Workplace Injury Lawyer Utah
Table of Contents
If you got hurt on the job in Utah, you probably know workers’ compensation exists. What a lot of people don’t realize is that comp is not always the only place compensation can come from.
When someone other than your employer helped cause the accident, like a contractor on the side, a company that built a faulty machine, or a driver who hit you on a delivery route, you may have a separate claim against them.
I’m Chris Cockayne, and I look at these cases to see whether that’s true for injured workers who call. The first conversation is free.
Book Your Consultation: (801) 268-2491
Workers’ Compensation vs. a Third-Party Workplace Injury Claim
Workers’ compensation generally provides benefits for covered workplace injuries without requiring the employee to prove that someone else was at fault, subject to Utah’s eligibility and coverage rules.
It pays medical bills and a portion of lost wages, and in exchange, you generally can’t sue your employer over the injury.
A third-party claim is a personal injury claim against someone who is not your employer and whose carelessness played a part in what happened.
Because a third-party claim is based on liability, it may allow recovery for damages that workers’ compensation does not cover, including pain and suffering. You can pursue both at once.
The workers’ compensation insurer may have a right to be repaid from a third-party recovery, though. So how the two claims are handled matters.
If a contractor, a defective machine, or someone else’s vehicle was involved in your injury, call us, and we’ll go over where you stand.
When Can You File a Personal Injury Claim After a Workplace Accident in Utah?
The question we ask first is who else was involved. If no third party appears to have contributed to the accident, workers’ compensation may be the primary avenue for recovery. The available options depend on the circumstances and applicable law.
- A Contractor or Subcontractor: Construction sites and big job sites have crews from several companies working side by side. If another company’s worker or foreman created the hazard that hurt you, that company can be held responsible even though they never paid you a dime.
- Defective Equipment: Sometimes a machine fails because of how it was designed or built, not because anyone ran it wrong. In that case, the manufacturer or a part supplier may be the one at fault. If you can, don’t let your employer throw the equipment out or repair it before someone looks at it.
- A Crash While You Were Working: Delivery drivers, sales reps, and anyone who drives for the job can be hurt by another driver who was not paying attention. That’s because driver insurance is a separate source of recovery from comp.
- Someone Else’s Property: If you were on a customer’s site or building owned by a third party or got hurt in an unsafe condition, like a broken stair, pool lighting, or a spill nobody dealt with, the property owner may share responsibility.
Whether any of these fits your situation depends on the facts, and that’s what we sort out in the first call.
Types of Workplace Accidents We Can Evaluate
Workplace injuries come from all types of jobs, but these are the situations where we most often see a third party involved.
Construction Site Accidents
Construction cases start with a fall. Scaffolding, a roof edge, and a ladder that wasn’t tied off.
Some accidents involve something dropping from above or a trench wall giving way. The hard part is usually figuring out who was in charge of what.
A single site can have a general contractor, five subs, and an owner, and each one controlled a different piece of the job. The investigation must establish who created or controlled the hazard and whether that party’s conduct contributed to the injury.
Machinery and Industrial Equipment Injuries
A lot of these injuries happen because a guard was removed or a safety switch didn’t work. Sometimes the machine itself was built badly. In those cases, the problem may sit with the manufacturer or with whoever was hired to maintain it and not with your employer.
If you can, write down the make and model of the machine before you forget. Maintenance records matter too, though you may not be able to get them yourself.
Warehouse and Forklift Accidents
Forklift cases usually involve someone getting pinned or stuck, or a load coming off a rack. Who is responsible depends on the details. It might be a driver employed by another company, a lift that wasn’t maintained, or a loading dock that a different business runs. We won’t know until we see how the work was set up that day.
Work-Related Car and Truck Accidents
If you drive as part of your job and another driver hits you, you have workers’ comp, and you may also have a claim against that driver. The same goes if a commercial truck was involved. We’d start with the police report and the other side’s insurance, then look at whether the trucking company is following its own safety rules.
Injuries on Third-Party Property
Plenty of people get hurt at a customer’s building or a shared job site, not at their employer’s own location. If there is a broken step, bad lighting, or something left on the floor that caused it, the property owner may be partly responsible. Photos of the spot help, especially if they’re taken before anyone fixes it.
What Compensation May Be Available After a Workplace Injury?
Workers’ comp pays for your medical treatment or part of lost wages. It doesn’t pay for pain and doesn’t make up the difference if you can earn less after the injury than you did before. A third-party claim can go further because it’s based on fault, not on a fixed benefit schedule.
In a case like that, we look at medical bills, past and future. We look at the wages you have lost, and if the injury changes what work you can do, the income you’ll lose down the road. Pain and what the injury has done to your daily life count too.
