What is Workers’ Comp?

Workers’ comp, short for workers’ compensation, is a system of workplace insurance coverage that protects workers who suffer injuries or illnesses because of their jobs. Every state, as well as the federal government, has its own workers’ compensation system, though all of them operate in essentially the same way. If you sustain an injury while on the job or are injured or become ill because of your work, you can file a workers’ compensation claim.

No-Fault Protection

Workers’ compensation programs operate under a “no-fault” principle. This means that workers can receive compensation for their on-the-job injuries regardless of who or what caused those injuries. It isn’t necessary, for example, for someone who suffers an on-the-job injury to prove or show that someone else caused the injury, or that it resulted from the employer’s negligence.

Coverage Requirements

Workers’ compensation doesn’t apply in every situation where someone suffers an injury while on the job. Even though state rules differ significantly about who is covered under workers’ compensation programs, it doesn’t cover every worker in the state. For example, many seasonal workers, contract or freelance workers, and domestic workers are not covered under state workers’ compensation laws.

Additionally, not every employer in the state is required to carry workers’ compensation insurance. For example, while most states require that every company with at least one full or part-time employee must carry workers’ compensation insurance, other states say that such coverage doesn’t apply unless the company has at least three workers, or the total sum of the salaries the company pays its employees exceeds a specific amount.

On-The-Job or Job-Related?

A lot of people talk about workers’ compensation as applying to “on-the-job” injuries. This term is a little inaccurate. Workers’ compensation coverage applies to any illness or injury that is job-related. This means that you don’t have to suffer your illness or injury at your place of employment in order for workers’ compensation to apply.

For example, let’s say you work as a software developer and spend almost all of your time in your company’s office. However, once or twice a year you have to take a business trip to attend a software development conference. If you suffer an injury while traveling, this is usually covered by workers’ compensation.

Lawsuits

Even if you work for an employer who has workers’ compensation insurance and you suffer a job-related injury or illness, you might still be able to file a lawsuit. When an employee suffers an injury because the employer was reckless or intentionally caused the injury, the worker can typically take the employer to court. In addition to suing for medical damages and lost wages, these lawsuits also involve the possibility of punitive damages, damages for the pain and suffering the worker suffered, as well as any mental anguish associated with the injury.

Of course, determining whether workers’ compensation is right for you or whether you can file a lawsuit against your employer is not something most people can do on their own. You should talk to a personal injury or workers’ compensation attorney for advice if you’ve suffered an injury while on the job.

Are You in Pain Following a Texas Auto Accident? Recover Damages for Your Soft-Tissue Injuries

If you have been in a car accident and have experienced persistent pain that was not caused by a broken bone or some other wound normally associated with vehicle wrecks, you may have a soft-tissue injury. You may be suffering the symptoms of pulled muscles, whiplash, sprains, or some other condition that is worse and will not go away.

The term “soft-tissue injury,” in the context of the legal world, refers to any type of damage to muscles or tendons or other parts of your anatomy, not having to do with your skeleton. Many soft tissue injuries are sustained in a car accident. But they are not as easy to treat because of their elusiveness. Soft tissue injuries, especially nerve damage, can exhibit sometimes changing symptoms that show-up overnight and disappear later, only to have a different set of painful symptoms appear to take their place.

Insurance companies often minimize both the significance of such injuries in accident victims and their financial liability for them. Soft-tissue injuries can be deceptive. They may not be readily visible, but they can be costly to diagnose and treat and are typically accompanied by considerable pain and suffering. You are unable to get any relief from them without pain killers: which come with inherent risks to your health and well-being. A patient may need months of physical therapy as well as additional treatment, possibly surgery. More on this webpage:

To make sure you receive a fair settlement from the insurance company, you need experienced attorneys on your side. Without the help of an experienced accident injury attorney, you will likely receive a minimal settlement from the insurance company: possibly a mere few hundred dollars simply based on the fact that you will not know the required methods of “proving up” your damages. The car accident attorneys of our Law Firm have established partnerships with medical professionals who use the most current diagnostic equipment and methods. Working together, we have been helping clients get fair compensation for soft-tissue injuries for decades, and we are confident that we can help you maximize the value of your case.

