A serious construction injury can threaten the work you built your life around and the income your family depends on. Workers’ compensation may provide medical care and part of your wages, but it may fall far short of your family’s actual needs.
The good news is that other sources of compensation may be available to you after being injured on the job.
Our Queens construction accident lawyers represent workers injured on building, demolition, transportation, utility, and infrastructure projects throughout the borough. We investigate whether property owners, general contractors, subcontractors, equipment companies, or other third parties can be held responsible for losses workers’ compensation does not cover.
Call the Perecman Firm at (212) 977-7033 or contact us online for a free case review. We will listen to what happened, explain which claims may apply, and give you clear answers about the path forward.
Table of contents
- Is Workers’ Compensation Your Only Option After a Queens Construction Accident?
- Who May Be Responsible for a Construction Injury in Queens?
- How Does New York Labor Law Protect Queens Construction Workers?
- Which Construction Accidents Do Our Queens Attorneys Handle?
- What Compensation May Be Available Through a Third-Party Claim?
- Our History of Construction Accident Verdicts and Settlements
- Why Queens Workers Choose The Perecman Firm for Serious Construction Cases
- Frequently Asked Questions About Queens Construction Accident Claims
- Speak With a Queens Construction Accident Lawyer Today
Is Workers’ Compensation Your Only Option After a Queens Construction Accident?
Workers’ compensation may not be your only option after a construction accident. You may also have a third-party claim against an owner, general contractor, construction manager, subcontractor, equipment company, or another business that contributed to your injury.
The New York Workers’ Compensation Board describes workers’ compensation as insurance that provides medical care and lost-wage benefits for eligible job-related injuries. The system allows workers to receive basic support without first proving that their employer caused the accident.
In exchange, New York law generally prevents employees from suing their direct employers for ordinary negligence. That restriction usually applies only to the employer, not every company involved in the project.
A lawsuit against one of those outside companies is called a third-party claim. It can seek compensation that workers’ compensation generally does not provide, including:
- The income workers’ compensation did not replace
- Reduced future earnings if you cannot return to your trade
- Future medical care and rehabilitation
- Pain and suffering
- Permanent disability, scarring, or disfigurement
- The injury’s effect on your independence and family life
For example, a worker may receive workers’ compensation after falling from an unsecured scaffold. The worker may also have a third-party claim against the property owner or general contractor if required fall protection was not provided.
Our Queens construction injury attorneys identify those additional claims and pursue the fullest recovery that evidence supports. We also address how previously paid workers’ compensation benefits may affect the final distribution of a third-party recovery.
Who May Be Responsible for a Construction Injury in Queens?
Responsibility may extend beyond the company that issued your paycheck. The property owner, developer, general contractor, construction manager, subcontractor, equipment provider, or public agency may have controlled the work or safety conditions that caused the accident.
The type of project can affect which companies are involved and what evidence our attorneys need to obtain. Queens contains large private developments, public infrastructure work, airport construction, residential projects, utility installations, and transportation improvements.
John F. Kennedy International Airport redevelopment involves the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, private terminal developers, contractors, subcontractors, equipment operators, and vendors. An accident there may require contracts, access records, surveillance footage, equipment logs, and evidence showing which company directed the work.
The Willets Point redevelopment combines housing, public infrastructure, commercial space, open space, and major construction near Citi Field. An injury on a project with public and private participants may involve different safety duties and special filing rules.
Sewer and water-main projects in southeast Queens create another set of risks. After a trench collapse or equipment strike, we may examine excavation support, utility markings, soil conditions, traffic controls, inspection records, and which contractor had authority over the work area.
These local details are not decorative geography. They help identify every potentially responsible party and every source of compensation available beyond the employer’s workers’ compensation policy.
How Does New York Labor Law Protect Queens Construction Workers?
New York Labor Law may hold owners, general contractors, and their agents responsible for specific construction safety failures. The section that applies depends on the work being performed, the hazard involved, and how the accident occurred.
Labor Law § 240 Covers Certain Falls and Falling Objects
New York Labor Law § 240, often called the Scaffold Law, requires proper safety devices for certain construction, demolition, repair, alteration, painting, cleaning, and pointing work.
The law may apply when a worker falls from a ladder, scaffold, roof, platform, or unguarded opening. It may also protect workers struck by materials that should have been secured or properly hoisted.
A Labor Law 240 attorney in Queens may investigate whether the ladder was secured, the scaffold had proper guardrails, a harness had a usable anchor point, or materials should have been tied, braced, or otherwise secured.
Union membership, job title, and immigration status alone do not determine whether § 240 applies. What matters is the work you were performing, the elevation risk involved, and how the safety failure caused your injury.
Labor Law § 241(6) Addresses Specific Site-Safety Violations
Labor Law § 241(6) may support a claim when construction, excavation, or demolition work violates a specific New York Industrial Code rule.
