NYC Construction Injury Cases: Legal Strategies for Maximum Compensation

Construction workers face significantly higher workplace hazards compared to most other professions. In the most recent year reported, the construction industry had the second-highest number of fatalities in the U.S., accounting for nearly 20% of all workplace deaths. New York City, with its high level of construction activity, is no exception. According to the New York City Department of Buildings, 692 construction workers were injured on the job in 2023—a 25% increase over the previous year. Tragically, seven construction workers were also killed on the job that same year.

The impact of these accidents is catastrophic, both for injured construction workers and their families, and the aggregate economic burden is immense. According to the National Safety Council, the total economic cost of preventable workplace injuries — including medical expenses, lost productivity, and legal costs — was $167 billion in 2021. Construction remains one of the top contributing sectors.”
📌 NSC Workplace Injury Cost Data

Representing Injured Construction Workers in NYC

Securing fair compensation for injured construction workers and the families of those who have been fatally injured can be complex and requires knowledge and resources beyond the typical car accident or other personal injury case.

At our firm, we have invested the time and research necessary to fully and successfully litigate construction accident cases. We understand the complex interplay of state law, workplace safety regulations from the New York State Department of Labor, federal safety standards set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and New York City building codes—regulations which help determine the reasonableness of a defendant’s actions. We have also built a strong network of experts to address issues from safety compliance to long-term medical consequences to the economic elements of a serious construction injury claim.

Of course, we cannot cover every aspect of a successful construction injury case here. Instead, this article provides injury lawyers considering a step into the construction accident arena with a high-level overview of the special considerations in handling a serious construction injury case. We’ll also describe how some of our major NYC construction accident cases have played out.

What’s Different about Construction Injury Cases?

Some of the key issues that can make a construction accident case more complex include:

• Understanding how workers’ compensation impacts a construction injury case
• Vicarious liability of property owners and general contractors for negligence of subcontractors
• The complexity of causation with multiple entities involved in the job
• The wide range of federal, state, and local safety standards that may be involved
• The different treatment of state laws versus local ordinances and regulations under New York injury law
• The potential need for several different types of experts to speak to issues such as safe practices, defective equipment, causation, and damages

Below, we take a more in-depth look at how some of these issues play out in a serious NYC construction accident case and examine some key factors in construction accident settlements and trials.

Workers’ Compensation and Third Party Liability

In nearly all situations, workers’ compensation is an exclusive remedy against the employer. This means that an injured construction worker will rarely have a direct claim against their employer. To secure compensation beyond the benefits provided by workers’ compensation, the injured worker usually needs to identify one or more responsible third parties. In some states, a construction industry employer’s immunity from negligence claims extends to other contractors on the same project. Fortunately, New York is not one of those states.

New York law provides a significant advantage to attorneys representing injured construction workers. New York’s Labor Law places a non-delegable duty on most property owners, contractors, and their agents to take specific safety precautions for workers on their sites. Thus, if a worker is injured because of a failure to meet these duties, the property owner or general contractor may be held vicariously liable, even if they were not directly involved in the negligence.

However, this area of law is more complex than it appears. First, the statute applies only to specific types of hazards and safety violations. Additionally, the interpretation of different sections of the statute can vary. If the owner or contractor breaches one of the specific fall-protection rules in the Labor Law, that breach is treated as automatic negligence. However, violations of the safety regulations that support the Labor Law can also be used as powerful evidence of negligence, but require a jury to also find that an owner, contractor, or their agents failed to exercise reasonable care.

There may also be ambiguities in the regulations. For example, in Bazdaric v. Almah Partners LLC, the New York Court of Appeals had to determine whether a “foreign substance” under 12 NYCRR 23-1.7(d) included a plastic floor covering. The Court ruled that it did, even though the regulation listed materials like ice, snow, and grease. As a result, the worker in that case was entitled to summary judgment under N.Y. Lab. Law §241(6).

