Available 24/7 (214) 333-3333
Available 24/7 (214) 333-3333
Available 24/7 (214) 333-3333
Available 24/7 (214) 333-3333
Construction work helps build Dallas, but it also comes with serious risks. When a construction accident happens, your life can change in an instant. One moment you are doing your job. Next, you may be dealing with a serious injury, mounting medical bills, lost income, and uncertainty about your future. You should not have to face that alone.
Many injured construction workers in Dallas are not aware of all their legal options. Texas has a unique workers’ compensation system, and depending on your employer, you may have the right to pursue compensation beyond workers’ comp benefits. Our Dallas construction accident lawyers help workers understand their rights and take action to protect them.
At Frenkel & Frenkel, our Dallas personal injury attorneys represent construction workers and families after serious job site injuries across Dallas and throughout Texas. We conduct detailed investigations, identify all responsible parties, and pursue full compensation from negligent contractors, subcontractors, property owners, and equipment manufacturers. We prepare every case for trial and fight to hold companies accountable—not just push for quick settlements.
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KEY TAKEAWAYS
Quick Answer
What Should I Do If I Was Injured on a Dallas Construction Site?
If you were hurt on a Dallas construction site, get medical care right away. Then call an experienced construction injury attorney before you speak with any insurance company or sign anything. Texas law may let injured workers bring claims beyond workers' comp. That can include claims against general contractors, property owners, and equipment makers. An attorney can find all responsible parties, save key evidence before the site changes, and seek payment for medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, and long-term losses.
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Yes, in many cases. The answer depends on two things. First, does your employer carry
workers’ compensation insurance? Second, did any third party help cause the accident?
If your employer does not carry workers’ comp, called a ‘non-subscriber,’ you can file a direct negligence lawsuit against your employer and seek full damages, including pain and suffering. Non-subscriber employers also lose several important defenses, which can help injured workers.
If your employer does carry workers’ comp, you usually cannot sue your employer directly. But you may still sue other parties whose negligence caused or helped cause your injury. That can include a general contractor, another subcontractor, the property owner, or the company that made a defective piece of equipment. These are called third-party claims, and they can be filed with a workers’ comp claim.
Texas is the only state that does not require private employers to carry workers’ compensation insurance. That makes Texas law very different from what you may expect if you have worked in other states or heard general workers’ comp advice.
In Texas, private employers fall into two groups. ‘Subscribers’ carry workers’ comp insurance through the Texas workers’ compensation system. ‘Non-subscribers’ have chosen not to carry that coverage at all. Your employer must tell you in writing which group they are in, and the Texas Department of Insurance keeps a public database where you can check.
If your employer carries workers’ comp, the system gives no-fault benefits that cover part of your medical bills and lost wages while you recover. But workers’ comp does not cover everything. It usually pays only 70% of the difference between your pre-injury and post-injury earning power, and it does not cover pain and suffering, mental anguish, or full lost wages.
This rule is called the exclusive remedy doctrine. If your employer carries workers’ comp, you usually cannot sue your employer directly. But that rule does not apply to other parties. You may still file a separate injury claim against a general contractor, a property owner, another subcontractor, or an equipment maker whose negligence helped cause your injury. These claims can fill the gap left by workers’ comp.
If a construction injury hurt you, we are ready to listen. Contact us today for a free case review.
If your employer does not carry workers’ comp, you have the right to file a direct negligence lawsuit against them. That opens the door to full compensation, including pain and suffering and full lost wages. Non-subscriber employers also lose three key defenses. They cannot say you were partly at fault, that you assumed the risk of the job, or that a coworker caused your injury. That can make a big difference in your case. About 25% of Texas employers operate without workers’ comp coverage, and that is common in construction. If you are not sure whether your employer has coverage, an attorney can find out quickly.
A third-party claim is a personal injury lawsuit against someone other than your direct employer. On a Dallas construction site, many companies may be working at the same time. A general contractor runs the project. Subcontractors handle special work. Property owners own the land. Equipment makers build the tools and machines. Any one of them may have helped cause your injury. Third-party claims let you seek damages that workers’ comp does not pay. That can include pain and suffering, mental anguish, physical disfigurement, and full lost earning power. In some cases, you can pursue workers’ comp benefits and a third-party lawsuit at the same time. That can raise your total recovery.
