Work Injury Lawyers in Odessa, TX

What Should You Do After a Workplace Injury in Odessa?

Here are the crucial first steps to take after a workplace injury in Odessa, Texas:

First, seek medical attention right away, even if the injury seems minor, to ensure it is documented and treated correctly. Report the injury to your supervisor or employer and provide a detailed account of how it happened. This step is key for initiating a workers’ compensation claim and proving the injury actually occurred at work.

Take photographs of the accident scene, your injuries, and any unsafe conditions that contributed to the accident. Keep records of all medical visits, treatments, and communications with your employer or insurance representatives. To learn your rights and options for compensation, consider working with an Odessa workplace injury attorney.

Workers’ Compensation after a Work Injury

Workers’ compensation is a private insurance system. It is intended to cover the medical expenses and a portion of lost wages for those injured at work or suffering from an occupational disease. Coverage is not based on fault but instead is based on the injury or condition arising from your work-related duties.

Texas does not require most private employers to carry workers’ compensation insurance. However, many large businesses do carry workers’ comp to limit their liability.

When you are injured at work, ask your employer whether there is workers’ comp coverage or not. If there is, talk with a workers’ compensation lawyer about pursuing a claim.

Work with a Third-Party Liability Attorney in Odessa

If you work for a non subscriber or someone other than your employer caused your injuries, it is essential to talk with an experienced workplace accident lawyer. The only way to obtain compensation without workers’ comp benefits is to file a lawsuit against your employer or a third party. You may also be entitled to pursue both workers’ comp benefits and third-party liability compensation.

When Kemmy Law Firm represents you after a workplace accident, you can be confident that we will thoroughly investigate the incident. We will take steps to preserve and gather all available evidence. We will also handle communications with your employer and any relevant insurer. Though your employer may not have carried workers’ comp, they may have a liability insurance policy.

After a work-related injury, you may receive a settlement offer from your company or their insurer within a matter of weeks. We highly recommend you consider the offer carefully and confer with an attorney. Quick settlement offers tend to be low because the liable party is attempting to limit their expenses.

One way to avoid being pressured to accept a lowball settlement is to retain an injury lawyer with considerable trial experience. By working with a trial lawyer and filing a personal injury lawsuit, you show the liable party and their insurer that you are serious about your financial recovery.

Why Choose Kemmy Law Firm?

We are a family of trial lawyers with more than 50 years of experience. We treat each person who walks through our doors as an extension of our family. At all times throughout the legal process, you will be treated with kindness, compassion, and respect. You will also receive our honest advice and guidance during your pursuit of compensation.

We take workplace accidents and injuries very seriously. We are passionate about helping our clients get back to work, either in their established profession or in a new field.

When we work with clients who cannot return to work because of a work-related disability, we fight hard to recover the compensation they and their families need for the future.

At Kemmy Law Firm, you never have to worry about us pushing your case to the side. We are careful to limit our caseload to ensure none of our experienced attorneys or staff members are overworked. We also choose to provide quality legal representation over quantity.

Common Causes of Workplace Injuries

When it comes to workplace accidents in Texas, we have seen it all. We have handled everything from the most unexpected accidents to the most obvious and preventable injuries.

Types of work accidents we handle include:

• Truck accidents
• Other transportation accidents
• Forklift accidents
• Crane accidents
• Oil field accidents
• Slip and falls
• Falls from heights
• Falling objects
• Pinned by/between objects
• Dangerous job site accidents
• Confined space collapse
• Ladder or scaffold collapse
• Dangerous machinery and equipment accidents
• Entanglement
• Crush injuries
• Chemical or Toxic exposure
• Fires and explosions
• Electric shock and electrocution
• Violence by people or animals

Workplace accidents arise from a wide range of circumstances. Some are more likely to occur because of a coworker or subcontractor’s negligence. Others might happen because the business fails to provide workers with proper training, equipment, or supervision. Still, other workplace injuries arise because of equipment with design or manufacturing defects.

After more than five combined decades of handling workplace accidents in Texas, we understand the nuances of each type, how to identify what went wrong and who is responsible.

Common Injuries in Odessa Workplace Accidents

We recommend working with a workplace injury attorney to discuss your circumstances. The more serious your injuries, the higher the value of your damages, potentially.

