My husband lost his fingers pointing and index on left hand due to a work injury in oilfield. Not his fault..
curious as to weather or not we should get a lawyer. was told that they give a certain amount of money for each finger and we need to know if that is a set amount provided by workmans comp or if we should look into getting a lawyer. he is a very active person and is just so angry…he feels like he has lost so much.. we haven’t got any offer yet …..just curious about the lawyer thing cause we have no idea how this works…thanks!
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Please consult an attorney to learn what your husband’s options are.
Good luck.
If it’s on the job, then more likely than not, he could not sue his employer because that’s what workers’ compensation is for. However, there are workers’ compensation attorneys who can help negotiate settlements.
He could sue the manufacturer of the device which cut his fingers off. He would need a different attorney (personal injury) for that one.
Yes, you need a lawyer to represent the best interests of your husband.
I always recommend you seek legal counsel under these circumstances. The employer’s attorney will try and resolve the case for the least amount of money.
Many states work comp laws have what they call schedule injurys. So it may be so many $$ per finger
Call a lawyer
Before you sign and accept any amount of money you should consult an Attorney
That kind of companies have insurance to cover such kind of accidents BUT ussually they wait for you to give the first step.
If the accident is work realted and not his fault then he for sure have right to be compensated for his loss. Hire a lawyer and have him talk to his Union representatives for support.
When he went to work he had to sign a release saying they would pay so much for loss of a limb or digit or sight. Get a lawyer and make sure the company doesn’t try to say he never signed the papers.The law requires company’s with anyone working a high risk job to have all it’s employees sign these .If he didn’t sign the papers because they were never presented to him he can sue the company for more than he could get if he did.
In general I believe people should use the systems that have been setup to take care of people in various unfortunate circumstances. Law suit should be last resort, not first action.
The employer is supposed to have several kinds of insurance to compensate employees injured on the job.
* Worker’s Compensation
* General Business Insurance
* Also check out Labor Law for US federal and for the state this work was in
Worker’s Compensation is an Insurance fund managed by the government. All employers pay in, rates based on numbers of employees, how risky the work is, their past record of injuries. This fund is used to compensate workers injured on the job.
Here’s info on that
http://www.workerscompensation.com/
Also search for this in the state where the work injury occurred
General Business Insurance is private insurance that most companies have, to cover against the unexpected.
If your husband’s employer doesn’t have any other kind of insurance, then Workmen’s Compensation will definitely cover his medical costs regardless of who’s fault the accident was. In the bad old days before that existed, if a guy had a serious accident like that on the job and his employer wasn’t directly at fault (and that was almost impossible to prove even when it was), then he was just out of luck. However, it wouldn’t hurt to have a consultation with a labor attorney who specializes in work-related injuries to see if his boss was negligent in some way, because then you can sue for additional damages and lost future earnings caused by the loss of his fingers. Perhaps you will find the link below useful:
Workers Compensation is administered by the state… yes there are
State Compensation Insurance Funds… however, FEW states have only
this coverage. “Regular” carriers sell WC coverage as well. General
liability coverage DOES NOT cover work related injury/illness.
Filing a claim for benefits under the employers WC plan, is the
exclusive remedy for industrial injury. WC is no fault, you do not
have to prove the employer is at fault, or you are at fault.
Negligence is not necessarily sufficient to permit action in civil
court. There would have to be proof the employer performed a
serious and willfull misconduct…intentionally causing harm. It’s
amazing how much misinformation about WC and the system in place to
govern the provision of benefits there is out there… amazing.
Little in this thread is really acurate.