Orlando Construction Accident Lawyer

Orlando Construction Accident Lawyer: Fighting for Injured Workers

A construction accident in Florida almost always triggers workers' compensation first. But workers' compensation is rarely the full story.

Florida law bars most claims against your own employer. It does not protect the other companies on the job site, such as a subcontractor, a crane operator, or an equipment manufacturer, from liability for their own negligence.

At Louis Berk Law, we represent construction workers injured on job sites throughout Central Florida. We pursue third-party claims against negligent parties beyond the worker's direct employer.

Orlando's construction boom, from downtown high-rises to Lake Nona and the corridors around Dr. Phillips, means job sites with many subcontractors working at once are the norm. We investigate every relationship on the site to find every available source of compensation.

Workers' Compensation Is Not Your Only Option

Workers' compensation is the exclusive remedy against your own employer, but you can still sue every other company on the job site whose negligence contributed to your injury.

Under Florida Statute §440.11, you generally cannot sue your direct employer, even when its negligence caused the accident.

In exchange, workers' compensation pays no-fault benefits. But it does not cover:

• Pain and suffering
• Your full lost wages
• The true extent of a serious, permanent injury

Florida sets a stricter coverage rule for construction. A construction company must carry workers' compensation once it has even one employee. Most other businesses need four.

The exclusive remedy bar applies only to your employer. Job sites routinely include a general contractor, multiple subcontractors, equipment suppliers, and sometimes a separate property owner. Any of them can be fully liable in a third-party claim, which recovers the damages workers' compensation never provides.

Here is how the two paths compare:

Why the General Contractor Isn't Always Immune Either

A general contractor is only immune as a "statutory employer" if it actually secured workers' compensation coverage for the subcontractor's employees.

Under §440.10, a general contractor that secures coverage for a subcontractor's workers, when that subcontractor has not, gains the same immunity as an ordinary employer.

That immunity is not automatic. It depends on the specific coverage arrangement. A general contractor that did not secure coverage for a particular worker's employer can remain exposed to a direct negligence claim.

This is why most of our larger construction claims are third-party claims. They are brought against a different subcontractor, an equipment operator from another company, or a property owner whose negligence created the hazard.

Who Can Be Liable in an Orlando Construction Accident

Construction accident claims can name other subcontractors, property owners, equipment manufacturers, and engineering or design firms.

Other Subcontractors

Other subcontractors are the most common third-party defendants in Florida construction cases.

This is especially true when a scaffolding, excavation, or rigging subcontractor injures a worker employed by a different trade.

Property Owners

A property owner can be liable when it keeps active control over site conditions instead of fully delegating safety to the contractor.

This theory overlaps with premises liability principles that apply to hazardous property conditions generally.

Equipment Manufacturers

An equipment manufacturer can face a product liability claim when a defect in a crane, scaffolding component, or heavy machine contributed to the accident.

This claim is separate from any negligence claim against the companies on site.

Engineering, Design, and Safety Firms

Engineering, design, and safety consulting firms can be responsible when a professional failure created the dangerous condition.

Examples include a flawed shoring plan or an inadequate structural design.

How OSHA Violations Support a Florida Negligence Claim

You cannot sue directly under OSHA in Florida, but an OSHA violation is powerful evidence of negligence in a state third-party claim.

A violation helps show what the standard of care required and how the defendant failed to meet it. Common examples:

• A scaffold that fails OSHA's structural requirements
• A trench without the shoring OSHA requires for excavations five feet deep or more
• A crane operation that violates OSHA rigging standards

Securing OSHA inspection records and citation history early is a standard part of every case.

A Freedom of Information Act request for prior citations against the same contractor at other sites can also reveal a documented pattern of similar safety failures.

What Construction Accident Claims Are Typically Worth

Third-party construction accident claims typically range from about $75,000 for moderate injuries to more than $1,000,000 for catastrophic harm.

These ranges reflect real third-party outcomes:

• $1,850,000 for an electrical worker who suffered thoracic compression fractures and permanent partial mobility loss. An improperly erected scaffolding platform collapsed on an Orlando commercial job site.
• $1,250,000 for a tradesman who suffered severe pelvic fractures and internal abdominal trauma. An excavation contractor failed to install mandatory trench shielding in Orange County.

Common Construction Hazards Behind Central Florida Claims

The most serious construction hazards behind our cases are scaffolding failures, trench collapses, struck-by and caught-between accidents, and falls through unguarded openings.

Scaffolding Failures

A scaffolding collapse usually points to improper erection, weak bracing, or overloading beyond rated capacity.

That evidence often implicates the subcontractor that erected the scaffold, not the general contractor broadly.

