Ladder Accident Lawyer – New York City
Ladders are one of the most basic and useful tools in every home and construction site, yet they account for many accidents and injuries. By one count, more than 500,00 people are treated for injuries incurred in ladder accidents every year.
If you’ve been hurt, contact us at Douglas & London. An experienced New York construction accident lawyer can fight for your right to recover compensation for your injuries and losses. In more than two decades of helping injured workers in New York City, we have recovered substantial damages for injured parties in ladder collapse accidents, falls, and other incidents in which someone else’s negligence resulted in grievous injuries. Schedule a free consultation today.
Common Causes of Ladder Accidents
Ladder accidents are caused by multiple different issues, including:
- Excessive steepness. The bottom of a leaning ladder should be one-fourth of the ladder’s length away from the vertical surface. For example, the bottom of an 8-foot ladder should be two feet away from that surface.
- Grease or other slippery substances on ladder rungs
- Broken or deteriorated rungs
- Climbing beyond a safe distance on a ladder, for example, by stepping on a top rung that is not intended for use as a step
- Setting up ladders on uneven or unstable surfaces
- Loading a ladder beyond its weight rating
- Using ladders in high-wind or other unsafe weather conditions
- Contact between metal ladders and electrical power lines
- Impacts from objects that are dropped from ladders.
New York Labor Law section 240(1) holds contractors and owners responsible for providing proper protection to employees by furnishing proper ladders.
Determining Liability in a New York City Ladder Accident
As noted, NYC employers must provide safe and well-maintained equipment for their employees’ use. Further, they must train employees and monitor their use of that equipment. If an employer fails to fulfill these obligations and that failure leads to a serious accident, the employer may be liable to pay compensation to the injured worker.
An experienced ladder accident lawyer will look more deeply into the facts about an accident and identify all parties that may be liable.
The facts might show, for example, the following:
- A careless third party bumped into the ladder, causing it to collapse.
- Building site engineers and architects planned defective spaces that did not facilitate the safe use of ladders.
- Ladder manufacturers or equipment suppliers might have provided defective or poorly maintained ladders.
- Contractors at a building site, other than a victim’s employer, might have interfered with the safe use of the ladder.
- Site developers might have established unrealistic schedules that forced workers to use ladders in unsafe weather conditions.
The evidence that explains how a ladder collapse accident occurred is crucial in identifying liable parties. It is easiest to procure and memorialize that evidence when collected as soon as possible. Given this, an injured worker should get construction accident representation promptly.
Damages for Ladder Accident Injuries
The damages you may be entitled to recover will be a function of the extent of your injuries and the economic and non-economic losses you sustain. At a minimum, you may be eligible to collect compensation to repay your medical costs and reimburse the wages you cannot earn while recovering. That compensation might come from multiple sources that your New York accident lawyer identifies based on the facts of your case.
A skilled ladder accident and injury lawyer will also fight to recover compensation for your non-economic losses, e.g., pain and suffering. A New York judge and jury might calculate these non-economic damages as equal to two to five times your actual economic losses.
They might also determine it by setting a daily non-economic damages value and multiplying it by the days required to recover from your injuries. For example, if the daily rate is $250 and you need 100 days to recover, your non-economic damages would be $25,000.
These are examples of the non-economic damages you might recover after an NYC ladder accident. Your lawyer will give you a more specific estimate based on the specific facts of your case.
Schedule a Free Consultation
The New York City ladder accident lawyers at Douglas & London will aggressively pursue the full amount of compensation that you deserve when someone else’s negligence causes an accident that leaves you with serious injuries.
Please contact our offices in Manhattan for a confidential, no-fee case evaluation of your accident. It’s wise to consult with us before you talk to insurance companies or other reimbursement sources that do not have your and your family’s best interests in mind. We will shield you from predatory insurers and ensure your case is at the forefront of all personal injury litigation and settlement offers.