Those rules address hazards such as unguarded openings, blocked passageways, unstable work surfaces, unsafe excavation, defective machinery, and inadequate protection from falling materials.
A worker’s share of responsibility may reduce compensation in a § 241(6) claim. It does not automatically prevent the worker from pursuing the case.
Labor Law § 200 Applies to Unsafe Work and Property Conditions
Labor Law § 200 requires reasonable protection for people working at or lawfully entering covered workplaces. A claim may depend on who directed the unsafe work or who created, knew about, or should have discovered a dangerous condition.
Our attorneys do not stop with the incident report. We identify the safety rule that should have protected you, the company responsible for following it, and the evidence needed to prove the failure.
Which Construction Accidents Do Our Queens Attorneys Handle?
Our attorneys represent workers injured by elevation hazards, falling materials, machinery, electricity, excavation failures, and unsafe access routes. We investigate the specific safety failure behind the injury.
Scaffold, Ladder, Roof, and Opening Falls
A ladder may slide if not secured, or a scaffold plank may shift during use or during dismantling. Roof edges, floor openings, elevator shafts, and temporary platforms may lack guardrails, covers, tie-offs, or safe anchor points.
A Queens scaffold accident lawyer from our team may examine inspection records, assembly documents, site photographs, safety equipment, and testimony from the people who directed the work.
Falling Objects and Equipment Strikes
Tools, steel, concrete, lumber, facade materials, and suspended loads can cause catastrophic injuries when they are not secured. Workers may also be struck by forklifts, excavators, trucks, cranes, or equipment moving through a crowded site.
Our Queens, NY construction accident attorneys may review rigging plans, crane logs, spotter assignments, delivery schedules, video, and restricted work zones to determine why the worker was exposed to the danger.
Electrical Accidents, Fires, and Explosions
Exposed wiring, temporary power, damaged cords, overhead lines, and ungrounded tools can cause burns, shocks, falls, fires, or explosions. These cases may involve electrical contractors, utilities, owners, general contractors, or equipment companies.
We investigate who controlled the electrical work, whether power should have been shut off, and whether required safeguards were available and working.
Trench, Floor, Wall, and Structural Collapses
A trench collapse can bury or crush a worker within seconds. Floor, wall, scaffold, and temporary-structure failures can also trap workers beneath heavy materials or cause dangerous falls.
Shoring, trench boxes, soil conditions, demolition plans, temporary supports, engineering records, inspections, and the companies that controlled the work all become part of the investigation in these often deadly accidents.
We also handle construction cases involving:
- Crane and hoisting accidents
- Defective or unguarded tools
- Caught-in and caught-between injuries
- Demolition debris
- Chemical exposure and severe burns
- Unsafe temporary stairs, walkways, and platforms
- Work-zone vehicle accidents
- Trip-and-fall accidents involving debris or materials
- Heavy-equipment and construction-vehicle accidents
- Amputations, brain injuries, spinal injuries, and crush injuries
Our New York City construction accident lawyers have handled claims involving many of these hazards. The common thread is a preventable safety failure that caused a serious injury.
Call (212) 977-7033 for a free review of your Queens construction accident. We can begin identifying the companies involved before the site changes, equipment moves, or contractors leave the project.
What Compensation May Be Available Through a Third-Party Claim?
A third-party construction lawsuit may seek compensation for the financial and personal effects of the injury. The amount available depends on the medical evidence, permanent limitations, lost earning ability, responsible parties, and available insurance.
| Type of loss | What the claim may include |
|---|---|
| Medical and rehabilitation costs | Surgery, hospital care, therapy, medication, assistive equipment, and future treatment |
| Income and employment losses | Lost wages, reduced earning capacity, lost union benefits, and vocational retraining |
| Personal losses | Pain and suffering, disability, emotional harm, scarring, and loss of enjoyment of life |
| Family and wrongful death losses | Lost financial support, household services, parental guidance, medical expenses, and funeral costs |
The bills already received are only part of a serious construction claim. Doctors, life-care planners, vocational professionals, and economists may help document future treatment, reduced earning power, and your ability to return to the same trade.
We look beyond the immediate medical bills to show how the injury may affect your work, health, independence, and family for years to come.
Our History of Construction Accident Verdicts and Settlements
Our construction accident results include recoveries for workers injured in falls, scaffold accidents, crane operations, trench collapses, falling-object accidents, and machinery failures:
- $29 million for the family of a worker who fell 44 stories
- $19 million for a worker struck by a falling steel beam during crane operations
- $15.2 million for a worker injured after falling from a frame ladder
- $11.8 million for a union worker with a career-ending back injury after a scaffold fall
- $6 million for a union laborer injured in a trench collapse
- $5.6 million for a worker struck by part of a scaffold during dismantling
Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case depends on its injuries, evidence, defendants, insurance coverage, and legal issues.
