I have represented countless people here in Mississippi injured in workplace accidents. While I have seen a wide variety of accident types, forklift injuries represent a recurring theme. Forklifts can be dangerous for many reasons, including ineffective driver training, overloading, lack of maintenance, or unsafe driving conditions. While any one of these dangers can harm you, you will need the help of an experienced personal injury attorney to make sure the claim is adequately pleaded or described and that claims are brought against the necessary parties, including your employer, the forklift manufacturer, and/or the owner of the premises where you were operating the forklift. You likely also viable claim for your loss of pay and medical bills through the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, which I have linked to below.
If you or a loved one were injured as a result of a forklift injury, you must find experienced counsel to help you attain your fair share of compensation for your loss of income, pain and suffering, and injury. Barrett Law has the experience to help you if you have been injured. Contact us now at (800) 707-9577.
Forklifts and Forklift Accidents
Forklifts are used to move materials in almost every blue-collar workplace, including grocery stores, warehouses, and construction sites. Even though a forklift’s body is usually smaller than a car, they are extremely heavy and weigh three times as much as your average car. They lift heavy objects with their two front forks, and the body of the forklift counterbalances the weight being lifted. The large load being lifted can shift, however, causing the forklift to tip, the load to spill, or the load to obscure the driver’s field of vision. A driver with an obscured field of vision can strike other stacked goods, causing them to fall, strike electrical wires, causing electrocution, or strike other workers. It should come as no surprise that forklift accidents are the most common type of heavy machinery accident in the Mississippi workplace.
Common Forklift Injury Claims
Workers’ Comp for Forklift Accidents
Your employer pays into the Mississippi Worker’s Compensation program, so that much of its employees’ costs are covered in the event of a workplace accident. The Mississippi Workers’ Compensation program will pay your medical bills and out-of-pocket expenses, so long as you use a doctor approved by your employer insurance company. You don’t have to prove that your employer caused the accident; if you were injured you can claim workers’ comp benefits, even if your negligence caused the injury. You are also eligible for benefits if your workplace injury was your fault, so long as you weren’t intoxicated or doing something illegal. If you file a worker’s compensation case, you are prohibited from filing a lawsuit against your employer unless the employer was grossly negligent.
Third-Party Personal Injury Lawsuits
A third-party lawsuit is a claim for damages—lost pay, pain and suffering, compensation for injuries—against a party that is not your employer. Unlike a workers’ compensation claim, in a third-party lawsuit you must prove that the third party was negligent. Negligence means that a person or company knew or should have known about a risk and ignored the risk, resulting in your injury. Third-party lawsuits involving forklifts and other powered industrial trucks are usually based on premises or product liability.
Premises Liability
Premises liability occurs when a landowner or property manager who is not your employer contributed to the circumstances that caused your injury. A landowner or property manager must maintain his or her property is a reasonably safe condition. If the landowner negligently maintains unsafe premises that result in your injury, you may have a valid third party-liability claim against them.
Defective Product Liability
Another type of third-party lawsuit is one based on “defective product liability,” meaning that the forklift itself was negligently designed, manufactured, or that its instructions for use were written in a way that encouraged injury.
Wrongful Death Liability
If a forklift accident causes a bystander or non-employee’s death, the deceased party’s family can file a wrongful death suit against the forklift operator, his or her employer, and the forklift manufacturer. In a wrongful death lawsuit, the legal burden is on the family to demonstrate that the operator or the employer was negligent and that that negligence resulted in their family member’s death.
What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured in a Forklift Accident?
If you or a family member were injured in a forklift accident, you might have a viable personal injury claim for the time you have been out of work, the costs of your treatment and rehabilitation, your pain and suffering, and other damages. Filing the correct claim, against the proper party could mean the difference between being amply compensated and receiving nothing. The Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Board should also compensate you for your time away from work and medical expenses. Let experienced counsel take care of organizing your bills, attaining statements from expert witnesses, and dealing with the other parties’ attorneys. These are just a few of the critical, complex tasks that a personal injury attorney will handle for you while you concentrate on healing and getting back on your feet again.
Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury due to a scaffolding accident. Contact us now at (800) 707-9577. Our Mississippi Workers Compensation Attorney is ready to assist you now!
