury, those benefits may include medical treatment, a portion of your lost wages, and certain permanent disability benefits. However, workers’ compensation does not generally provide compensation for pain and suffering.
It also usually prevents an injured employee from filing a separate personal injury lawsuit against their employer for the same workplace injury, with limited exceptions, such as certain intentional acts. So, even when an employer’s negligence contributed to an accident, you typically cannot sue them separately for those damages.
A third-party claim is different. If someone other than your employer contributed to your injury, such as a general contractor, subcontractor, property owner, or equipment manufacturer, you may have a separate claim against that party. Depending on the facts of your case, a successful third-party claim may allow you to seek damages that workers’ compensation does not provide, including compensation for pain and suffering.
Who Counts as a "Third Party" on a Construction Site
Construction sites typically involve a property owner, general contractor, and several subcontractors, each with their own crews and equipment. Your workers' compensation claim generally involves your direct employer.
If another party's negligence contributed to your injury, that party may be a potential third-party defendant, including:
General contractors: May have safety responsibilities when they have general supervisory authority or other control over the worksite.
Subcontractors: May be responsible when their work creates a dangerous condition or otherwise contributes to an injury.
Property owners: May be liable for certain dangerous conditions on their property when they owed a duty of care and the circumstances support liability.
Equipment manufacturers or rental companies: May be liable when defective equipment or, depending on the circumstances, improperly maintained equipment contributes to an injury.
New Jersey law allows an injured worker to pursue a claim against a responsible third party while receiving workers' compensation benefits. Determining whether such a claim exists requires looking at what happened, which parties were involved, and what duties each party had in connection with the work or job site.
At The Law Offices of Gold, Albanese, Barletti LLC, our New Jersey construction accident attorneys can investigate the circumstances of your injury and explain whether you may have a claim beyond workers' compensation.
Common Grounds for a Claim Against a General Contractor
When a construction worker or another person is injured, the general contractor may be responsible if its role or control over the worksite contributed to the accident. OSHA recognizes that a general contractor may have safety responsibilities on a multi-employer worksite when it has enough authority or control over the site to qualify as a controlling employer.
New Jersey courts also look at several factors when deciding whether a general contractor owed a duty of care. These can include the contractor’s relationship to the injured person, its responsibility for the worksite, whether it could have anticipated the danger, and how much control it had over the safety issue.
Depending on the circumstances, a claim may involve:
Failing to address a known safety hazard: A general contractor may face a claim if it knew about a dangerous condition within its responsibility or control but failed to take reasonable steps to address it.
Providing inadequate site supervision or coordination: General contractors often coordinate the work of multiple trades. If poor coordination creates a dangerous conflict between crews, work areas, or construction activities, that may be relevant to a negligence claim.
Failing to maintain safe common areas: If a general contractor is responsible for shared areas of a construction site, failing to keep those areas reasonably safe may support a claim, depending on the circumstances.
Failing to follow or enforce safety requirements: OSHA requirements and site-specific safety procedures may be relevant when determining whether a contractor failed to meet its duty of care. The specific duties involved depend on the contractor’s role, the work being performed, and what caused the accident.
At our firm, we can investigate the general contractor’s role in the accident, including its control over the worksite, safety responsibilities, and response to known hazards. We can also gather evidence of inadequate supervision, poor coordination, unsafe common areas, or failures to follow applicable safety requirements to determine whether you may have grounds for a claim.
New Jersey's Comparative Negligence Rule
A defendant may argue that an injured worker shares some responsibility for an accident. Under New Jersey's modified comparative negligence law, a worker's damages may be reduced according to the worker's percentage of fault. If the worker's negligence is greater than the negligence of the defendant or the combined negligence of the defendants, the worker may be barred from recovering damages.
How the Subrogation Lien Works
If you receive workers' compensation benefits and later recover compensation from a responsible third party, the workers' compensation carrier may have a right to seek reimbursement or a credit for certain benefits it paid. New Jersey's workers' compensation law provides for this type of recovery to prevent duplicate compensation for the same injury and disability.
The lien or credit does not necessarily prevent you from pursuing a third-party claim. A third-party claim may provide compensation for losses that workers' compensation does not cover, including pain and suffering in appropriate cases. The amount of any reimbursement or credit and how it affects your recovery depend on the circumstances of the case, which is why it is important to account for those rights when evaluating a potential third-party claim.
Why These Cases Often Require Investigation
A construction accident involving multiple companies can require a careful investigation to determine who was responsible and how each party contributed to the injury. Evidence may become harder to obtain as the project continues, equipment is moved, conditions change, and witnesses' recollections become less clear.
Depending on the circumstances, an investigation may involve site safety records, contracts between the property owner, general contractor, and subcontractors, equipment maintenance records, inspection records, OSHA records, photographs, and witness statements. These materials can help establish who controlled the area where the accident occurred, what safety responsibilities each party had, and whether a dangerous condition or unsafe practice contributed to the injury.
Talk to One of Our New Jersey Construction Accident Lawyers Today
A construction injury does not always end with a workers' compensation claim. If another party contributed to your accident, you may have a separate claim for damages that workers' compensation does not cover. Determining whether such a claim exists requires looking closely at the accident, the parties involved, and the available evidence.
At The Law Offices of Gold, Albanese, Barletti LLC, located in Morristown, New Jersey, our trusted lawyers represent injured workers throughout Morristown and Morris County. We also have offices in Boston, Massachusetts, and New York, New York, for clients in those areas.
We can review what happened, identify potential third-party claims, and explain what compensation may be available. If you were injured on a construction site, contact us to schedule a free consultation and discuss your case.