construction injury

Construction Injuries a Threat as Building Boom Continues

June 20, 2021 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

The improving economy is briging a strong tailwind to Southwest Florida’s booming construction industry.

As our Founder Bruce L. Scheiner celebrates his 50th year fighting for the rights of the injured in Southwest Florida, we have written about the area’s long history of explosive growth. Since 1971, Lee County has grown from fewer than 100,000 residents, to about 800,000.

But, if anything, growth has seemed to accelerate since coming out of the Great Recession a decade ago. And, while the COVID pandemic stalled growth temporarily, all signs point toward continued growth and expansion.

Report: Florida Workplace Deaths Rise Faster Than National Rate

April 8, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Nationally, workplaces are getting safer. The chances of dying on-the-job have decreased across the board.

But in Florida, there is actually a different trend being realized. According to The Orlando Sentinel, workplaces in the Sunshine state are becoming less safe.

In the most recent year-long reporting period, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the rate of Florida’s workplace fatalities climbed from a rate of 2.7 for every 1,000 full-time workers to 3.1 for every 1,000 workers. Meanwhile, the national fatality rate nationwide dropped, from 3.43 to 3.38. Continue reading ›

Suing For Work-Related Injury Damages

February 23, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

In most work injury cases, including those stemming from Florida construction accidents, workers can expect to have a single remedy against their employer: Workers’ compensation. The workers’ compensation law is a trade-off of sorts. Employers agree to a system of no-fault benefits for workers injured in the course and scope of employment, and employees agree to forfeit their right to sue the company.

However, while this provision generally also protects co-workers, it typically does not pertain to third-parties, such as product manufacturers, rogue drivers or, in some cases, other contractors on the same job site. The question recently considered in a work injury lawsuit by the Mississippi Supreme Court was whether a worker who obtained workers’ compensation benefits from a company was entitled to also sue that company, on the grounds the company wasn’t his statutory employer.

So why would a company that wasn’t his statutory employer pay benefits in the first place? According to court records, it had to do with an agreement between the defendant property owner and a contractor, which provided maintenance services. The terms of the contract were separate from state law, which did not mandate that the property owner pay workers’ compensation insurance. The fact that the property owner chose to do so as part of the contract did not mean it assumed the position of statutory employer, at least that’s what the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled when it decided plaintiff could proceed with his personal injury lawsuit against defendant, even though defendant/ defendant’s insurer had paid workers’ compensation benefits. Continue reading ›