The time after being seriously injured in a car accident is often stressful and confusing to the victims and their families. Don’t add to the stress and confusion by letting an inexperienced attorney handle your case or represent yourself when you are unqualified to look out for your or your family’s best interests. We are uniquely qualified and fully prepared to fight for and win the fairest compensation for your total damage claims. If you or someone you know was injured in a car accident, contact an attorney at our Law Offices today at 1(800) 862-1260 (toll-free) for a free consultation and find out how we can help you.

18 Wheeler Truckers Look Out for Number One, Not You, And Often not Even the Truth

What would you do if someone threatened your line of work, your ability to earn a living and take care of your family? Good jobs are hard to come by these days so you would probably do anything to assure that you keep getting paid and that your family still eats.

Truck drivers are no different. When they’ve been involved in an 18 wheeler accident and know they are in danger of losing their paycheck if they’re held liable for the wreck, they’re not beyond lying, cheating (or stealing evidence) in order to save their job. Trucking companies wouldn’t trust one of their expensive rigs to a driver with a history of causing expensive wrecks; even one. The trucker knows he’ll probably lose his job if he’s found responsible for your accident and serious injuries. And it will be hard for him to find another driving gig. So when he hits you, he’s looking for a fall guy. And you’re it.

A client once hired us after suffering an injury in an 18-wheeler accident. The driver who caused it claimed that our client was driving with his lights off at night and was instead, the cause of the accident. But our investigators discovered a security camera outside a storefront that was pointed directly at the accident scene. The video clearly showed that our client’s headlights were shining brightly, which proved that the truck driver boldly lied.

Our investigative methods get to the bottom of 18 wheeler accidents and the lies the drivers sometimes tell. All of the evidence, sworn statements of credible witnesses, video surveillance footage, and forensic test results we gather that prove a trucker isn’t telling the truth can make powerful evidence in your insurance claim or civil case. Sometimes your lawyer will catch a trucker in a lie during a deposition and press him until he gives up the truth. Over the last twenty years, the 18 wheeler accident injury lawyers at our Texas Law Firm have taken countless depositions and developed sophisticated techniques of inquisition that can get witnesses to admit the truth. And the truth is your best weapon in winning a settlement before a case goes to trial.

Our Law Firm has decades of experience handling personal injury litigation in large truck wreck cases. If you or a loved one has been hit by one of these monsters and you are blameless, our expertise assures that you should receive the fairest compensation possible for the injuries and pain you have suffered or if a wrongful death of a loved one has occurred. We’ve helped deliver millions of dollars to hundreds of negligent accident victims in Texas. So if you or a loved one has been involved in a trucking accident in Texas, our experienced accident lawyers can win the best compensation possible for you.

Call us today at 1(800) 862-1260 (toll-free) for a free consultation. Get on the road to recovery so you and your family can get on with your lives.

Our Main Office:

Carabin Shaw P.C.
630 Broadway St, San Antonio, TX 78215
210-222-2288

Pre-Employment Drug Screening for Truckers – Personal Injury Lawyers

Negligent Entrustment of a Trucking Company and The Failure to Properly Screen Truck Drivers

There are almost three million tractor-trailers that travel the nation’s highways in a given year and with so many on the road, accidents with other motorists are a common occurrence. Nearly 113,000 tractor-trailer accidents yearly and almost 3500 of those result in fatalities. Many of these accidents would be prevented if the trucking companies follow the federal requirements regarding the pre-employment background and drug screening.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requires that trucking companies perform pre-employment background checks for every driver they hire. Trucking companies must investigate a potential driver’s employment history and driving record, conduct screenings for drugs and alcohol, and check for any drug or alcohol-related violations in the truck driver’s background. The failure to perform pre-employment background checks leads to accidents and injuries that might otherwise be preventable. Find more great information about Truck Driver accidents here @ https://www.carabinshaw.com/truck-accident-attorney-in-midland.html

If you have been injured in a tractor-trailer accident it may be difficult for you to obtain the trucking company’s records to determine whether they followed the federal law requiring pre-employment background checks on their driver. Trucking companies have been known to hide or destroy these records to prevent injured plaintiffs from demonstrating the trucking company’s failure to comply with the federal requirements. The attorneys at Our Law Office know how to investigate the trucking company and its drivers. We know what reports need to be produced to verify whether the required pre-employment screening was conducted by the trucking company and if its negligence in failing to do so was a factor in your injuries.

