Today a casino in Cincinnati partially collapsed injuring multiple construction workers. If I were one of the injured workers I would have many questions about who should pay for my injuries. Construction injuries may have multiple sources of recovery.
The Cincinnati construction workers certainly have the right to seek workers compensation benefits. The law that gives them the right to seek workers compensation benefits also makes it extremely difficult to sue their employer for all the compensation they are entitled to. You can not sue your employer for negligence. Ohio workers compensation benefits only provide limited compensation.
However if someone other than the Cincinnati casino contstrcuction workers employer was the cause of the casino floor collapse they could be a potential defendant to seek money damages for the construction workers injuries over and above the limited compensation Ohio workers compensation provides.
As a Cincinnati personal injury lawyer I have been involved in construction injuries where workers compensation benefits were paid to my client and my injured worker client also was able to get compensation from a third party whose negligence caused the injury. One case involved a superintendant for a home builder that fell through an unprotected hole in the floor decking and was caused a severe spinal injury that prevented the injured worker from ever working again. The hole had been left by the framers of the house under construction who had cut it for a stairwell but had not properly covered the hole.
In the Cincinnati casino that collapsed it appears the general contractor Messer Construction construction company is already putting their spin on. Here’s a quote from them,
“Our top priority is to ensure everyone at our job sites can return home safely to their families at the end of each day,” President and Chief Executive Tom Keckeis of Messer Construction, general contractor for the project, said after thanking the rescue personnel. “We have stringent safety processes and protocols in place to ensure our job sites remain safe and our structures secure.”
If that’s the case how could this collapse of the floor decking occured.
And you just can’t rely on OSHA to do an investigation that can be totally trusted especially when there statement is:
“These are elite companies with an excellent safety record.” Because construction projects are constantly changing, it makes more sense to allow firms with good safety records to oversee safety training and procedures for subcontractors on site, Wilkerson said.
So from my point of view as a personal injury lawyer something went horribly wrong and odds are it could have been prevented. I mean these things don’t just happen out of the blue. You can bet that there will be denials or finger pointing between the entities involved.
Rock Gaming LLC and Ceasr’s entertainment are the developers. Messer is the general contractor. For the downtown Cincinnati casino project there are several different bid packages for concrete work. Monroe-based Baker Concrete Co., one of the nation’s largest concrete suppliers, provided concrete for exterior foundations and some vertical columns, but not for the concrete decking.
Cincinnati-based Jostin Construction Co. was overseeing the concrete decking installation for the casino, according to contractors familiar with the project. A spokesman for Jostin didn’t immediately respond for comment on Friday.
Hilltop has supplied about 66,000 yards of concrete for the casino project but wasn’t part of the bid package for the casino decking. Although some locals are already giving conjecture on what happened . Such as:
Dr. Ihab Saab, chairman of the construction management program at Northern Kentucky University, said, “Based on my limited knowledge of what happened, it appears to me the problem may have originated in the metal decking supporting the poured concrete and how that decking was connected to the steel beam building structure.”
Provided as a public service by Anthony Castelli Cincinnati attorney. You may contact Anthony at 513-621-2345 8170 corporate Park Drive, Suite 220, Cincinnati, Ohio 45242. For more information his web site http://www.castellilaw.com
This video explains how you may have three sources of compensation if your construction work related injury keeps you from working for a year or more.
Ehline Law Firm PC out in California has an interesting perspective on wrongfl death lawsuits in CA. California residents each year, unfortunately fall victim to wrongful death in the thousands each year in cities such as Reseda, Pasadena, and Arcadia. When the victim or “decedent” dies, they often leave behind a family and other grieving survivors. While these survivors then suffer a great deal of grief, they also soon find themselves also suffering financial burdens and losses that they had not only not expected but for which they had not prepared. To protect themselves from these unfair and unwelcome burdens, survivors will often be found filing a wrongful death suit against the party or parties responsible for the death.
When considering filing a wrongful death suit, it is vital that the survivors immediately consult a qualified and experienced wrongful death attorney to make sure their case not only qualifies but that they also know what to expect in the future. Not only can an experienced attorney often take the family’s case without out of pocket expenses through a contingency fee set up. This allows the survivors to pay out of the eventual settlement amount, making legal protection affordable and available to the grieving survivors. Wrongful deaths see many families filing wrongful death suits every year and understand the pain the survivors are going through. Their experience also allows them to foresee upcoming financial and other burdens that will soon occur of which the family might not even be aware!
A wrongful death attorney can not only help the family file a wrongful death suit to help get recompense for losses, but also prepare ahead for those losses to help keep the family safe and stable. Some survivors may not realize that they even have a right to file a wrongful death suit. While families are most often those filing the suit, there are others with relationship to the decedent who also may have a right to file in the wrongful death suit. A wrongful death attorney can fill the survivors in on all the requirements of a wrongful death suit as well as the likelihood of their success and what they might be able to expect as far as a settlement is concerned.
As there are often limitations on the time within which survivors can file, an attorney should be contacted as soon as possible when survivors are filing a wrongful death suit. 
This was a legal article from our friend Michael Ehline, of Ehline Law Firm PC, a personal injury attorney for Los Angeles at 633 West Fifth Street, 28th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90071. 213.596.9642.
Many of you know, California vacations are a real treat. And many will choose to sight see on a public or private bus. So I got to thinking. Who would I hire in California, if I was injured in a bus accident, in a tourist city like Long Beach. Here is some great information from a company I found when Googling “Long Beach personal injury attorneys“. It gave me the results for Ehline Law Firm PC in Long Beach. Now we are social friends on Google Plus. He wrote this educational article below to help vacation accident victims injured in California cities like Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Redondo Beach and Torrance. Ehline says that hiring the right Long Beach accident attorneys will mean being able to let them guide the injured victim through the legal process and recover fair compensation after being injured in a bus accident. Bus accidents in this city include Mega bus accidents, tour bus accidents, school bus accidents and Chinatown bus accidents.
