Austin Personal Injury Lawyer Awarded $1.1 Million in Non-Subscriber Case
Posted on Mon, Dec 20, 2010 @ 02:11 PM
Greg Reed, an Austin Personal Injury Lawyer, received judement in non-subscriber case.
Final Judgment in Workers Compensation Non-Subscriber Case
Bemis, Roach & Reed obtained a final judgment in excess of $1,100,000.00 on behalf of an injured worker on November 22, 2010. The employee worked for a used car sales lot and was injured when a co-worker accidentally ran over him with one of the vehicles on the lot.
Our client sustained very serious injuries and was hospitalized for several weeks. In addition, he was out of work for nearly two years.
In Texas, employers are not required to subscribe to the Texas Workers Compensation System. Texas is the only state in the nation that allows employers to opt out. If your employer subscribes to the workers compensation system, there are only limited circumstances in which you are allowed to go outside the workers compensation system and make a claim directly against the employer. If, on the other hand, your employer is a non-subscriber, you have the right to bring a negligence claim against your employer.
The law in “non-subscriber” cases is very favorable to the injured worker. In order to avoid a liability finding, the employer would have to establish that they were 0% negligent or that the employee’s own negligence was the sole proximate cause of the injury. As you can well imagine, that would be a rare event.
Negligence on the part of the employer can include failure to properly train employees, failure to provide proper equipment, and failure to provide sufficient manpower. Many other employer actions can constitute negligence, as well. If you were injured on the job as a result of a co-worker’s negligence or as a result of the negligence of your employer and your employer does not have workers compensation insurance, contact Bemis, Roach & Reed for a free consultation.