Florida Construction Accident Lawyers
Florida has been seeing a building boom in recent years, especially in large cities like Miami and their surrounding areas, where multi-story condo buildings and commercial projects are currently under design or construction.
In addition, if you’ve been driving along the I-95 Corridor in Miami-Dade County the I-395/SR 836/I-95 Interchange in Miami and other roads in the area, you’ll notice the major infrastructure and construction projects, as interchange enhancements and new bridges and roads are being planned and built.
The many improvements mean many active construction sites, which can mean an increased risk of construction site accidents. If you are injured on a construction site, contact the Florida construction accident lawyers at Flaxman Law Group for a free consultation. We can review whether you have a claim and whether there is a way for you to seek compensation for your losses.
What Makes Flaxman Law Group Different?
If you’re thinking about consulting with Florida construction accident lawyers, why should you contact Flaxman Law Group? Among many law firms, we stand out for many reasons:
- We have the experience to take on whoever has hurt you. Our team has over 60 years of combined experience. We have represented thousands of clients and have faced multinational corporations and powerful insurance companies across the negotiating table and in the courtroom. We’re not afraid to back down against a powerful defendant and we build strong, evidence-based cases that stand up to scrutiny.
- We understand insurance companies. Our background includes insurance defense and adjusting, which means we know the insurance company playbook (and how to beat it). We’ve worked inside the insurance industry, and now we work against it for your benefit.
- We take on the risk of your case. We take cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning you only pay us if and when your case is successful.
- We get big results but treat you like a small firm. We’ve already recovered close to one billion dollars for clients, with multiple multi-million-dollar outcomes. These are the results you’d expect from a very large firm, but we secure these results while giving you the personalized and attention you’d expect from a small, boutique law firm.
- We’re family. When you call Flaxman Law Group, you talk to a Flaxman. Our law firm includes a father-son attorney team and family in support roles. We’ve built our law firm around family because we feel we do our best work together. We’re able to create a supportive environment in our offices in Miami, Homestead, and Hollywood because we pull together.
- We take care of you. Most Florida construction accident lawyers won’t help you with car rentals, medical referrals, and other help you need, but we will—and often at no charge. We’re here for you, not just for your case.
We stand out for our full-service, highly experienced family-based team. We’re proud to be part of the local Miami, Homestead, and Hollywood communities and we’re already familiar with the major construction firms and employers in the area. If you’ve been injured in a Florida construction site accident, you can always turn to us for a free consultation.
Understanding Your Rights After a Construction Site Injury
Construction sites are among the most dangerous work environments in Florida, and the news is filled with stories of serious injuries and fatalities. In 2024, a construction worker was killed after falling on a reservoir construction site in Henry County. That same year, three people were seriously injured at a Surfside construction site. Each year, close to 100 workers are killed and thousands are seriously injured, on average.
Many workers are aware that they have a workers’ compensation claim if they are injured on the job or get ill on the job. Workers’ compensation is a no-fault type of insurance paid for by the employer. In the case of an on-the-job injury or occupational illness, workers can apply for benefits that include wage loss and medical benefits. In the case of a fatality, families can apply for benefits.
While worker’s compensation is often the first step, it’s not the only one. Workers’ compensation isn’t even always a viable option. Many employees are denied their rightful benefits, and benefits do not cover full job loss or all the losses a worker may experience in a construction accident. In addition, injuries sustained on a job site while a worker wasn’t engaged in work activities are not covered by workers’ compensation.
Fortunately, depending on the circumstances, you may also have the right to file a personal injury lawsuit if you have been injured on a construction site. This is especially the case if your injury was caused by someone other than your direct employer, such as:
- A general contractor or subcontractor who failed to maintain a safe worksite.
- A property owner who neglected known hazards.
- A manufacturer that produced faulty equipment or machinery.
A third-party claim allows you to pursue compensation beyond what workers’ comp typically covers, including pain and suffering, lost future earnings, and any incidental expenses. You may have the right to pursue a lawsuit if your injuries were caused by someone’s negligence.
Crucially, you don’t have to be a worker on a construction site to pursue a personal injury claim. If you were a lawful visitor to the site, were injured while walking by a site, or were in a car accident caused by a worksite, you may have a claim if you can show that your injuries were caused by someone’s negligence and that you suffered losses due to the negligence.
It is not always clear whether you have a claim. For example, imagine that you were driving by a construction site on US-1 in Miami when a piece of debris from the site fell on the road and caused your accident. Do you know whether you might have a claim? Would you be able to prove negligence?
Since it is challenging to tell whether you may have a claim, the best option is to consult with Florida construction accident lawyers as soon as possible after your injury. Before you sign paperwork, accept workers’ compensation, make a statement to an insurer to decide what you will do, contact Flaxman Law Group for a free consultation. It’s important to consult with Florida construction accident lawyers as soon as possible because once you have signed paperwork or made a statement you may have already harmed your chances of getting full compensation.
