When San Diego workers suffer an injury or an illness while on the job, they can be out hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars, depending on the severity of the injury.
Among other things, workplace injuries mean medical bills, lost wages and ongoing expenses for care and rehabilitation. Families who lose a loved one also have to worry about how they will pay for a funeral.
In all cases, there is inevitably what are called non-economic losses, like grief, emotional distress and pain and suffering. While hard to put an exact dollar value on, victims deserve compensation for these very real damages.
Workers’ compensation does not pay for everything
Thankfully, California’s workers’ compensation system offers injured victims relief from out-of-pocket expenses like medical bills and partial relief for lost wages. While I can help injured workers obtain these helpful benefits, they do not cover all of a victim’s losses in all cases.
Moreover, workers’ compensation comes with a tradeoff. In exchange for a worker getting partial compensation without having to prove fault, the worker is usually not allowed to sue his or her employer for additional compensation, even if the employer’s negligence caused an injury.
Other personal injury claims may be available
A worker facing this situation should not give up his hope of receiving additional compensation, including compensation for non-economic losses.
Depending on the injured worker’s circumstances, I am able to help workers explore legal options for pursuing compensation from other responsible parties by filing a third party liability claim.
Perhaps the most common example of a third party liability claim involves automobile accidents. If an employee gets hurt on the job because of a motor vehicle collision, she is likely eligible for workers’ compensation.
However, I may also be able to help her sue the other driver if the driver was negligent. We may recover additional compensation to cover those losses workers’ compensation did not pay.