Riverside Construction Accidents Lawyers at The Accident Network Law Group

Construction sites across the Inland Empire are hazardous by design: elevated work, heavy equipment, exposed wiring, and multiple contractors sharing the same space at the same time. When a fall, a struck-by accident, or an equipment failure injures a worker or a passerby, figuring out who is legally responsible is rarely as simple as the job site’s chain of command suggests.

The Accident Network Law Group has represented injured workers and their families across Costa Mesa, Riverside, Rancho Cucamonga, Apple Valley, Bakersfield, and Victorville since 1999. Attorney Damoun A. Yazdi brings more than 12 years of personal injury litigation experience, along with his background as a former law clerk at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, to every construction injury case we accept, and we advance the costs of your case so you owe nothing unless we recover for you.

Claims against a negligent third party generally must be filed within two years under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1. Contact us for a free case evaluation. Se habla espanol.

The Leading Causes of Construction Site Injuries

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration tracks four hazards, known industry-wide as the Fatal Four, that together account for close to 60 percent of construction worker deaths nationally: falls, being struck by an object, electrocutions, and being caught in or between equipment or collapsing material. OSHA’s injury data shows falls as consistently the single largest cause.

Falls from ladders, scaffolding, roofs, and elevated platforms remain the leading cause of construction fatalities. California’s fall protection and scaffolding requirements are set out in the Construction Safety Orders at Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations, and a documented violation of those standards is often central evidence in a fall case.

Struck-by accidents involve falling tools and materials, swinging crane loads, and vehicles operating in active work zones. Caught-in and caught-between injuries occur in trenching, excavation, and machinery operation, and tend to produce the most severe crush and amputation injuries on a site. Electrocutions, which happen on construction sites more often than in almost any other work setting, involve their own set of electrical code and utility liability issues.

Workers’ Compensation Covers You, But It Is Not Your Only Option

If you were hurt on the job, California’s workers’ compensation system is generally the exclusive remedy against your own employer under Labor Code Section 3600: in most cases you cannot sue your direct employer in civil court over a workplace injury, regardless of fault. Workers’ compensation pays a portion of your medical care and wage loss, but it does not compensate pain and suffering, and its wage-replacement benefits are capped well below your actual earnings.

Construction sites are rarely run by a single employer. General contractors, subcontractors, equipment rental companies, material suppliers, and property owners often share the same job site, and Labor Code Section 3852 preserves an injured worker’s right to bring a civil claim against any of those parties, so long as they are not your direct employer, in addition to collecting workers’ compensation benefits. A civil claim against a negligent subcontractor, property owner, or equipment manufacturer can recover the pain and suffering damages that workers’ compensation does not.

General contractors are not automatically responsible every time a subcontractor’s employee is hurt. Under a line of California Supreme Court decisions beginning with Privette v. Superior Court, a company that hires an independent contractor generally is not liable for injuries to that contractor’s own employees, because the risk is presumed to be covered by the subcontractor’s workers’ compensation policy. Recognized exceptions apply where the general contractor retained control over how the work was performed and that control affirmatively contributed to the injury, or where the contractor knew of a concealed hazard on the site and failed to warn the sub about it. Whether one of these exceptions applies often decides whether a viable third-party claim exists beyond workers’ compensation.

Injuries We See Most Often on Construction Sites

• Traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord damage from falls
• Crush injuries and traumatic amputations from heavy equipment or collapsing trenches
• Severe burns from electrical contact or chemical exposure
• Long-term respiratory disease from silica dust or asbestos exposure
• Fractures to the spine, pelvis, and limbs from falls or being struck by equipment or vehicles

What a Third-Party Construction Claim Can Recover

Economic damages cover medical expenses beyond what workers’ compensation pays, lost income during recovery, and any reduction in future earning capacity from a permanent injury.

Non-economic damages, which workers’ compensation does not provide at all, cover pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and permanent disability or disfigurement. California places no statutory cap on compensatory damages in a third-party personal injury claim.

Where a contractor or property owner’s conduct rises to malice, oppression, or fraud, such as knowingly ignoring a cited safety violation that later caused a serious injury, California Civil Code Section 3294 permits punitive damages in addition to compensatory damages.

Protecting a Third-Party Claim After a Job Site Injury

1. Report the incident to your supervisor and file a workers’ compensation claim, even if you also plan to pursue a third-party case
2. Seek medical care from a provider who documents how the injury occurred, not just its symptoms
3. Photograph the equipment, materials, or site conditions involved before they are cleaned up or repaired
4. Identify every contractor, subcontractor, and vendor working the site that day
5. Ask that safety logs, inspection records, and the equipment involved be preserved
6. Route any call from a contractor’s insurer to your attorney rather than giving a recorded statement
7. Contact our firm promptly; third-party claims generally must be filed within two years under CCP Section 335.1

How Contractors and Their Insurers Respond to Job Site Claims

General contractors and their carriers investigate job site injuries quickly, often before an injured worker has left the hospital, and their first goal is usually to establish that the injury falls entirely within workers’ compensation with no third-party exposure.

Expect an early inquiry into who was actually at fault, requests for a recorded statement, and, in serious cases, an argument that the general contractor exercised no control over the specific work being performed when the injury occurred.

Attorney Yazdi began his career as a personal injury paralegal, seeing firsthand how insurers build a file to limit exposure, and later trained as a law clerk in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. That combination shapes how our firm investigates job site control, safety violations, and the contractual relationships between every company on a construction site.

Why Injured Construction Workers Choose The Accident Network Law Group

Our firm has represented injured workers and their families throughout Riverside County, Orange County, and San Bernardino County for more than 25 years, and we understand how multi-contractor job sites are typically structured when a case requires untangling who controlled what.

• Attorney Yazdi personally reviews every construction accident case we accept
• We investigate every company on site, not just the one named in the incident report
• Bilingual staff serve English and Spanish speaking clients; se habla espanol
• Representation is available 24/7 and provided entirely on contingency, with no upfront cost to you

If a fall, an equipment failure, or another party’s negligence hurt you on a job site, our personal injury team can help you understand whether a claim exists beyond workers’ compensation. Contact The Accident Network Law Group today for a free consultation.