Common Causes of Construction Accidents in Florida
Most construction site injuries in Florida can be traced back to preventable causes. Some of the most common causes of these incidents include:
- Falls from heights. Unsecured scaffolding, ladders, or rooftops often lead to serious fall injuries.
- Struck-by accidents. Workers can be hit by falling tools, building materials, or machinery.
- Electrocution. Contact with exposed wiring or live power lines can cause cardiac arrest, burns, and fatalities.
- Caught-in or between. These incidents occur when workers are trapped between heavy equipment or collapsing materials.
- Unsafe equipment. Malfunctioning tools or improperly maintained machinery can lead to amputations, burns, and other devastating injuries.
- Lack of safety training or protective gear. When employers cut corners on safety, workers can be exposed to dangerous chemicals or may be at a greater risk of falls, head injuries, and other serious injuries.
- Vehicle-related accidents. Forklifts, dump trucks, and other construction vehicles can cause severe injuries in poorly managed zones. In addition, construction sites can affect surrounding roads. If detours are needed to accommodate a site or a construction site leads to added traffic or debris on the road, this can cause accidents on roads near the work area.
Construction site injuries tend to be severe, because worksites include heavy machinery. Being struck by a falling piece of building material, for example, is more likely to lead to serious injuries than being struck by falling objects at home. No matter what kind of injury you have sustained on a construction site, it’s important to treat the injury seriously and to get medical attention. Don’t self-diagnose. Always get a medical evaluation to get a diagnosis and a treatment plan.
Every construction injury also deserves a thorough investigation. It’s not enough to assume it was just “part of the job.” If someone’s negligence or a safety violation caused your injury, you may be entitled to much more than workers’ compensation alone. Working with Florida construction accident lawyers is one way to get your injury thoroughly investigated and to find out whether you have a claim.
Injuries Frequently Sustained on Florida Job Sites
With fast-paced schedules and powerful machinery, job site injuries tend to be serious. Some of the most common injuries seen on construction sites include:
- Broken bones and fractures, often caused by falls, heavy objects, or equipment-related accidents.
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBI), including concussions, brain bleeds, or penetrating injuries.
- Spinal cord and back injuries, which can be caused by a fall from height, a crane collapse, or improper lifting.
- Burns and electrocutions, which are often caused by live wires, chemical exposure, or equipment malfunctions.
- Amputations and crush injuries that lead to permanent disfigurement or loss of limbs.
- Respiratory injuries, caused by inhaling dust, asbestos, or other toxins that can cause long-term lung damage or occupational illnesses.
- Soft tissue injuries, including strains, sprains, and muscle tears.
These affect your health, but they can also impact your income, quality of life, and future stability. We are fortunate to have top facilities in our area, including Ryder Trauma Center and Cleveland Clinic Weston, but it’s important to seek compensation to ensure you can pay for treatment and the many other expenses you may face after a job site accident.
Who May Be Liable in a Construction Accident Case
While workers’ compensation covers many accidents regardless of fault, there are often additional parties whose negligence contributed to unsafe conditions, and they can be held legally and financially accountable through a third-party claim. Figuring out who is responsible is critical to ensuring you can pursue a claim and seek compensation.
Potentially liable parties in a Florida construction accident case may include:
- General contractors or subcontractors who failed to maintain a safe worksite.
- Property owners who neglected known hazards or failed to warn workers.
- Equipment manufacturers whose defective products caused injury.
- Safety managers or supervisors who ignored protocols.
- Architects or engineers of flawed designs that contributed to the accident.
- Third-party vendors or delivery drivers operating on the site during the incident.
Every construction accident is unique. Determining liability often requires an investigation, site inspection, witness interviews, and legal experience in construction safety regulations. At Flaxman Law Group, we have a network of engineers, investigators, medical expert witnesses, and other professionals who can help us get to the bottom of what caused an accident and who can testify about dangerous conditions on job sites.
The Difference Between Workers’ Comp and Third-Party Claims
After a construction site injury, you may hear that workers’ compensation is your only option. While it does provide important benefits, it may not be the only (or even the best) route for you.
Florida’s workers’ comp system is designed to cover medical bills and lost wages, regardless of who caused the accident. It can be a helpful lifeline, but there are limits:
- It does not cover pain and suffering.
- It will not replace your full income.
- There is no guarantee that your claim won’t be denied.
- It does not cover your full future medical bills, lost earning potential, and incidental expenses.
- It only covers work-related injuries, not injuries that happen during breaks or after a shift.
- Not all workers are covered by workers’ compensation.
In addition, workers’ compensation claims protect your employer from a legal claim, even if your employer’s actions led to your injury.
