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Well, usually, when you get injured on the job
the only person that's responsible
or liable is your employer.
And,
you know, that's handled through the Worker's Compensation claim.
However, sometimes there are third party cases
where,
potentially,
a manufacturer is responsible for your injuries or
there's a piece of equipment that you're injured on
that they may be responsible for;
a design defect in the machine,
they may be responsible for poorly maintaining
that machine and putting it out in the stream of commerce.
I had a case of a very catastrophic injury in central Pennsylvania approximatley
five years ago
where my client was a welder
He resided outside of Buffalo, New York who was down near Reading
for job where he was welding an I-beam.
He was on a lift machine and the lift malfunctioned.
We were prepared to assist him not only in the handling of those Workers Compensation
claim
and making sure that he received all the medical treatment that was required so
that he could live the life that he wanted to live
for the rest of his life
but, also
to make sure that we researched,
we preserved that machine,
we looked at the maintenance records and that machine had actually been red tagged.
It was not supposed to even be on the worksite
and the company that owned and rented that machine
was required to pay substantial
dollars at the conclusion of that claim
because that machine should have never been on that job.
So, there are situations where there's third-party claims
that are very important and meritorious and can be substantial
financial compensation for someone who's injured.
I have another example of a case where
a young man
shares the passion for hockey as I do; Pittsburgh Penguins fan
and he was on a water tower
and a separate company had come in and built the scaffolding
for them to paint this water tower
and he had tied off and done everything that was required of what he was supposed
to do.
However, the scaffolding gave way.
The scaffolding was poorly constructed
and he fell
and hit the water tower
causing substantial injuries.
Fortunately, he still with us
but he has substantial injuries that he's going to have endure for the
rest of his life which includes
frequent medical treatment
on a weekly basis.
And, I work with a firm in Pittsburgh to handle the personal injury
aspect of that claim,
products liability potential aspect of that claim and we've handled that Comp. claim before.