At Kemmy Law Firm, we have handled cases involving all types of workplace injuries, including:

• Burns
• Broken bones
• Dislocated joints
• Traumatic brain injury
• Herniated discs
• Spinal cord injuries
• Paralysis
• Crushed digits or limbs
• Amputation
• Nerve damage
• Respiratory injuries
• Vision injuries
• Hearing injuries
• Organ damage

We understand the accident and injury may not have felt like an emergency, but we recommend you see a physician as soon as you know that you may be injured. You may have felt compelled to complete your shift. It is OK if you did not go to the emergency room right away, but see a doctor as soon as you can.

Going to the doctor serves several purposes. Your main purpose is to ensure a doctor fully examines you, diagnoses your injuries, and provides a course of treatment. The secondary purpose is that you begin to document your injuries and workplace occurrence. This also is the beginning of collecting proof of the consequences of your injury and the full extent of the harm you have suffered.

Fatal Work Accidents

If your parent, spouse, or child passes away from workplace accident injuries, talk with a work injury lawyer immediately. If your relative was covered by workers’ compensation insurance, the policy may entitle you to death benefits, including compensation for the funeral and burial, medical expenses, and lost income.

The law also may entitle you and your family to file a wrongful death lawsuit. Let our lawyers review the situations and advise you of your right to wrongful death compensation. Filing suit will never bring your loved one back, but it can help you and your family move forward and limit your financial distress.

Texas Work Accidents Statistics

Texas private industry employers reported 178,800 non-fatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2022 (the most recent data available). This amounts to an incident rate of 1.9 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers in Texas.

Within specific sectors, injury and occupational illness rates varied drastically. Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting had a rate of 2.3 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers in 2022. Transportation and warehousing had a rate of 3.7, while arts, entertainment, and recreation had a rate of 3.6. The finance and insurance sector had the lowest individual rate at 0.2.

In 2022, Texas experienced 578 fatal occupational injuries, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

• 280 fatal transportation incidents
• 87 falls, slips, or trips
• 72 fatal contacts with objects or equipment
• 68 occurrences of violence by people and animals
• 61 instances of exposure to harmful substances or environments
• 9 fires and explosions

Liability in Workplace Injury Cases in Odessa

In Texas, where you may not have workers’ comp insurance, identifying the at-fault and liable parties is essential. If you have workers’ comp insurance, who was at fault is, typically, not relevant to receiving benefits. However, understanding who was negligent informs you as to whether you are entitled to file a personal injury lawsuit and against whom.

When you come to us, we will immediately investigate what happened. We will gather the accident report, photos, video footage, and witness statements. We’ll use all of this and other relevant evidence to pinpoint who was careless or reckless in causing the accident and your injuries.

Compensation in Work Injury Claims

If you were injured by your employer or a coworker, and workers’ compensation does not cover you, then you must file a personal injury lawsuit against your employer to obtain compensation. If someone from outside your employer injured you, then you must file a third-party liability lawsuit against that individual or company.

Through a lawsuit against your employer or another individual or business, a work injury lawyer will demand you recover your:

• Past and future medical expenses
• Lost wages
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Scarring and disfigurement
• Physical limitations
• Reduced earning capacity
• Lower quality of life

To obtain work injury compensation through a lawsuit, you have to establish the value of your damages. Damages can be categorized as economic or non-economic injuries. We utilize your medical bills, receipts, pay stubs, tax returns, and other documentation to prove the value of your economic damages.

Of course, economic damages are not the only kinds of losses that victims of work accidents suffer. Accident victims suffer non-economic damages as well, like pain and suffering. However, unlike economic losses, non-economic damages do not show up on receipts or bills, and so they can be more challenging to establish.

To prove your non-economic damages, we may ask you to take pictures of your visible injuries each day while you recover and to keep a daily journal regarding your pain and discomfort levels and the other consequences of being injured on the job. If we take your case to trial, we want to be able to show the jury how these injuries have impacted you and your family’s daily lives and future.

Proving damages also may require hiring a medical, economic, vocational, or other experts who can testify as to your inability to work, future medical expenses, and lost income.

