Our Houston work injury attorneys point out that workers’ comp insurance is expensive for employers to purchase and maintain. This is especially true where the employer carries on an inherently dangerous work activity such as construction. So many Texas employers choose not to subscribe to workers’ compensation coverage. Being a nonsubscriing employer saves them a lot of money; at least until a serious on the job accident occurs.
If you’ve been injured on the job and your employer is a Texas nonsubscriber, Texas law allows you to file a civil lawsuit claiming the full costs of your injuries. In a civil lawsuit, you can claim compensation for all of your losses from the injury, including subjective injuries like your pain and suffering. (You can’t receive compensation for non-objective harm like pain and suffering under workers’ comp.)
Filing a civil liability lawsuit is a much more complex process than filing a workers’ comp claim. You will necessarily need the able counsel of a Houston work injury attorney to guide you to the successful conclusion of your civil lawsuit.
You face challenges in a civil lawsuit that you don’t experience under the workers’ comp process. For example, employers too cheap to purchase workers’ comp insurance will gladly spring for expensive defense attorneys if they will protect the employer from having to pay your claim.
The employer might also carry a private liability policy that aggressive insurance company employees will defend. The employer and his insurer mighty try to convince you that your claim is worthless and that you should sign a release of your claim. Don’t sign it. In fact, don’t sign anything relating to your injury or claim without your own Houston work injury attorney’s advice.
The employer and his insurer might also offer you a quick, but minimal, cash settlement in return for your release of your legal right to sue for the full worth of your claim. Don’t take the offer; any sum they offer you up front likely represents but a small fraction of the true worth of your claim.
The employer and his insurer and defense attorneys will work with professional investigators to thoroughly examine your accident. They will be looking for ways to point the finger of blame back at you for the accident. This is because Texas workers’ comp laws penalize the nonsubscribing employer by leaving him only one real defense against your work injury claim. This is the “sole proximate cause” defense, and it means that your employer must prove that you were 100% responsible for causing the accident that harmed you. So a nonsubscribing employer and his defense team will leave no stone unturned in their attempt to make you appear entirely liable in the matter of injuring yourself at work.
They will look for witnesses to state that you appeared intoxicated or under the influence of drugs at the time of the accident. They will dig through your employment history for any questionable incidents. They will look for any evidence they can find that reveals past safety oversights or lapses in good judgment that could cause accidents. They will not hesitate to add insult to injury and drag your reputation through the mud to make you look like the sort of clumsy, incompetent employee who could barely make it through a single work day without bringing disaster down upon his own head.
Large sums of money are at stake and this is the employer’s only possible defense. While they go through your past history with a fine-toothed comb, members of the defense team will also be hounding you for statements. Have your own Houston work injury attorney handle all contacts with them instead. The defense hopes to get a statement from you that they can (and will) use against you to prove your own liability for your accident. Even innocent statements taken out of context can be twisted to mean just about anything. So don’t talk to your employer or his team; have your attorney do this for you.
You need an adept Houston work injury lawyer to counter their attack with a solid counterattack. The workplace injury lawyers at Denena & Points have more than 12 years of practical experience in fending off such assaults on our clients’ character. We’re versed in the legal concepts relating to the sole proximate cause defense, and we have a long track record of favorable client outcomes.
We could put our own investigative skills to work on your behalf to diligently locate and collect the evidence you need to combat the employer’s aggressive defense tactics. We could conduct the careful depositions of accident witnesses you need to point to the truth of the matter. We seek out video and photographic evidence that could shed some light on who is truly at fault for the accident. We work to obtain records regarding past safety violations or lapses on the part of your employer. In short, our goal is to do all that we can to ensure that you successfully establish your claim to full financial compensation for your harm. Contact us today for your free consultation.