Third-Party Claim
What are third-party claims?
New York City Work Site Accidents
There are many types of accidents that can occur at a New York work site: a slip and fall, a car crash while making a delivery, or a fall from a scaffold at a construction site.
When you are injured in a work or job related accident in New York, you are entitled to receive workers’ compensation benefits. These benefits will pay for your work related accident medical expenses, as well as providing you with certain wage loss benefits. You are, generally, entitled to these workers’ compensation benefits regardless of who was a fault for the accident.
In New York, if you sustain an injury in a work related accident you are not allowed to bring a lawsuit against your employer or a co-employee. Your recovery, which may include a monetary award for the permanency of your injury, is limited to workers’ compensation.
You may, however, file a lawsuit against a third-party that was negligent and responsible for your accident; as long as it is not your employer or a co-employee. These claims for injuries sustained due to the fault of another are called third-party claims. When you are successful in obtaining a recovery in a third-party claim, the worker’s compensation insurance carrier is usually entitled to reimbursement of a portion of the recovery received from the third-party. This is because the law does not allow you to receive a windfall or double-recovery for the same injury.
An example of a third-party claim is when a construction worker falls from scaffold at a commercial construction site and was not afforded the appropriate protective gear needed for doing the construction work. In this case, although the construction worker may not sue his employer, he may file a workers’ compensation claim; and, in addition, file a lawsuit against the owner of the premises and the general contractor for the construction project.
If you have been injured while on the job, it is important to speak with a New York City work site accident attorney to investigate the cause of the accident and determine who may be the responsible parties.