Trench and Excavation Collapses

A trench collapse is often caused by a contractor's failure to install the shoring or shielding OSHA requires at five feet deep or more.

A cave-in can happen with almost no warning, and a missing protective system is one of the clearest paths to proving negligence.

Struck-By and Caught-Between Accidents

Struck-by and caught-between accidents involve heavy equipment, falling materials, and crane loads, and they cause some of the most severe injuries we see.

• $790,000 for a job site worker who suffered a traumatic brain injury and fractured vertebrae. An uncertified crane rigging company dropped an unsecured steel bundle from an overhead lift.
• $620,000 for a worker who suffered severe lower-leg crushing injuries requiring multiple reconstructive surgeries. A subcontractor ran a skid-steer loader without a working audible backup alarm.

Falls Through Unguarded Openings

Falls through floor penetrations, unfinished stairwells, and roof edges without fall protection remain a leading cause of serious construction injury.

We recovered $480,000 for a drywall installer who suffered severe lumbar disc herniations requiring spinal fusion. He stepped into an unguarded, unmarked deck penetration left uncovered by the general contractor.

Common Injuries in Construction Accidents

Construction accidents commonly cause spinal injuries, traumatic brain injuries, fractures, crush injuries, and burns.

• Spinal cord and back injuries: compression fractures, herniated discs, and paralysis from falls and collapses.
• Traumatic brain injuries: from falling objects, falls, and struck-by incidents, even with a hard hat.
• Fractures and crush injuries: pelvic, leg, and arm injuries from equipment and trench collapses.
• Electrical burns and shocks: from contact with live lines or faulty equipment.
• Amputations: from machinery, saws, and heavy equipment.
• Heat-related illness: from prolonged outdoor work in Florida's climate.

Permanent injuries like these are where a third-party claim matters most, since workers' compensation alone rarely covers lifetime losses.

OSHA's "Fatal Four": The Leading Causes of Construction Deaths

OSHA's "Fatal Four" are the four hazards behind most construction worker deaths: falls, struck-by incidents, electrocutions, and caught-in or caught-between accidents.

• Falls: from roofs, scaffolds, ladders, and through unguarded openings.
• Struck-by incidents: hit by falling objects, swinging loads, or moving vehicles and equipment.
• Electrocutions: contact with live wires, power lines, or faulty tools.
• Caught-in or caught-between: trapped in trench collapses, machinery, or between equipment and structures.

These same hazards drive most serious injury claims too. Each one has specific OSHA standards that help define what a careful contractor should have done.

Evidence We Gather in a Construction Accident Case

In a construction accident case, we gather OSHA records, contracts, safety plans, equipment and inspection logs, and witness statements from workers on the site.

• OSHA inspection reports and citations for the site and the contractors involved
• Contracts between the parties showing who controlled site safety
• Site safety plans and toolbox talk records
• Equipment inspection, maintenance, and certification records
• Photos, video, and daily logs from the site
• Witness statements from coworkers and workers from other trades

Job sites change daily, so preserving this evidence quickly is often what separates a strong claim from a weak one.

The Multi-Employer Worksite Doctrine: Why More Than One Company Can Be at Fault

Under OSHA's multi-employer worksite doctrine, more than one company can be responsible for the same hazard, as a controlling, creating, or exposing employer.

Controlling Employer

A controlling employer has general supervisory authority over the site and can be cited even when the exposed workers belong to a different subcontractor.

Creating Employer

A creating employer directly causes the hazardous condition, and can be held responsible whoever ends up injured.

Exposing Employer

An exposing employer has its own workers exposed to a hazard someone else created, and shares responsibility for failing to protect them.

This maps directly onto Florida third-party liability. A general contractor with real safety control, or a subcontractor whose work created a hazard for another trade, can each face liability regardless of whose paycheck the injured worker received.

Heat Illness: An Underrecognized Florida Construction Hazard

Heat illness can support a negligence claim when a contractor fails to provide adequate water, shade, rest breaks, or heat acclimatization for workers.

Florida's heat and humidity make heat exhaustion and heat stroke a serious job site risk, especially in summer. Symptoms can escalate quickly and are easy to mistake for ordinary fatigue.

Strong claims usually document:

• What hydration, shade, and rest breaks were actually provided
• Whether new workers were acclimatized gradually
• Medical records connecting the illness to job site conditions

Common Third-Party Claim Scenarios on Orlando Job Sites

Third-party claims most often arise when a worker from one company is injured by the work or equipment of a different company on the same site.

• An electrician hurt by a scaffold built by a separate scaffolding subcontractor
• A tradesman injured in a trench dug by an excavation contractor without shoring
• A laborer struck by a load dropped by an outside crane or rigging company
• A worker run over by another subcontractor's equipment with no backup alarm
• A drywall installer who falls through an opening the general contractor left uncovered

In each scenario, workers' compensation covers only part of the loss. The third-party claim recovers the rest.

