Personal Injury Cases – Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone & Morelli

On March 14, the CT Post reported that five people were injured at the UConn Health Center in Farmington. The CT Post did not indicate how serious the injuries were; however, emergency personnel were reportedly on the scene of the accident. The incident was described as a construction accident and those injured were performing work.

Our Hartford, CT accident lawyers know that construction accidents can often cause very serious injury. In many cases, when an injury happens on a construction site, significant legal complications can also occur as a result.

Construction Accident Injures Five

The March construction accident at UConn occurred in the school’s Research Development Center. A spokesperson for the school interviewed by the CT Post indicated that the Research and Development Center is currently in the process of being remodeled. Workers were making progress on the remodeling work when ceiling tiles started to come down. Five of the workers suffered injury as a result of the falling ceiling tiles, necessitating medical treatment and a response from emergency personnel.

The CT Post reported that no one was evacuated, even after the ceiling tiles began to fall, because the building is considered structurally sound. While the building as a whole may be sturdy and present no risk to other workers, the fact remains that five people got hurt on the job and may have financial and other losses because of it.

Construction Accidents and Workers’ Rights

When someone gets hurt on the job, the law aims to make sure that he or she is not left financially ruined as a result of a work injury. The law established a workers’ compensation system, which is considered an exclusive remedy system.

Basically, under workers’ comp, you can get compensation only through workers’ comp, and you cannot sue. Your coverage is a little broader because you don’t have to prove your employer was negligent, but you also don’t get damages for things like pain and suffering.With many construction accidents, however, there is an alternative to workers’ compensation. If there was any third party who was responsible in any way for causing the injury as a result of negligence, then a work injury claim can be made against the third party. This can take the form of a standard personal injury lawsuit, with its broader financial recovery as compared to workers’ compensation.

A third party responsible for a construction site injury might include a non-employer project manager overseeing the construction; an architect or engineer responsible for design or construction supervision; or the manufacturer of equipment that malfunctioned and led to the injury. Those who have suffered more serious injury should be entitled to appropriate compensation, either through workers’ comp or through a lawsuit. Incidents like the ceiling falling on the workers’ head are not isolated incidents. Falling objects and workers who are struck by objects are among the most common causes of fatal work accidents each year.

Earlier this year in Avon, three teens were critically injured in a car accident when the 16-year-old driver with a learner’s permit slammed into a utility pole, splitting the vehicle in half.

Our  New Haven car accident lawyers understand this is sadly part of a growing national trend of young drivers increasingly involved in fatal accidents. It’s been well-established that motor vehicle crashes are the No. 1 cause of death for teens, and recent weeks have seen a sharp spike in the number of young lives claimed on our roads.

In fact, in a single week, 20 teens died in five crashes in five states. That doesn’t even count the number of accidents involving teen drivers in which injuries were severe or life-threatening.

USA Today reports that while the circumstances surrounding each crash varied slightly, the one common denominator was this: Teen drivers with teen passengers.

This is not unsurprising, considering the study released last year by the American Automobile Association, which found that the risk of a 16- or 17-year-old driver being killed in a crash increased with each additional passenger in the vehicle under the age of 21.

The report, “Teen Driver Risk in Relation to Age and Number of Passengers,” found hat teen driver fatality rates:

• Increase by nearly 45 percent when there is one passenger under 21 in the vehicle;
• Increase by 100 percent when there are two passengers in the vehicle under age 21;
• Increase by 400 percent when there are three or more passengers under the age of 21 in the car.

What’s more, having someone else in the vehicle who was at least 35-years-old reduced the risk of a fatality by more than 60 percent and the overall accident risk by nearly 50 percent.

This drives home the message that not only are graduated driver’s license laws restricting young drivers and teen passengers critical, so too is parental involvement.

Unfortunately, a recent survey by the Allstate Foundation and the National Safety Council revealed that many parents are lagging behind in this regard. The researchers discovered that more than 40 percent of parents of teenagers don’t realize that motor vehicle crashes are the top cause of teen deaths. Further, three-fourths erroneously believe that distractions and unnecessary risks are the main reason why teens have a higher accident rate. In fact, the main cause is driver inexperience.

This further underscores the role that parents need to take on while their teens are learning how to drive. It involves not only modeling good driving behavior – complete with limiting distractions – it’s also about putting in the time to ride with them and show them how to react to certain roadway hazards. Teaching them about assured clear distances and defensive driving tactics are also important.

It’s about ensuring that not only does your teen adhere to Connecticut’s graduated driver’s license laws, but that you set your own parameters. As it stands, for the first six months that one has a restricted license, the teen may have no passengers aside from a parent or driving instructor. In the six months after that, the same applies, except that the teen may drive younger individuals if they are members of his or her immediate family.

Contact the Law Offices of Salomone & Morelli by calling  1-800-WIN-WIN-1 or visiting 100 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105.