This case highlights the importance of staying up-to-date with legal developments in New York construction law. Attorneys must be prepared to argue interpretations that favor their clients, even when the answer is not immediately obvious. In addition to focusing on the liability of the property owner or general contractor, it is crucial to consider other potentially liable parties, such as subcontractors and manufacturers of defective equipment.

Proof of Causation

Determining and proving causation requires a multi-pronged approach. One key aspect is investigation. On a busy job site, there may be numerous possible witnesses to the accident. The sooner the firm starts investigating to identify those potential witnesses and speak with them, the better.

Physical investigation of the premises or the equipment involved in the incident is also critical to the claim. Ideally, the firm should receive the case immediately after the accident to inspect and document the site and other evidence before the scene is altered. However, this is not always possible, so attorneys must often work with investigators and experts to piece together what happened. In addition to collecting witness testimony, this process may involve securing security footage or other documentation, interviewing emergency responders, tracking down equipment repair records, and working with experts to reconstruct the event.

Simply proving that an employer or another party was negligent may not be sufficient for securing maximum compensation for the client. A common defense strategy is to claim that the injured worker caused or contributed to the accident through their own negligence or intentional act. Under New York’s comparative negligence law, a client who is partially responsible for their injuries will see their award reduced in proportion to their fault.

New York law is unique in that an injured person is not barred from recovery due to their own negligence unless they are found to be 100% responsible for their injuries. However, compensation is reduced in proportion to the plaintiff’s fault, making it critical to seek out witnesses and documentation of the client’s actions, as well as those of the employer or any other potentially responsible party.

Governmental Investigations of Construction Accidents

A New York City ordinance requires the reporting of any construction site fatality or injury within a specified timeframe. This can be valuable to the injured worker’s attorney for several reasons. First, a detailed report of the incident must be created by the employer or general contractor. While there is no guarantee of complete honesty in the report, the version of events provided is officially documented. If accurate, this report may help your case. If inaccurate, the discrepancies could be used to question the credibility of the defendant. The same ordinance also mandates that the Building Commissioner publish a list of such incidents, making it easier to identify recurring unsafe practices.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reporting requirements are even more demanding, though they activate only when a construction incident involves a fatality or a particularly serious injury. A workplace death must be reported to OSHA within eight hours, while events leading to inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye are reported within 24 hours. When such a report is filed, OSHA typically conducts its own investigation and may issue citations if safety violations are confirmed. However, New York appellate courts have held that an OSHA citation does not, by itself, establish negligence per se—though it can serve as persuasive evidence that safety standards were breached.

Construction Injury Litigation in Action

The following cases illustrate successful construction accident litigation and key strategies for pursuing compensation for injured construction workers.

Many of these settlements and verdicts involve falls from a height, which are the leading cause of injury and death in the construction industry. Falls account for more than one-third of all construction-related fatalities. Nearly all fall-related deaths are the result of falls from an elevated surface, and the majority of these incidents are preventable. Successfully pursuing such claims requires in-depth knowledge of the available and generally accepted safety measures, as well as relevant New York statutes, regulations, local ordinances, and OSHA standards, in coordination with experts in these areas.

4-Story Fall

Our client was a construction worker who fell four stories on a Manhattan construction site, suffering severe injuries. We pursued compensation from the building owner and general contractor for failing to provide a safe workplace. The defendants initially argued that the accident was caused by our client’s own negligence. They also claimed that he had made an excellent recovery after multiple surgeries. Ultimately, they agreed to pay a settlement of $ 5,000,000 to the injured worker and an additional $ 500,000 to his wife, who served as his caretaker.

One key factor in securing this significant settlement was thoroughly establishing the extent of our client’s injuries and how they would impact his future. We worked with five different experts to build a detailed picture of the client’s injuries, limitations, and future needs. In serious construction injury cases like this one, having the resources and network to bring in the right experts can be critical.