An Ounce of Prevention

As the old saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Though an old and often used term, this statement is still nonetheless true. In this case, the “ounce of prevention” is the trucking company’s duty to perform pre-employment background and drug screening, and the “pound of cure” is compensating a motorist that has been injured as the result of an accident with a tractor-trailer driver who had no business on the roads. The best prevention is taking the necessary steps to reduce the occurrence of an accident in the first place.

In an effort to reduce the number of accidents involving motorists and tractor-trailers, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has enacted an extensive driver screening program for the trucking industry to follow in order to keep unsafe tractor-trailer drivers off the road. However, the program can only be effective if those responsible for hiring tractor-trailer drivers – the trucking companies—actually use it. The FMCSA driver pre-employment screening program focuses on two key areas. First, the trucking company must obtain employment and driving history for the driver for the previous three years. Second, the trucking company must obtain the driver’s drug and alcohol violation history for the previous three years as well as to conduct its own drug screening on the driver. Each of the steps outlined in the FMCSA’s pre-employment screening program is important in keeping dangerous and unqualified drivers off the road and minimizing the number of preventable accidents that occur each year.

Pre-Employment Driving History

As part of the FMCSA’s pre-employment driver screening program trucking companies are required to obtain a driver’s employment and driving history for the previous three years. This is an important factor in preventing accidents because many times a driver’s employment or driving history reveals their record for drug use, carelessness or reckless driving.

When a driver applies for employment with a trucking company, part of the due diligence the trucking company must perform involves obtaining the driver’s license and driving history. The trucking company should review any driving violations, accidents, and tickets received by the truck driver in this time period. The FMCSA has made it easier than ever for trucking companies to obtain this information. The agency is making data available on driver safety and post-crash violations, in addition to the roadside inspection and crashes records that employers already can see using this system. The Internet-based pre-employment screening program gives the trucking companies five years of an applicant’s crash history and three years of his inspection history. The data is drawn from the Motor Carrier Management Information System and includes the same information that is used by agency staff and state police for enforcement. There is simply no excuse for a trucking company’s failure to conduct this basic check and if you are injured by their negligence in doing so, the lawyers at Our Law Office are here to help.

Pre-Employment Substance Abuse History

In addition to a trailer truck driver’s driving history, the trucking companies have a legal duty to obtain reports from the driver’s previous employers regarding any drug or alcohol violations. Trucking companies must request information related to substance abuse history from prior employers. Specifically, a prospective employer must verify whether an applicant has failed a drug or alcohol test from all employers for the three years prior to the date of hire. The trucking company must request the results of alcohol tests with a result of 0.04 or higher alcohol concentration, verified positive drug tests, and refusals by the truck driver to be tested, and other violations of DOT agency drug and alcohol testing regulations. Additionally, the trucking company should not have the driver on the road until this information has been received and verified.

If a tractor-trailer driver has a history of drug and alcohol abuse or DOT violations, these factors serve as a warning to potential employers about the risk a driver like this brings to the highway. Logically, once made aware of this risk the trucking company can reduce the risk of an accident involving this driver by simply not hiring them. Obtaining the driver’s employment and driving history prior to employment is not only good business sense for the trucking company, but it is also required by law. Click on this link @ https://caraccidentattorneysa.com/truck-accident-lawyers-san-antonio/

If you have been injured in a tractor-trailer accident one of the first things that needs to be secured for your case are the results of the pre-employment driving history and employment check conducted by the trucking company. Trucking companies are not always forthcoming with these documents because by not complying with the federal requirements their negligence can be a major factor that works in your favor. The trucking company will throw many hurdles in your way to prevent you from obtaining these documents, or even flat out refuse to provide them to you. The lawyers at Our Law Office have extensive experience dealing with trucking companies and we know how to obtain these records and we know how to argue that the records demonstrate negligence on the part of the trucking company.

