Wrongful death

Seasoned Lawyers for Wrongful Death at a Construction Site

The death of a loved one is difficult to bear. It’s imperative that all parties on a construction site take appropriate precautions to avoid injuries or deaths to construction workers and visitors. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the top four causes of construction fatalities are falls, electrocutions, struck by accidents, and getting caught between surfaces. If your loved one died as a result of a construction accident, you should call the tenacious Chicago wrongful death attorneys of Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca.

Wrongful Death at a Chicago Construction Site

In Illinois, you can pursue damages in a wrongful death lawsuit when certain loved ones die as a result of another party’s neglect, wrongful act, or default. In other words, a wrongful death lawsuit could be brought in any context in which the decedent could have brought a personal injury lawsuit if she or he had survived. As in a personal injury lawsuit, we will likely need to prove a defendant’s fault for the wrongful death at the construction site. To prove negligence, our attorneys will need to demonstrate it’s more likely than not: (1) the defendant owed your loved one a duty of care, (2) the defendant breached the duty of care, (3) the breach caused your loved one’s death, and (4) actual damages.

Many different kinds of breaches of the duty of care may cause death at a construction site. Any of the following, for example, could be the basis for a wrongful death lawsuit:

• An open elevator shaft was left without any warnings that caused your loved one to drop to the bottom of the shaft and die.
• There was inadvertent contact with a power line and your loved one suffered fatal electrocution.
• Improper scaffolding such that your loved one fell to his or her death from great heights.
• A crane accident caused by a defective part results in a huge load dropping and killing your loved one.
• Toxic exposures that result in death.
• Fires or explosions that result in catastrophic injuries that lead to death in the ER.
• Improper operation of a bulldozer such that your loved one is crushed to death.
• Negligent training that results in an excavator improperly shoring a construction trench that later collapses and suffocates your loved one.

You can file a wrongful death claim to recover damages for the death of a loved one if you are the personal representative or executor of the decedent’s estate. The damages to be recovered are intended to compensate the decedent’s survivors for both tangible and intangible losses including loss of education, moral training, and instruction to children; loss of financial support provided by the decedent including lost wages; loss of consortium; survivors’ grief and mental suffering; and funeral and burial costs. After a successful lawsuit, the damages are paid to the decedent’s surviving spouse and next to kin according to the extent to which they depended on the decedent.

Bring a Workers’ Compensation Claim

Death benefits may be available through the workers’ compensation system if your spouse or parent was killed at the construction site where they worked. In workers’ compensation claims, no fault must be proven, and the amount of compensation you receive will not be reduced in the event that you were partially or fully at fault for the accident. However, the benefits are generally much less compensation than is awarded in a third party lawsuit. They will include a portion of economic losses but will not compensate for any noneconomic losses.

Consult a Chicago Lawyer About a Wrongful Death at a Construction Site

If a loved one died or was killed in a construction accident, you need skillful legal representation. Call the experienced Chicago elevator accident attorneys of Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca to handle your personal injury lawsuit, workers’ compensation claim, or SSDI claim. Call us at 312-724-5846 or complete this online form.