If a defective tool, machine, or piece of safety gear helped cause your injury, you may have a product at fault claim against the maker, distributor, or seller. Product at fault claims are separate from the workers’ compensation system. You do not have to prove negligence in the usual way. You only need to show the product was defective, you used it in a reasonable way, and the defect caused your injury.
Common examples on Dallas construction sites include bad scaffold parts, broken power tools, faulty harnesses and fall arrest systems, and crane failures. If the equipment that hurt you was defective, an attorney can look into the product, identify the responsible company, and bring a claim for you, even if your employer carried workers’ comp.
In Texas, you usually have two years from the date of your injury to file a personal injury lawsuit. This deadline is set by Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003. If you miss it by even one day, your case will likely be dismissed, and you lose the right to seek compensation in court.
There are some exceptions. If the injured person is a minor, the clock usually does not start until they turn 18. If the injury was not clear right away, such as a toxic exposure or a condition that developed over time, the deadline may be extended. If a government entity is involved, such as a government-owned construction project, notice deadlines can be as short as 30 to 90 days. Do not wait to learn which rules apply.
Quick Answer
Can I recover more compensation if multiple parties caused my construction injury?
Potentially yes. Each at fault party may carry their own insurance policy. Identifying multiple defendants — such as a general contractor, subcontractor, property owner, and equipment manufacturer — can open up multiple sources of recovery that a single-defendant case would not. This is one of the most important reasons to hire an attorney who investigates the full picture, not just your direct employer.
Yes. If OSHA standards were broken at the job site where you were hurt, that is strong evidence in a personal injury claim. In Texas, an OSHA violation does not automatically prove negligence, but it does show that the responsible party failed to meet basic safety rules meant to protect workers.
An OSHA report or citation showing missing fall protection, bad scaffold assembly, or ignored electrical hazards can help your case. Prior citations at the same company can also show a pattern of unsafe conduct. An attorney can get OSHA records, work with safety experts, and use that evidence to build a stronger claim for you.
Our attorneys have spent more than Decades of Combined Legal Experience combined fighting for construction workers injured on the job. We have the knowledge and resources to take on even the most complex construction injury cases involving multiple at fault parties, OSHA violations, and catastrophic injuries.
Our founding attorneys used to defend insurance companies. Now, they use that inside knowledge to fight for injured construction workers like you. We know the tactics companies use to minimize your claim, and we know how to counter them.
We have recovered over $1 Billion in settlements and verdicts for our clients.* For 16 straight years, our attorneys have been named among the Best Lawyers in Dallas.
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Falls from Heights
Falls are the top cause of construction deaths. Workers fall from ladders, scaffolding, roofs, open floor areas, and raised platforms. OSHA requires fall protection at heights of six feet or more, but fall protection violations have been the most cited OSHA standard for 14 years in a row. Missing guardrails, loose scaffolds, or no fall arrest system can mean the difference between life and death.
Scaffolding Collapses
Scaffold failures caused by too much weight, poor setup, bad parts, or no inspection can hurt or kill several workers at once. OSHA requires inspections by a competent person, proper footing, and enough load capacity for all scaffolds. When those rules are ignored, workers pay the price.
Electrocution
Contact with overhead power lines, live wires, exposed wiring, and faulty electrical equipment is one of the top causes of construction deaths. Crane booms hitting power lines, workers drilling into live circuits, and damaged power tools used in wet conditions are common on DFW job sites.
Struck-By Accidents
Workers are struck by falling tools and materials, swinging crane loads, moving vehicles, heavy equipment, and debris during demolition. On a busy Dallas construction site with many trades working at once, the risk of a struck-by injury is constant.
Caught-In and Between Accidents
These accidents happen when a worker is caught, crushed, or pinned between two objects or inside a piece of equipment. Trench and excavation cave-ins are among the deadliest. A trench collapse can bury a worker under thousands of pounds of soil in seconds. OSHA requires protective systems for trenches five feet or deeper, but violations are still common on North Texas job sites.
Heavy Equipment and Machinery Accidents
Forklifts, excavators, cranes, bulldozers, concrete mixers, nail guns, and power saws can all cause severe injuries when they are used wrong, not maintained, or defectively designed. Equipment accidents may involve both a careless operator and a manufacturer that made a defective product.
