Construction and industrial jobs often come with a certain amount of physical risk, and the vehicles they use can certainly be hazardous. Bucket trucks, also called boom trucks or cherry pickers, are no exception. Many workers behind the wheel of a bucket truck, working near one, or up high on its hydraulic boom have been hurt while performing their duties. Many such workers ask, "What are my legal options if I'm injured in a bucket truck accident in Texas?"
Answer: Texas workers who are injured on the job have two common legal remedies: Workers' compensation and lawsuits. Where things get confusing is that which remedy applies to a worker in a given accident depends on decisions made by the employer and the victim's work relationship to the employer.
Let's take a look at different scenarios and how they affect the remedy available to an injured worker.
Workers' Compensation
Workers' compensation insurance is essentially work injury welfare. If someone is injured on the job, "workers' comp" provides guaranteed benefits to help them resume their lives. Almost every state requires businesses operating inside its borders to subscribe to workers' comp, which gives employees the reassurance of automatic (though limited) assistance.
Enrollment also protects those businesses from most lawsuits, however. When an enrolled company's employee is injured, workers' comp is likely his only option for recovery. In most cases the employee can't sue the company, even if he feels its negligence was partly to blame for the harm done.
Gross Negligence Exception
Even a company that participates in workers' comp may be sued when their workers get hurt if the company exhibits gross negligence, which is defined as negligence so severe that it "shocks the senses." Basically, a company that knowingly puts its people in major harm's way may be grossly negligent if that harm comes to pass.
Example: We once worked on a case where a worker fell out of an extended bucket truck lift at a job site. Initial reports only said he somehow fell, his safety harness failed, and he dropped to the ground below where he was injured so badly that he died a short time later. The truth we uncovered during the investigation was more complex and far worse.
We ultimately learned the worker in the bucket actually didn't have a harness at all when he went up. While he was up there his supervisor and another worker got into a fistfight by the boom controls and accidently bumped them, dumping the victim out of the bucket.
Did the supervisor seek help for the critically-injured worker? No. Instead they ran to a nearby pawn shop, bought a safety harness, put it on the victim's dying body, then called for an ambulance. To top it off, we learned they threatened the jobs of anyone who told the truth about what happened. We were fortunate that one of the crew couldn't live with that on his conscience.
The supervisor's callous disregard for the worker's safety, plus their attempts to cover up how their own negligence allowed the accident to happen at all, are textbook examples of gross negligence.
Texas is the only state that allows companies to "opt out" of workers' comp. Businesses in low-impact fields with minimal risk of injuries sometimes take this route, but some industries with greater chance of harm still roll the dice and opt out too. In those cases, a Texan who is injured on the job may seek remedy through the second option: a lawsuit.
Personal Injury Litigation
Some may roll their eyes when they see a Texas personal injury and wrongful death attorney start talking about lawsuits, but think about the context: Should someone who gets hurt on the job be hung out to dry because their employer wanted to save a few bucks by foregoing workers' comp insurance? I certainly don't think so. If litigation is the victim's only recourse, then it's important they know who might be held accountable.
Suing the Company
As mentioned before, a company that chooses not to participate in workers' comp is not shielded by it. If a Texan bucket truck worker is hurt by a careless coworker or his employer's negligence (safety gear problems, lack of training, poor vehicle maintenance, etc), he can take the company to court and let a jury decide who's to blame. That's rarely an easy process, as the company will almost certainly defend itself. Still, an experienced attorney can use the results of a careful and thorough investigation to build a strong case on the victim's behalf.
Suing Third Parties
While a work injury is often thought of as something to be dealt with between the victim and their employer, there may be instances where other third parties have a share of the responsibility. That action could be taken regardless of their employer's participation in workers' compensation.
Example 1: Let's look at the job site and boom truck mentioned in the previous example, only instead of a grossly negligent supervisor causing the accident we'll say that a car veers off the road and crashes into the boom truck. The worker, wearing a harness this time, still topples out of the bucket and suffers critical injuries in the fall.
Because the driver of the runaway car doesn't work for the same company as the victim, they are a third party. In a situation like that, the worker would still be able to collect workers' comp while also suing the car driver for causing his injuries.
Example 2: Revisiting the job site with the boom truck one final time, let's say that neither a fistfighting boss nor a reckless driver caused the worker's fall. Instead, a malfunction in the boom's hydraulics made it unstable and it shook until the worker was dumped out of the bucket.
In that case, the manufacturer of the malfunctioning or defective boom truck may be partly or wholly liable for the victim's injuries in the fall. Once again, the victim would still be able to collect workers' comp while also seeking remedy from the manufacturer for its faulty product.
Grossman Law Can Help
If you were hurt or lost a loved one in a work-related bucket truck accident, you may not be sure what to do first—or at all. If your employer subscribes to workers' comp, the first and possibly only step you'll take is filing a claim through that system. If the company is a non-subscriber, however, then seeking damages for an injury or a fatality may require a lawsuit.
Winning such a suit is often a complex and time-consuming process, and any company on the receiving end of it will most likely fight tooth and nail to minimize or even eliminate its duty to help the victim. A knowledgeable lawyer can be a valuable ally in such cases, and the Texas attorneys at Grossman Law Offices have decades of experience helping injured workers get the help they need and deserve from non-subscriber employers. If you were hurt or lost a loved one in a work accident, including one on or in a bucket truck, call Grossman Law any time for a free and confidential consultation.
