West Virginia Serious Workplace Injury Lawyer

With relatively few exceptions for employers working in specific industries, nearly every business in West Virginia is required by law to provide workers’ compensation coverage to all their full-time and part-time employees. In theory, your employer’s workers’ comp insurance coverage should give you access to various financial and personal benefits in the event you get hurt or sick on the job. Notably, it does not need you to prove anyone was specifically at fault for causing your injury or illness.

In practice, though, getting the benefits you are owed through workers’ comp is not always easy, which is why workers often retain a trustworthy Personal Injury attorney. If your employer had “deliberate intent” in putting you in harm’s way, and you require more compensation than workers’ comp can provide, you have help available from a West Virginia serious workplace injury lawyer.

What Does Workers’ Comp Typically Cover?

Workers’ compensation covers people who experience serious injuries and illnesses as a direct result of conditions they were exposed to while on the job. It ensures he or she can get the medical care and financial support they need to get through the physical recovery and return to work as quickly as possible. To that end, a typical workers’ comp policy will provide reimbursement for all necessary medical expenses incurred by an injured or sick worker to reach “maximum medical improvement.” Depending on the circumstances, that could refer to his or her pre-accident condition or just the most improvement that can reasonably be expected for a long-term disability.

While these benefits can be comprehensive enough to cover many workers’ injuries, there are some situations where it is not nearly enough to cover all the losses. A serious work injury lawyer in West Virginia can file a 3rd-party lawsuit if the employer engaged in deliberate intent.

Filing Suit Against an Employer for “Deliberate Intent”

When employers purchase workers’ compensation coverage for their employees, that coverage generally grants the employer immunity from direct civil liability for work-related injuries. This means employees who get hurt on the job cannot file suit directly against his or her employer over the accident.

However, there are rare cases where a worker can sue their employer for having the “deliberate intent” to harm them, which bypasses the workers’ compensation system. Also known as a “Mandolidis case,” a lawsuit over “deliberate intent” must demonstrate that all the following conditions are true:

• An unreasonably unsafe and dangerous working condition existed which violated a specific state or federal work safety regulation or a common safety standard within an industry
• The dangerous working condition posed a significant risk of serious injury or death to exposed workers
• The employer had actual and specific knowledge both of the dangerous condition itself and its risk of causing serious injury or death
• Despite that knowledge, the employer knowingly placed a worker in the dangerous working condition
• The worker suffered serious or fatal injury resulting in compensable losses as a direct result of the dangerous working condition

Guidance from a work accident lawyer in West Virginia will be crucial to building a strong claim under these unique circumstances.

Seek Help From a West Virginia Attorney After a Serious Workplace Injury

When workers’ compensation is not enough, there may be an opening to file a 3rd-party lawsuit against your employer directly. To do this, you must be able to establish deliberate intent.

Working closely with a West Virginia serious workplace injury lawyer can improve your odds of getting the financial compensation you need to address your losses. Learn more by calling Jan Dils, Attorneys at Law and asking for a free consultation.