How To File a Work Injury Claim in Texas

The law gives you the right to file a personal injury lawsuit against another party if you can establish that they were negligent. You can also file suit against your employer if workers’ comp does not cover you, and another employee’s negligence was to blame for your injuries.

Negligence is a breach of a duty of care that causes another party harm. Typically, this is a breach of the duty of ordinary care, which requires individuals to act like reasonably prudent people would under the same or similar circumstances. A party that fails to act reasonably and prudently given the circumstances and causes harm is negligent.

Filing a work injury claim based on negligence is not simple, though. You need to determine your rights under both the workers’ compensation system and Texas’ personal injury law. Depending on the circumstances, you may need to pursue both types of claims. Our trial attorneys have extensive experience with evaluating work injury claims and guiding employees through the process of obtaining benefits and compensation.

A Third-Party Liability Lawsuit

Our work injury attorneys can guide you through a personal injury lawsuit against your employer or third-party liability lawsuit against another person or business.

Once we collect enough evidence, we will typically file a lawsuit against the liable party. During litigation, we will fully utilize the discovery process. Depositions, interrogatories, and requests for documents can provide us with a wealth of information to support our client.

Following discovery, we might enter into negotiations with the defendant’s insurance company. We are aggressive negotiators and will fight for the maximum compensation possible for your work-related injuries.

When an insurer refuses to settle for a fair amount, the next step is to go to trial. We are not afraid to go head-to-head with the liable party in court. We have handled many workplace accidents and injury cases, and we know how juries respond to careless and reckless employers.

With our deep understanding of Texas law and comprehensive experience, we are often successful in recovering compensation for our clients. In the past two years alone, we have won more than $50 million in verdicts and settlements.

A Workers’ Compensation Claim

If workers’ compensation covers you, notify your employer of your injury as soon as possible. Then, file an Employee’s Claim for Compensation for a Work-Related Injury or Occupational Disease (DWC Form-041) with the Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation.

The DWC then notifies your employer, and the workers’ comp insurer will accept or deny your claim.

When workers’ compensation insurance covers injured workers, they may be entitled to certain income benefits:

• Temporary Income Benefits (TIBs): If you are temporarily disabled for more than seven days, you can receive 70% of the difference between your average weekly wages and the wages you are able to earn after your on-the-job injury.
• Impairment Income Benefits (IIBs): If you have a permanent partial disability that impacts your income, you may receive IIBs. The duration of IIBs depends on your impairment rating (IR), which signals the degree to which your body is impaired. You receive three weeks of IIBs for every percentage of impairment. The amount is based on 70% of your average weekly wages.
• Supplemental Income Benefits (SIBs): If you have an IR of 15% or higher, have not returned to work or earn less than 80% of your pre-injury average weekly wages, are looking for work, and have not accepted a lump sum settlement, you can apply for SIBs. You must apply for these benefits every three months.
• Lifetime Income (LIBs): You can receive lifetime income if you lost an extremity, lost your vision, sustained a spinal cord injury and paralysis, suffered a TBI causing insanity or imbecility or suffered third-degree burns over 40% or more of your body. You are entitled to 75% of your average weekly wages with a 3% increase each year.

If your claim is accepted, the insurer will calculate your benefits. Talk with an attorney if your claim is denied or the insurer calculated your benefits incorrectly.

We Take Work Injury Cases to Trial and Win

A lot of personal injury and work-related injury cases settle but not without extensive preparation and hard work. Pursuing your claim as if you were going to head to trial is often the wisest strategy. For every workplace accident case, we take trial preparations seriously.

We never skimp on an investigation or take the discovery process easy. This ensures that when we enter into settlement negotiations, we have the leverage to demand maximum compensation. And the insurer knows we are ready to go to trial if necessary.

One of the many benefits of working with an experienced workplace injury law firm is you can be confident we have considered all of your economic and non-economic injuries. We do not focus on what your injuries have been up to this point. We consider what you need in the long run to fully recover or to take care of your family when you are unable to work.

We expect insurance companies to offer as little as possible, which is why we are prepared to fight for the full and fair compensation you deserve. Kemmy Law Firm has an impressive track record, and in a majority of cases, we succeed in recovering what our client’s need.