If your injury was caused by someone other than your employer, you may have the right to file a third-party personal injury claim. This allows you to pursue:
- Full compensation for pain and suffering.
- Future lost earnings and reduced earning capacity.
- Damages for any property loss or damage you have sustained (to your vehicle, work tools, or phone, for example).
- Incidental costs, such as the cost of modifying your home to accommodate your injury.
- Punitive damages in cases of extreme negligence.
In some cases, injured workers are entitled to both workers’ comp and a third-party claim. Pursuing both ensures that you are not leaving valuable compensation on the table.
At Flaxman Law Group, we can help you explore every option and ensure you pursue the maximum support for your recovery. For us, it’s not just a dollar amount. We have worked with many construction workers injured in Miami, Hollywood, and other communities and we have seen how having fair compensation allows these hard workers to pay for the therapy, medication, treatment, and support they need to rebuild their lives.
What To Do Immediately After a Construction Accident
A construction site accident can happen in a fraction of a second, and adrenaline may be high, but it’s still important to stay calm and to take actions to ensure you protect your safety and your right to compensation. Here are important steps to take:
- Get medical attention right away. Even if you think the injury is minor, get checked by a medical professional. Some conditions may not show symptoms immediately, and you want to be able to show your injury was caused by your work.
- Report the injury. Notify your supervisor or site manager as soon as possible. You need a written report for a workers’ compensation claim, and timely notice helps protect your legal rights.
- Document everything. If you can, take photos of the accident scene, your injuries, any equipment involved, and any obvious hazards in the area. Collect names and contact information for anyone who saw what happened and take note of any surveillance cameras in the area.
- Avoid making statements to insurance companies. Insurance representatives may ask for a recorded statement soon after the accident. Politely decline until you’ve spoken with an attorney. Anything you say can be used to reduce or deny your claim, even if what you’re saying is innocent. Your attorney can talk to insurance companies for you or can prepare you about what to say in a statement.
- Consult with Florida construction accident lawyers. The sooner you speak with a qualified attorney, the sooner they can begin protecting your rights, gathering evidence, and advising you on how to proceed.
If you have been in a construction site accident in South Florida, contact Flaxman Law Group for a free consultation. We can explain what you should and shouldn’t do and what your rights are.
How a Florida Construction Accident Lawyer Can Help
An experienced construction accident attorney can take the pressure off your shoulders after a serious construction site injury and can help you pursue the compensation you may be entitled to.
Your lawyer can:
- Explain your rights, including workers’ comp benefits and third-party personal injury claims, so you can.
- Identify all potential sources of compensation, including employers, subcontractors, equipment manufacturers, or property owners.
- Conduct a thorough investigation into the cause of the accident and who was responsible.
- Handle all communication with insurance companies and opposing parties.
- Calculate the full value of your claim, including lost wages, future medical costs, and non-economic damages like pain and suffering.
- Negotiate for a fair settlement (and go to court if necessary to fight for what you deserve).
One of the most important things your attorney will do is to protect you from making any errors which could hurt your claim. Insurance companies will often try to minimize or deny your claim, and your attorney will work to protect you from that, so you can get full financial compensation.
Securing financial compensation is critical because of the financial impact of a serious injury. At Flaxman Law Group, we have worked with employees who have been financially impacted by serious injuries for years after an initial injury, and securing fair compensation was essential to helping these clients pay for quality medical care and the help they needed to get back on track. Without fair compensation, injured workers may struggle to pay for medication or the bills, and no-one should have to face financial distress because of a serious injury caused by someone’s negligence.
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Investigating Site Conditions and Safety Violations
One of the most important steps in building a strong construction accident claim is a detailed investigation of the job site. Construction zones are governed by safety standards, and when those rules are ignored, this can establish that negligence played a role in the injuries sustained by workers. In turn, this can help workers secure the compensation they need.
Flaxman Law Group partners with safety experts and investigators to identify:
- Violations of OSHA or Florida construction safety standards.
- Missing or defective safety equipment, such as guardrails, harnesses, or helmets.
- Poor site planning or supervision that led to dangerous conditions.
- Improper equipment use, maintenance failures, or lack of operator training.
- Unstable scaffolding, trench collapses, or other structural risks.
- Inadequate signage or barriers around hazardous areas.
We document these conditions through site visits when possible, photographs, witness statements, and incident reports. Even if the scene has changed or been cleaned up, our team works quickly to preserve evidence that could be critical to your case.
Recovering Compensation Beyond Workers’ Compensation
Workers’ compensation is often the first source of financial relief after a construction site injury in Florida. It can help cover immediate medical expenses and a portion of your lost wages. But what many workers don’t realize is that workers’ comp may not be your only option. In fact, if you have other options, it makes sense to pursue them because workers’ compensation does not cover all your losses and may still leave you in financial distress.