If someone died, the family may have a claim of their own. To put numbers on all that, we gather the records, bills, pay stubs, and doctor notes about what you can or can’t do now.
What’s recoverable depends on facts; we can’t promise a number before we have seen them. One more thing worth knowing is that the comp insurer may be owed some of what you recover, so the final amount in your pocket isn’t always the settlement figure.
Why Injured Workers Choose Cockayne Law
Most people who call Cockayne Law about a workplace injury are dealing with a lot at once. They’re hurt, their paycheck is smaller, and a comp adjuster is already asking questions.
We take the time to explain how the two kinds of claims fit together before anyone decides anything. You’ll talk with an attorney directly, not get it passed down a line of assistants.
Chris Cockayne has practiced law in Utah for 10 years. He knows a workplace injury can leave you facing medical bills, lost income, and a lot of uncertainty about what to do next.
When you call, we go through what happened and look at whether a personal injury claim against a third party may be available alongside workers’ comp.
COME BACK STRONGER
After Accident
What Should You Do After a Workplace Accident in Utah?
See a doctor. Neck and back injuries can feel manageable on day one and much worse by day four, and the medical record is what ties the injury to the accident. Tell them it happened at work.
Let your employer know in writing. An email works. Workers’ comp has a deadline for reporting, and a delay gives an insurer something to argue about.
If you can, take photos of the spot where it happened and of whatever equipment was involved. Get names and numbers from anyone who saw it. This part is time-sensitive. Broken railings get replaced within a day, and a coworker who saw everything may be on a different crew next month.
Think before you talk to an adjuster, and that includes the one on your comp claim. Answer what they ask and leave out guesses about who was at fault. People say, “I’m doing okay,” on a recorded call and see it quoted back at them.
Keep your paperwork together: bills, pay stubs, insurance letters, and a list of missed days. Before you sign a release or take a settlement, call us.
Workplace Injury Lawyer Serving Injured Workers Throughout Utah
Workplace injuries happen wherever people work, so we don’t limit these cases to one part of the state. If you were hurt on a job site in Utah County, we can talk.
The same goes for an injury at a warehouse in Weber County or a plant on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley. We can usually start the first conversation by phone call, and it makes sense that we’ll come to you.
Clients in those areas can also read more about working with a Provo personal injury attorney or an Ogden personal injury lawyer or a West Jordan personal injury attorney.
If you are somewhere else in Utah, call anyway. Where you live matters less than what happened and who was involved.
Call For a Free Consultation: (801) 268-2491
FAQs
A workplace injury in Utah is an injury or illness that comes from your job and happens while you are doing it. A fall from a ladder counts. So does a back problem that builds up from years of lifting or an illness from chemical exposure. Getting hurt on your commute is usually handled differently.
Usually not. In Utah, workers’ compensation is the main remedy for workplace injury, and it generally takes the place of a lawsuit against your employer. There are narrow exceptions, but they are hard to meet. Most injured workers who have a lawsuit have one against someone else, like a contractor or an equipment maker whose mistake helped cause the injury.
Yes, when someone other than your employer helped cause your workplace injury. In that situation, you can collect workers’ comp benefits and also bring a personal injury claim against the third party. The comp insurer may have a right to be repaid out of what you recover, and we explain how that works before anything settles.
The most common workplace injuries are sprains and strains, usually from lifting or pulling, or twisting the wrong way. Falls, being struck by objects, and repetitive motion injuries are common too. The cases that involve a third party tend to be more serious, like a fall on a job or an injury from a machine.
Most Utah personal injury lawsuits, including third-party workplace injury claims, have to be filed within four years of the injury under Utah Code § 78B-2-307. Defective products and wrongful death claims generally have two years, and claims against a government entity have shorter deadlines. Workers’ comp runs on its own clock, and you generally have to notify your employer within 180 days.
Discuss Your Workplace Injury With Cockayne Law
If you got hurt at work or someone besides your employer may have been involved, it’s worth a conversation. Tell us what happened, and we’ll tell you honestly whether a third-party claim looks possible.
If it doesn’t, we’ll say so, and you won’t have lost anything by asking. The consultation is free. Contact us through a form or call us at (801) 268-2491, and we’ll get back to you. Try to do it sooner rather than later, since evidence disappears and deadlines don’t wait.
[Legal Disclaimer]
This page provides general information about T-Bone accident claims in UTAH including Salt Lake City, West Jordan, West Valley City, Taylorsville, Orem, Sandy, Cottonwood, Murray, East Millcreek and Ogden, and is not legal advice, as almost every case is different. For case-specific guidance, consult a qualified attorney.
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6671 S Redwood Rd Ste 110, West Jordan, UT 84084, United States
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