Which Florida Laws Apply to Your Construction Accident Claim?

Florida applies modified comparative negligence, no joint and several liability, and a two-year statute of limitations to most construction accident claims.

• Comparative negligence (§768.81): if you are more than 50% at fault, you recover nothing.
• No joint and several liability: each liable party generally pays only its proportionate share of fault.
• Two-year limit (§95.11): HB 837 cut the deadline for most negligence claims from four years to two.

Claims involving defective equipment may also fall under Florida's product liability framework, including the statute of repose covered on our product liability page.

Understanding the Workers' Compensation Lien on a Third-Party Recovery

The workers' compensation carrier generally holds a lien against any third-party recovery, and that lien can often be negotiated down.

The carrier is entitled to reimbursement from the settlement for benefits already paid. The lien does not erase the value of a third-party claim, because third-party recoveries include damages workers' compensation never paid.

It does affect how a settlement is structured and distributed. Negotiating the lien is a routine but important part of maximizing what you keep.

An attorney who coordinates both claims at once can often resolve the lien more favorably than a worker handling both systems alone.

Undocumented Workers Have the Same Legal Rights After a Construction Accident

Undocumented workers have the same rights to workers' compensation and third-party claims as any other worker, and immigration status is not a shield for the party that caused the injury.

Florida's construction industry employs many undocumented workers, and a common misconception is that status eliminates legal rights after a job site injury. It does not.

The Florida Third District Court of Appeal confirmed this in HDV Construction Systems v. Aragon (2018). Undocumented workers keep the right to both workers' compensation benefits and third-party personal injury claims.

What Defendants Argue in Construction Accident Cases

Defendants in construction cases usually argue worker fault, exclusive remedy immunity, or that another company caused the hazard.

• Worker fault: the injured worker ignored safety rules or failed to use protective equipment.
• Exclusive remedy immunity: the defendant claims statutory employer status under §440.10.
• Finger-pointing: each company blames another subcontractor or the general contractor.
• Pre-existing conditions: the injury is blamed on prior back or joint problems.

Each argument can be tested with site records, OSHA documentation, and contracts showing who actually controlled the hazard.

Wrongful Death Claims Following a Fatal Construction Accident

When a construction accident is fatal, the deceased's personal representative can pursue a wrongful death claim on behalf of surviving family members, in addition to any workers' compensation death benefits.

These cases use the same third-party analysis as an injury claim. We identify every subcontractor, manufacturer, or other party whose negligence contributed.

Our Orlando wrongful death lawyer team handles these claims. For workers left with permanent, life-altering injuries, our Orlando catastrophic injury lawyer team applies the same approach to maximize long-term compensation.

What to Do After a Construction Accident in Orlando

After a construction accident, report it, get medical care, document the scene, identify every company on site, and speak with an attorney before assuming workers' compensation is your only option.

1. Report the accident to a supervisor and request an official incident report. This creates a timestamped record independent of any single company's account.
2. Get medical care immediately and follow all treatment. This protects your health and both your workers' compensation and third-party claims.
3. Photograph the scene, equipment, and hazard before conditions change. Job sites are cleaned up and altered quickly.
4. Identify every company on the site, not just your employer. Other subcontractors, operators, and supervisors matter for a third-party claim.
5. Speak with an attorney before assuming workers' compensation is your only option.

How Louis Berk Law Handles Construction Accident Cases

When we take on a construction accident case, we investigate the full job site relationship from the outset, identifying every subcontractor, equipment supplier, and property owner who may bear third-party liability separate from the injured worker's own employer. We secure OSHA inspection records and citation history, retain independent safety and engineering experts to evaluate what actually caused the accident, and coordinate with workers' compensation counsel to manage the lien process so more of the final recovery reaches our client. Attorney Louis Berk reviews every case personally, applying the same multi-employer worksite analysis OSHA itself uses to make sure no potentially liable party is overlooked simply because they were not the worker's direct employer.

We have handled construction accident claims throughout Central Florida involving scaffolding collapses, trench and excavation failures, crane and rigging incidents, and unguarded fall hazards, and we know how to build a strong third-party case even when workers' compensation has already limited what the injured worker's own employer can be asked to pay. We represent workers across every trade, electricians, drywall installers, ironworkers, and general laborers, and we understand that the specific hazards and third-party relationships differ meaningfully from one trade to the next. You can review our case results to see how we've approached similar claims.

Disclaimer: This page is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every case is different. For advice about your specific situation, contact a licensed attorney. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.