Pre-Employment Drug and Alcohol Screening

Under federal law, trucking companies must have the driver complete a pre-employment screen for alcohol and drugs before a driver is allowed to operate a tractor-trailer on the highways. The drug screen must be negative and the alcohol test must come back at a consummation level less than .04%. If the driver does not pass the drug and alcohol screens, the trucking company should not allow the driver to perform truck driving duties. In addition to performing the drug and alcohol screenings mentioned above, the trucking companies must also provide their truck drivers with educational materials explaining its policies and procedures about alcohol and controlled substances. While some policies are pretty obvious such as no alcohol or drugs may be used while on duty, some may not be as obvious and should be carefully outlined in the trucking company’s policies and procedures. For example, drivers need to understand which substances prescribed by a doctor are allowed for use on duty and which are not.

If you have been injured in an accident with a tractor-trailer and the driver was found to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs it is extremely important that any pre-employment drug and alcohol screen results are obtained. Not only will this demonstrate whether the trucking company complied with federal law by conducting the tests in the first place, but the results can also demonstrate the trucking company’s knowledge of potential drug or alcohol abuse by its employee. Additionally, the trucking company’s policies concerning drug and alcohol use should be obtained as well. Having these documents will allow your attorney to lay the foundation of your claim surrounding the trucking company’s negligence in complying with the federal trucking laws.

The Pre-Employment Policies Protect The Public

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Department of Transportation put laws in place to govern the commercial trucking industry for the safety of the public. These laws and regulations work to prevent accidents and keep us safe from reckless and negligent tractor-trailer drivers and the trucking companies that employ them. Trucking companies have a legal duty to conduct the pre-employment screenings required by the FMCSA and their failures to do so often results in needless preventable accidents and injuries to motorists.

Even when they have clearly violated the federal laws that govern their industry trucking companies will still aggressively defend any claims against them when one of their drivers injures a motorist. They have teams of attorneys looking for any way to minimize their liability and deny you access to the records that help to prove their negligence in failing to conduct the required pre-employment tests on their drivers. You need attorneys on your side that know how to compel the trucking companies and their lawyers to produce this information to help with your claim. Getting these documents as soon as possible after your injury increases the likelihood of their availability for trial. If you have been injured, please call Our Law Office today.

Our Truck Accident Attorneys fighting for injury victims and their families’ rights since 1982. In the United States, semi-truck accidents are on the rise, and it is innocent drivers on the road, and their passengers, that are becoming victims and suffering the consequences.

There are many factors that ultimately contribute to a semi-truck or 18-wheeler accident. There can be varying conditions related to an overloaded or underloaded trailer, driver fatigue, going too fast or too slow, substance abuse, as well as other issues. Furthermore, because semi-trucks have decreased visibility and maneuverability over that of a passenger car, small truck or SUV, these vehicles automatically at a higher risk for a crash than the smaller vehicles they share the road with. More here @ https://caraccidentattorneysa.com/truck-accident-lawyers-san-antonio/

Our law firm has worked with semi-truck accident victims for over 30 years in this special area of litigation. This type of accident is so different from other types of accidents that can happen on the roadways of the country.

Trucking companies are held to high standards by the Federal government and individual state governments. Individual truck companies are held accountable for maintaining limits on the amount of time a driver spends on the road each day and they must perform background checks on anyone who ends up behind the wheel. Furthermore, drivers are subject to random drug testing as well as post-accident drug testing. If a trucking company ever violates the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulation Act, there could be cause for litigation in cases of negligence or unsafe driving.

Statistics show that semi-truck accident victims are killed 98% of the time and our law firm has taken it upon themselves to become experts in this area of the law.

For over 30 years our firm has been helping victims and family members of victims who have been injured or killed in a semi-truck accident.

Our law firm is encouraging semi truck accident and injury victims to step forward to learn their rights. Our firm offers free consultations to any person who believes they were injured because of negligence on behalf of a trucking company, truck driver, or truck vehicle manufacturer.

It is important to note that the details of a semi-truck accident can vary widely from case to case. It is difficult to determine what a victim could be compensated for without going through a full and thorough legal consultation with a licensed and knowledgeable semi-truck accident attorney at our firm. Therefore, in order to properly determine liability and the viability of a potential case, it is important for any victim who has been injured in an accident involving a semi-truck or large commercial vehicle to call our office immediately.

Call our office to schedule a free consultation or click here: @https://no1-lawyer.com/truck-accident-lawyers-in-midland/