Following a four-story fall, a construction worker at a West 17th Street construction site in Manhattan recently won a $ 5.5 million dollar settlement from the general contractor and building owner for failing to provide him with a safe workplace. Defendants had argued that the fall was the result of the 56-year-old construction worker’s own carelessness, but Dansker & Aspromonte Associates LLP lawyers were able to prove otherwise. As a result of his fall, the construction worker suffered fractures of his shoulder, clavicle, ribs, and hip, as well as internal injuries which required multiple surgeries. These injuries required home care, which was primarily provided by his wife, who also received a payment of $ 500,000 as part of the settlement. To minimize their own responsibility, the general contractor and building owner claimed that the worker had made an excellent recovery when he had not. To prove the case, Dansker & Aspromonte Associates LLP retained five separate experts to illustrate the full extent of the worker’s injuries and the disabling effect they would have throughout his life.

30-Foot Fall from Scaffolding

In this case, our client, an undocumented Mexican immigrant working on scaffolding at a construction site, fell 30 feet from a scaffold and landed on concrete, fracturing his skull and vertebrae in his neck and back. New York Labor Law §240 specifically requires owners and general contractors on most building projects to “furnish or erect, or cause to be furnished or erected for the performance of such labor, scaffolding, hoists, stays, ladders, slings, hangers, blocks, pulleys, braces, irons, ropes, and other devices which shall be so constructed, placed and operated as to give proper protection to a person so employed.”

We demonstrated at trial that the employer had failed to provide a safety line, which could have prevented the fall. Under New York Labor Law §240, the property owner and general contractor were held vicariously liable for the employer’s negligence. Our client was awarded $ 3.5 million in damages.

Fall Through a Hole in Scaffolding

Our client, a 50-year-old construction worker, fell through a hole in a scaffold he was working on and sustained small fractures to the vertebral processes. He also suffered mild cognitive deficits as a result of the fall.

After a multi-day trial, the jury returned a verdict of $ 1.3 million against the property owner and general contractor.

Legal Strategies for Construction Accident Claims in NYC

If you’re moving into handling construction accident cases or are thinking about taking on a construction injury case, there’s a lot to consider. Here’s a checklist of some of the key elements in successfully managing the negotiation and/or litigation:

• Start investigating as early as possible since construction sites are constantly changing, and evidence can be lost quickly.
• Ensure you are up to date on all relevant laws and regulations, from New York Labor Law to OSHA standards, as well as the complex interplay between state laws, federal regulations, and local ordinances that determine liability.
• Proving that an employer violated safety regulations is relevant even if the employer is immune from suit under workers’ compensation. This can support third-party claims against property owners and contractors.
• Thoroughly assess potential third-party liability, such as a subcontractor’s negligence or defective machinery, to expand the scope of your claim.
• Select experts carefully, ensuring they have deep knowledge of safety regulations and the construction industry to strengthen your case.
• Leverage governmental investigations from the NYC Department of Buildings and OSHA to uncover violations and patterns of unsafe practices.
• Engage an investigator early to locate witnesses and collect statements soon after the incident, when memories are freshest.
• Understand that multiple experts may be required to build and present the case, ranging from safety compliance experts to medical and technical experts.
• Prepare the case for trial, and ensure your demand is well-documented and backed by strong evidence to demonstrate your readiness for litigation.
• Consider consulting or partnering with an experienced construction injury law firm to enhance your case strategy and execution.

Dansker & Aspromonte Associates Has the Experience to Litigate Serious Construction Injury Cases

Our attorneys have extensive experience negotiating and litigating major NYC construction accident cases. We stay current with the latest legal developments, court interpretations, safety technologies, and regulations that impact construction injury cases. We’ve developed a network of experts who are highly qualified to assist with every aspect of a construction site fall or other construction-related litigation. Furthermore, we have the resources to handle complex cases, employing investigators, experts, and other professionals as necessary. We have successfully litigated construction accident cases involving serious injuries and high-dollar damages, and are always ready to proceed to trial if it serves our clients’ best interests.

Partnering with a law firm that has the experience, subject matter expertise, and resources to litigate large construction accident cases can provide excellent service to your clients while increasing your own experience in this specialized area of injury litigation.