Warning: The information in this article does not substitute for legal advice. You should contact a New York City ladder accident lawyer if you have been seriously injured, or need advice on how to proceed with a claim.
Everyone knows about the dangers of ladders – they can be unstable as well as cause serious injuries when people fall from them. Every year, thousands of people are seriously injured by accidental falls from ladders. So it’s not surprising that many who suffer ladder accidents file lawsuits against those at fault for their injuries, especially if their employer owned the ladder. However, there are some important things to know about filing an injury claim involving a fell-off ladder accident.
1) Who do I sue?
If your employer owned the ladder you were using when you fell, you may have a claim against the employer. This would be a workers’ compensation case and not a personal injury lawsuit, but ladders are also inherently dangerous equipment that can cause serious injuries to people who use them – unless they’re used correctly. Your employer cannot assume that you will know how to use the equipment safely without your employer providing adequate training on its proper use. Injured victims can seek compensation from their employers under certain circumstances for things like lost wages and medical bills through workers’ comp claims.
2) How do I prove my damages?
The amount of money (known as “damages”) an injured person receives in court is usually based upon their financial losses due to the accident, including things like economic losses (also known as “special damages”), such as medical bills and lost wages, and noneconomic losses (also known as “general damages”), such as pain and suffering. Proving economic damage is usually pretty straightforward, but it’s a different story when it comes to proving your noneconomic losses.
In order to win a lawsuit for injuries from a ladder accident, you can’t just say that you were in pain after the accident – the defendant will argue that despite the injury, you did not suffer any long term consequences from it. Instead, you have to prove that your injuries have caused long term health problems/consequences with things like doctor reports or prescription medication usage records. You may be able to get an attorney law firm to agree to take your case on a contingent fee basis (you pay no attorney fees unless they win your case/settlement), which can make it easier to produce the evidence necessary to prove your claim.
3) What if I am partially at fault for my injuries?
You may wonder what happens when you were partly to blame for the accident that caused your injury, perhaps because you failed to use proper safety devices like fall protection equipment. Who is responsible then? Generally, the amount of negligence required by the court would be only one-half as much as would be required if there were no comparative fault or contributory negligence – i.e., it takes only 50% of the total fault/negligence before you lose all ability to collect damages from another party.
How to bring ladder injury claims
Managing ladders can be difficult. A ladder is only as stable as its base, so good weight distribution is really important. And of course it has to be set up properly too – at an angle slightly less than the typical roof pitch (usually about 4 degrees) – and extended fully.
The problem is that many people find themselves tempted to get on a ladder with just one hand because they have something heavy in their other hand or another part of their body, which then makes the ladder tip over sideways. A typical injury from this kind of accident is a broken ankle.
Many people also injure their backs while trying to carry too much on a ladder, especially when climbing up it with tools or equipment stored in buckets on either side or front and back.
The trouble is that this kind of ladder injury can be very difficult to claim compensation for, as you have to prove not only the fact of the fall but also the reason why it happened and who was responsible for it.
So what we would recommend is calling a specialist personal injury solicitor with experience in handling claims involving falls from ladders – ideally one who has previously successfully handled personal injury claims involving injuries arising from similar accidents. If you are thinking about making a claim yourself, make sure you get plenty of advice first about how likely you are to succeed based on your own specific circumstances. After all, the last thing anyone needs after getting injured through no fault of their own is an unsuccessful claim because they didn’t pursue the right advice or claim at all.