Why Queens Workers Choose The Perecman Firm for Serious Construction Cases
Construction accident litigation has shaped our practice for more than four decades. We combine detailed preparation and trial resources with the personal attention injured workers and their families need during a difficult time.
A Queens Connection at the Foundation of Our Practice
Our late founder, David H. Perecman, was born and raised in Forest Hills. He founded the practice in 1983 and spent more than 40 years representing injured New Yorkers, with a particular focus on construction accidents and Labor Law claims.
David also chaired the New York State Trial Lawyers Association’s Labor Law Committee and lectured attorneys about construction accident law. Zach Perecman and Managing Attorney Steven Dorfman continue the practice he built.
Results Backed by Thorough Preparation
We prepare every construction accident case with trial in mind. Strong evidence, qualified experts, and a complete damages analysis allow us to negotiate from a position of strength and present the case in court when insurers refuse to offer a fair settlement.
Serious cases may require engineers, construction-safety professionals, investigators, doctors, vocational specialists, and economists. We invest in that work and build cases backed by ironclad evidence.
Construction lawsuits filed in Queens may proceed through the Queens County Supreme Court, Civil Term in Jamaica. Our NYC roots and familiarity with New York litigation allow us to prepare for the procedural demands of a contested case.
Recognition From Peers, Clients, and the Legal Community
Our awards and professional recognitions include:
- Best Lawyers “Lawyer of the Year”
- The Best Lawyers in America®
- Super Lawyers® Top 100, New York Metro
- New York Law Journal “Top Verdicts in New York”
- The National Trial Lawyers Top 100
- TopVerdict™ recognition for major work-accident settlements
- An Avvo 10.0 rating
- Recognition for client satisfaction
These honors signal years of legal excellence reflected in peer recognition, courtroom experience, significant case results, and attention to clients.
“They really looked out for me and made sure I always knew what was going on and explained everything clearly.” - Rob M.
Compassionate, Client-Centered Care
A serious construction injury can disrupt your work, finances, independence, and family life. We take time to understand those changes, answer your questions, and keep you informed throughout the case.
“I couldn’t ask for more when it comes to having great people working for you who care.” – Anthony J.
No Attorney’s Fees Unless We Recover Compensation
We handle construction accident cases on a contingency fee basis. You pay no attorney’s fees unless we recover compensation for you, so you can pursue a claim without the expense of legal fees.
Frequently Asked Questions About Queens Construction Accident Claims
How long do I have to file a Queens construction accident lawsuit?
Most New York personal injury lawsuits must be filed within three years of the accident under Civil Practice Law and Rules § 214. Claims involving New York City or another public entity may require a notice of claim within 90 days and a lawsuit within a shorter period.
Can an undocumented construction worker file a lawsuit in Queens?
Yes, immigration status generally does not prevent an injured construction worker from bringing a New York personal injury or Labor Law claim. Immigration status may affect how certain lost-wage damages are evaluated, so employment and earnings evidence must be handled carefully.
What if the contractor says my actions were the only reason I fell?
You may still have a claim when a contractor blames you for the accident. The defense must prove more than ordinary carelessness to show that your actions were the only cause. The effect of your conduct also depends on whether the claim falls under § 240, § 241(6), or ordinary negligence.
Can I file a claim if the company called me an independent contractor?
Possibly, because the label a company uses does not always decide your legal status or available claims. Our attorneys examine who controlled your work, how you were paid, who supplied equipment, and the relationship between the companies involved.
What injuries do Queens construction accident lawyers handle?
Queens construction accident lawyers handle serious injuries such as brain trauma, spinal cord damage, fractures, crush injuries, burns, amputations, nerve damage, torn ligaments, organ injuries, and permanent scarring. The injury may support a claim when another party’s safety failure contributed to the accident.
How long does a Queens construction accident case take?
A Queens construction accident case may take months or several years. The timeline depends on medical recovery, the number of defendants, disputed Labor Law issues, expert analysis, court schedules, settlement negotiations, and whether the case proceeds to trial.
How much does a Queens construction accident lawyer charge?
We offer a free case review and handle construction accident lawsuits on a contingency fee basis. You pay no attorney’s fees unless we recover compensation through a settlement or verdict.
Speak With a Queens Construction Accident Lawyer Today
You may have more than a workers’ compensation claim after a serious construction injury. Our attorneys can identify the owners, contractors, equipment companies, and other parties involved while building a case for the medical, financial, and personal losses you face.
Call the Perecman Firm at (212) 977-7033 or contact us online for a free case review. Our Queens work injury lawyers will give you direct answers, and you pay no attorney’s fees unless we recover compensation for you.