Workers' Compensation & Personal Injury Third-Party Claims

When a worker is hurt while on the job due to the fault of another person, the injured worker may have the right to bring two (2) separate claims:

1. Workers’ compensation claim for benefits from the employer’s insurer and
2. Personal injury claim against the person or entity that is at fault, often referred to as the third-party.

In addition, should the worker be involved in a car accident or other motor vehicle accident, and should the at fault person (i.e., the third party) be an uninsured motorist (UM), then the injured worker may also make a claim under the worker’s own auto insurance policy pursuant to the uninsured motorist (UM) coverage, if any.

If you are injured at work anywhere in Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley or California, you should immediately seek medical attention, report the injury to your supervisor and then contact us for assistance. The consultation is FREE and there is NO fee on accident injury cases until you win!

State law imposes time deadlines on such cases. Further, you may be worried about medical & hospital bills, losing your job, loss of wages and supporting your family. Therefore, do NOT wait. Please contact us now for a FREE consultation to start receiving your benefits.

For more information on standard workers’ compensation claims without personal injury third-party claims, please see our web page on workers’ compensation claims by just clicking here.

When an employee is hurt while working due to the fault of another who is not the employee’s employer or co-worker, the employee may also make a third-party personal injury claim against the responsible party. In such event, the injured worker may receive additional compensation far beyond the standard benefits permitted pursuant to typical workers’ compensation law (click here to see a summary of the typical worker compensation benefits), including the following personal injury compensation:

1. All past and future medical, hospital, physical therapy, psychological and dental charges for care and treatment by health care providers that the injured worker selects. In workers’ compensation claims without third party liability, the injured employee is often limited to health care providers selected by the employer’s administrator.
2. All past and future loss of earnings and also all time lost at work, even if paid for it under sick leave, vacation time or other benefits as the responsible party should not benefit by the benefits you earned and may have used up. While workers’ compensation law permits some income reimbursement, it usually is not full compensation based on all time and income lost, but rather only a limited, reduced amount;
3. Loss of enjoyment of life and activities that the injured employee missed-out on. Workers’ compensation law does not provide compensation for this loss;
4. All past and future pain, suffering, emotional distress and inconvenience. Again, workers’ compensation does not provide coverage for this loss;
5. If the injured worker was using his or her own property at the time of injury (for example, if the accident occurred while the employee was driving his or her own car), and its damaged, then compensation for all property damage, rental charges and all loss of use of property even if no replacement property (such as a rental car) is actually rented (as sometimes the injured person cannot afford to rent a replacement vehicle, but still suffers from the loss of use of that property and, therefore, is entitled to fair compensation for this loss);
6. If the injured worker’s own property is damaged (again, for example, if the accident occurred while the employee was driving his or her own car), then compensation for all diminution in value of the worker’s property. In other words, even after damaged property is repaired, it just might not be the same or as valuable had it never been damaged in the first place. Therefore, California law authorizes payment for the difference in value after the damaged property was repaired compared to its pre-accident value, which is usually more so, therefore, the injured worker may be entitled to that extra compensation for the property’s reduced value post accident;
7. And any and all other appropriate damages permitted under California law for personal injury, third-party claims.

Workers are hurt in many ways. Here are just a few typical examples:

• Lifting a box that is just too heavy, causing back injury
• Walking on a slipper floor, falling, and injuring neck, back, coccyx, etc.
• Dog bite while delivering packages, causing scars, requiring plastic surgery, etc.
• Car or tuck collision, causing multiple injuries, fractures and burns
• Using unsafe or dangerous machinery, causing cuts, amputation or other serious injuries

If this happens at work and no one else causes the injury, then the remedy is usually a workers’ compensation claim with the limited benefits described in our section entitled Workers' Compensation Insurance Benefits .

However, if a worker is injured as a result of the negligence or other wrongful conduct of someone other than his or her employer, then the injured worker may also receive additional benefits and damages allowed under California Personal Injury Law most notably damages for pain, suffering, inconvenience and loss of enjoyment of life activities. Examples of workers’ compensation claims with third-party personal injury liability include the following:

• When the worker is on someone else’s property and falls or is bit by a dog, then that property owner or dog owner may be liable.
• When the worker is rear ended while driving in his or her employment, such as a delivery person, then the driver and registered owners of the other vehicle may be liable for personal injury damages.
  
• When the worker is using unsafe or defective machinery that causes a cut, amputation or other injury, then the manufacturer and supplier of the unsafe or defective machinery may also be liable.

If you believe you have a workers compensation claim and/or claim against another (a third-party personal injury claim), then you immediately should discuss this with your attorney. Often we work with other medical, investigative & legal experts and specialists to handle various aspects of such complex claims.

For more than 45 years we have handled claims involving both workers’ compensation and third-party personal injury rights. Here are just a few interesting ones:

• Employee blown off ladder when rocket at nearby space port exploded, entitling him to both workers’ compensation and third party compensation.
• Employee, an insurance adjuster, injured when he slipped and fell in the lobby of his office building, entitling the injured employee to both workers’ compensation benefits from his employer and also third party personal injury compensation of $250,000.00 from the responsible parties.
• Plumber burned due to malfunction of gas water heater caused by the negligence of another person.
• Package delivery person injured when he slipped on wet paint immediately outside the elevator door in apartment building without any warning signs or barriers, entitling the injured employee to both workers’ compensation benefits and third-party personal injury compensation against the owner of the apartment building and independent painting contractor.
• Employee injured when exposed to chicken pox, suffering a very serious and debilitating illness (as chicken pox can be extremely serious when contracted as an adult).

Our Los Angeles and California injury law firm has handled third-party personal injury accident claims for over 45 years. Our experience includes the following:

• Over 45 years experience handling serious personal injury and third-party workers’ compensation claims.
• Settled and resolved thousands of personal injury claims
• Our entire firm and staff handle injury claims
• Recovered over $100,000,000.00 for our clients
• We work with experienced and skilled doctors, investigators, experts and attorneys to handle even the most complex cases
• Our senior attorney was selected Personal Injury Attorney of the Year 2010
• Our senior attorney has served as an arbitrator and temporary judge in the Superior Court
• Please see our Testimonial Pages

• State of California, Department of Industrial Relations
• California Workers Compensation Act – California Labor Code
• Federal workers compensation claims – U.S. Department of Labor