Florida law allows injured construction workers to pursue additional compensation through a third-party personal injury claim if someone other than their direct employer contributed to the accident. These claims are separate from workers’ comp and may allow you to seek financial recovery for more than a workers’ compensation claim, including:
- Full lost wages and reduced earning capacity.
- Pain and suffering.
- Future medical expenses and long-term care needs.
- Punitive damages in cases of extreme negligence.
- Property loss that occurred during a work accident.
- The impact of an injury on your quality of life.
- Incidental costs, such as personal support at home.
According to the Federal Reserve, about 37% of Americans can’t cover an unexpected expense of $400. Construction site injuries often cost significantly more than that, with expenses ranging from tens of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars in medical care and lost income for permanent, serious injuries. Workers’ compensation only covers a portion of your lost wages after a workplace injury, which can leave you without the resources you need to cover your costs. A personal injury claim, where possible, is important to ensure that you can pay for more of your injury costs.
Unlike workers’ comp, a third-party claim holds parties accountable for unsafe conditions that contributed to your injury. This can also help liable parties make important changes that can help prevent injuries to others. For many injured workers, pursuing a personal injury claim allows them to seek justice and to push for positive changes in workplace safety—two things which typically don’t happen with a workers’ compensation claim.
Time Limits for Filing a Construction Injury Lawsuit in Florida
If you’ve been injured on a construction site, it’s important to act quickly. Florida law places strict time limits, called statutes of limitations, on personal injury lawsuits. If you wait too long, you may lose the right to pursue compensation entirely.
Recent tort law reforms have changed the statute of limitations on claims. If your injury occurred on or after March 24, 2023, you have two years from the date of the accident to file a claim. For injuries that occurred before that date, you may have four years to file a claim.
There are important exceptions. If a government entity (like a city or county agency) is involved, you may have to provide written notice much sooner, sometimes within months. If signs of negligence were concealed from you, you may have more time to file.
Workers’ comp claims have their own set of rules, and it’s important to report your injury to your employer within 30 days of the incident or first signs of illness.
Since there are many possible exceptions and different deadlines, depending on your situation, speaking with a qualified attorney early gives you the best chance of protecting your rights. An attorney can explain whether you have a civil claim and can explain the different routes you may be able to take to pursue fair compensation.
Holding Employers, Contractors, and Property Owners Accountable
Construction work is dangerous by nature, but many accidents happen because someone failed to follow safety rules. When employers, contractors, or property owners cut corners, ignore hazards, or fail to protect workers, they can be held legally accountable. In these situations, holding negligent parties accountable is important to shine a light on unsafe working conditions and to bring about changes that can protect other workers, too.
At Flaxman Law Group, we have worked with clients who were not only seeking compensation, but who also felt a deep sense of injustice because of how their injuries happened. By getting the truth about their injuries and pursuing justice, we have been able to help these injured workers get closure, so they can move on and rebuild their lives.
Investigating responsibility on a construction site requires deep knowledge of safety laws and OSHA regulations. At Flaxman Law Group, we work with teams of experts to determine whether contractors, site owners, and other potentially liable parties acted negligently or in bad faith. Even when potential liable parties try to cover up wrongdoing, we work with investigators to find the truth.
Legal Support for Families After Fatal Construction Accidents
Sadly, construction remains one of the most fatal industries in Florida, where falls, equipment failures, or site negligence can lead to devastating consequences. If your spouse, parent, or child was killed while working at or near a construction site, you may have the right to pursue justice through a wrongful death claim.
Holding negligent parties accountable can offer a sense of closure and provide the financial stability your family may urgently need. The reality is that a fatality can be emotionally devastating but can also create financial distress. This is especially the case if the person who was killed was a primary income earner for your family. However, even if this wasn’t the case, final medical bills, burial and funeral costs, and other expenses can add to your grief and distress.
Through a wrongful death lawsuit in Florida, eligible family members may recover:
- Funeral and burial expenses.
- Medical bills related to the final injury.
- Loss of income and future financial support.
- Loss of companionship, guidance, and care.
- Pain and suffering endured by surviving family members.
In some cases, families may also be entitled to punitive damages when the responsible party acted with extreme disregard for safety or human life. The compensation recovered can help grieving families pay for unexpected expenses and also secure the therapy and other support they need to heal from the loss.
Whether you have lost a loved one in a construction accident in Miami, Homestead, Hollywood, or surrounding areas or have yourself suffered an injury in a construction accident in these communities, consulting with our Florida construction accident lawyers promptly is important to safeguard your right to full compensation.
We have had our practice in South Florida for decades and have earned the trust of our clients and communities, which is reflected in our near-perfect 4.9 Google reviews and the recommendations and testimonials we receive from those we have helped.
Our family-based legal team offers compassionate support. We’ll handle the legal burden so you can focus on healing. Contact us today for a free consultation with our team.
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