Construction Accidents / Third Party Actions


Construction site accidents often involve the negligence of the general contractor and/or another subcontractor. In such cases we have successfully used Oregon’s Employer Liability Law (“ELL”), also known as the Oregon Employer’s Liability Act (“ELA”), to recover funds for our clients injured on the job. This law (ORS 654.305) allows, in some circumstances, for an injured worker to recover damages in addition to benefits the worker may be entitled to within the Oregon Workers’ Compensation system. These damages may, in some cases, far exceed those benefits available under the workers’ compensation statutes.

Our firm is uniquely positioned to assist in the workers’ compensation and third party aspects of any case because we have both both workers’ compensation and personal injury trial lawyers in our practice.

See Representative Cases, for examples of recoveries obtained under the ELA/ELL.

Construction Accidents:

We handle cases for clients injured on construction sites by a wide variety of causes, including machinery malfunctions/failures and/or operator error, unprotected heights (scaffolds, open trenches, etc.), and electrical incidents causing brain injury, para- or quadriplegia, fractures, burns and spinal disc injuries or compression fractures. These cases require an energetic and focused effort as they often involve the general contractor as well as subcontractors, numerous depositions and site visits, and a thorough understanding of the mechanical and engineering principles involved.

Third Party Actions:

When a worker is injured on the job by someone other than their employer, that injured worker may bring suit against the responsible party(ies). This is often referred to as a “third party claim.” These claims almost always involve a parallel workers’ compensation claim and are therefore more complicated. They often take a long time to resolve and often involve multiple parties, extensive discovery and multiple medical witnesses added by the workers’ compensation system. Since we have a workers’ compensation team in house, we are able to coordinate efforts and strategies to enhance each client’s recovery.

Coordination of Benefits/Efforts:

Because our practice encompasses social security, workers’ compensation and a wide variety of personal injury areas, we coordinate available benefits in major injury cases. Frequently, these benefits overlap, conflict, and sometimes affect each other or require repayment. Because our practice focuses on many types of illnesses and injuries, we are able to coordinate claims for benefits to maximize the recovery for our clients.

How to Reach Us:

We do not advertise on television, and if you look in the yellow pages under personal injury, you will not see a large ad touting our services. We receive most of our referrals from our clients, other lawyers, and people who work in the medical, legal, or court systems. Our lawyers and legal assistants are available and happy to speak with you to answer any questions you may have about your current situation at no cost to you.