Construction injury claims can involve many accident types, injury levels, and at fault parties. Frenkel & Frenkel handles cases involving:
When a general contractor controls the work or fails to enforce site-wide safety rules, they may be at fault for injuries to subcontractor workers. Texas courts look closely at whether the GC controlled the specific work that caused the injury.
Subcontractors are responsible for the safety of their own workers and for the hazards their work creates on the site. When one subcontractor's negligence creates a danger that hurts workers from another company, a third-party claim against that subcontractor may be available.
Property owners can be at fault for construction site injuries when they kept control over how work was done and knew about a dangerous condition. They may also be at fault for failing to warn about hidden hazards on the property or for hiring an unsafe contractor.
If a bad scaffold part, power tool, crane, harness, or other piece of equipment helped cause your injury, the maker may be at fault under product at fault law, no matter what your employer's workers' comp status is.
When employers or contractors fail to install required guardrails, provide fall arrest systems, or secure raised work areas, injured workers may have claims against the responsible parties for the OSHA safety failures that led to the fall.
Trench collapses are almost always preventable. When an employer or contractor fails to install required protective systems, the injured worker and their family may have claims against the contractor, the general contractor who oversaw the site, and maybe the property owner.
Crane tip-overs, dropped loads, and power line hits can injure both crane operators and workers on the ground. at fault parties may include the crane operator's employer, the crane owner, a maintenance company, or the maker of a defective part.
When a construction accident takes a worker's life, family members may be able to bring a wrongful death claim under Texas law. Recoverable damages can include lost financial support, loss of companionship, mental anguish, and funeral and burial costs.
A workers' comp claim goes through the Texas workers' compensation system and provides no-fault benefits for medical bills and part of your lost wages. It is paid by your employer's insurance carrier and does not require you to prove fault. A third-party claim is a personal injury lawsuit against someone other than your employer, such as a general contractor, property owner, or equipment maker, whose negligence helped cause your injury. Third-party claims require proof of fault, but they can recover full damages that workers' comp does not pay, including pain and suffering and full lost wages. In many cases, you can pursue both at the same time.
A non-subscriber is a Texas employer that has chosen not to carry workers' compensation insurance. If your employer is a non-subscriber, you can file a direct negligence lawsuit against them instead of using the workers' comp system. That opens the door to full compensation, including pain and suffering, mental anguish, and disfigurement. Non-subscriber employers also lose three key legal defenses in court. They cannot say you were partly at fault, that you assumed the risk of the job, or that a coworker's negligence caused your injury. Your employer must tell you in writing whether they carry workers' comp.
If OSHA standards were broken at the job site where you were hurt, that can be powerful evidence in your claim. In Texas, an OSHA violation is not automatic proof of negligence, but it shows that the responsible party failed to meet the basic federal safety rules. OSHA reports, citations, and a company's prior violation history can all help your case. An attorney can request those records and work with safety experts to show how the violation caused your injury.
Possibly. Texas follows a modified comparative negligence rule. You can still recover compensation as long as you are 50% or less at fault for the accident. But your total recovery is reduced by your share of fault. For example, if you are 20% at fault and your damages total $200,000, you would recover $160,000. If you are 51% or more at fault, you cannot recover anything. Fault is often disputed, and having an attorney can make a difference.
This is one of the most common defenses in construction injury cases. Texas law does not automatically excuse a general contractor from at fault just because a subcontractor was doing the work. Courts look at whether the GC controlled the specific work that caused the injury. If the GC controlled safety steps on the site, directed how the work was done, or knew about a danger and failed to fix it, they may still be at fault. An attorney can review the contracts, site records, and messages to see whether the GC shared responsibility.
Frenkel & Frenkel offers free consultations and handles construction injury cases on a contingency fee basis. That means you pay nothing up front and owe no attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you. There is no financial risk in calling us to discuss your situation.
This is a warning sign. Employers and insurance companies sometimes push injured workers toward company-picked doctors, quick settlement offers, or early recorded statements, all of which can reduce the value of your claim. Before you sign anything, give a recorded statement, or accept any settlement, speak with an attorney. Once you accept a settlement, you usually cannot go back and ask for more, even if your injuries turn out to be more serious than first known.
