A Workers’ Compensation Claim And A Lawsuit: How One Case Quickly Becomes Two

He’d made this delivery many times before, but this was the one he’d remember for all the wrong reasons. Because on this delivery, a defect in a stairwell led to a fall down a flight of stairs and a traumatic brain injury that’s still symptomatic and keeping our client off work months later.

We filed a workers’ compensation claim for our client because this was an accident that arose out of his job. But upon further investigation we found that a defect in the stairs at this delivery site led to the fall. A rubber stair tread had been carelessly laid and created a lip that caught our client’s shoe as he made his delivery.

When you’re injured at work, it pays to have a discussion with us about whether there are other avenues of recovery in addition to workers’ compensation. In fact, when you have a worker’s compensation claim, you may also have a lawsuit if the injury was caused or contributed to by someone other than the employer. Not long ago, we wrote about such an event when a factory worker was injured by a faulty machine at work – after taking on the workers’ compensation case and settling with his employer, we pursued a separate claim against the machine’s manufacturer.

In this case, the delivery man tripped and fell down the stairs due to that building owner’s carelessness. We have now filed a lawsuit against the building owner in addition to our pending workers’ compensation claim. So here again, we have the case where an injury leads to both a workers’ compensation claim and a lawsuit – and hopefully leads to more money in our client’s pocket.

The point is this: When you’re injured, you may have a case that has more layers of complexity than it initially appears. What seems like workers’ compensation alone may involve something far more. That’s why it’s important to place a call to Gordon Law Offices as soon as the injury occurs. To discover what your options truly are, call us at 312.332.5200.