The Long Beach bus accident attorneys with experience will conduct an investigation into the bus crash with the use of experts and using the latest technology. They will also use bus accident statistics in preparing the legal claim, which will recover compensation for the injured victim in the amount that they deserve. Bus accidents are caused by one of several reasons, the first is the bus driver error, inexperience, fatigue or aggressive driving, the next reason is the lack of proper maintenance by the bus company, owner or mechanic. Another reason is the defective part or design that the manufacturer is responsible for and the last cause is the motor vehicle driver that is careless or reckless; whose actions cause the bus accident. Only a thorough investigation is it possible to determine the negligent parties, after a bus accident.
Passengers that are involved in bus accidents suffer severe injuries, since they have no restraints like seatbelts to keep them in their seat during the impact or in the event of a rollover crash. Buses have a low center of gravity and that means they are more prone to rollover during a bus accident. The injuries in some cases are fatal and when they are not the passenger can suffer traumatic head injuries, internal injuries, spinal cord injuries, fractured or broken bones, severe neck and back injuries, cuts and gashes. The Long Beach bus accident attorneys know that these injuries will mean that the injured victim will require hospitalization, possible surgeries, rehabilitation, therapy and ongoing medical care for an extended amount of time.
This will also mean that the injured victim is unable to work and that can be financially stressful for them and their family. The injuries and the financial stress has been caused by negligence and that means with the type of legal representation of the Long Beach bus accident attorneys this can change with the recovery of compensation for the damages and injuries. This was a great post from Michael Ehline of Ehline Law Firm PC:
Assumption of risk is a defense to a claim of negligence. Depending on the State it can either be a complete defense or a partial defense. The defense is defined in Ohio as knowing and voluntary acceptance of a risk of injury that was a cause of your injury. In Ohio the defense is merged with contributory negligence and only defeats recovery if the conduct was 51% or more of the cause of the injury.
This defense to a personal injury or a car crash also reduces the recovery by the percentage of fault assessed to the person bringing the personal injury lawsuit. Years ago both contributory negligence and assumption of risk if proven were total defenses that totally defeated any recovery.
An example could be the recent lawsuit filed by the estate of former Cincinnati Bengal Chris Henry. Here is a short version of the event.
Neighbor Lee Hardy told WLWT-TV and The Cincinnati Enquirer that he was working in his yard when the truck left the driveway. Hardy said Henry was yelling that he needed to talk to the woman behind the wheel. ”He said, ‘If you take off, I’m going to jump off the truck and kill myself,’” Hardy told the newspaper.
The law of the State controls . But for teaching purposes assume this was an Ohio case. If they found Cris Henry’s conduct was contributorily negligent or was an assumption of risk and his conduct caused more than 50% of his injury there would be no recovery. Some states allow you to recover that portion of your recovery that is determined to be the fault of the defendant even if it’s less than 50% but not Ohio.
Sounds a bit confusing, but this is something a jury , if called upon would have to grapple with. You also find this conduct among teens that jump on a moving car and then are thrown off. Clearly there is a large component of fault in the example of the Henry case if he jumped onto the bed of the truck . Although you never want to determine a case from the newspaper, as it is necessary to know all the facts and all the law.
If you have a question or need help with your personal injury car accident claim please call me today for a no obligation free consultation at 513-621-2345
I was hurt in a car accident in Cincinnati is a phrase I often hear from someone looking for a lawyer for car accidents. Not everyone needs a lawyer. The reason that a car accident injury lawyer may not be able or willing to help car accident injury victim is they can not add value.
I am not talking about a case where there is no liability. In other words you have a valid car accident insurance claim that entitles you to car accident insurance injury compensation. It’s just that your injury is not serious and merits very little injury compensation with or without a lawyer.
You can use all the search phrases you want in searching for a great Cincinnati car accident attorney. Try
lawyer for car accident, attorney for car accident, car accident injury, car accident injuries, car accident attorney, car accident attorney, car accidents lawyer, car accident lawyer, car injury claims, car insurance accident claim, car insurance settlement lawyer, car insurance settlement attorney. It’s not going to make a small case bigger.
But be careful if you try to take the car accident insurance adjustor on without an auto injury lawyer help in a big case. Because it may make a big claim smaller. The reason is that you don’t really know the value of your car accident injuries. Plus you have no way to enforce a fair injury compensation settlement value on the liability insurance company unless you have someone that can take your injury claim to trial if necessary.
People are dead from a serious car accident on I-71 and all the media can talk about is the failure of the deceased to wear seatbelts. How do they know that a seat belt would have prevented an ejection from the car. Or would have prevented the deaths
It was reported that 19 year old Danica McClester lost control of her car and it rolled . In fairness the actual report I saw stated;
“But the outcome may have been different if the back-seat passengers had been wearing seat belts.” Who really knows at this point. An accident reconstructionist and seat belt specialist would have to determine if the seat belt would have kept them in and if so would they have survived.
As a matter of a point of law back seat passengers over the age of 15 are not required to wear seat belts. While I don’t advocate not wearing seatbelts if people would drive safely the seat belt is not the issue. Nor did the lack of wearing a seatbelt cause the car to be rolled. I’ve represented people who did not wear their seatbelt even front seat passenger. It would not have made any difference as to the injuries according to a biomechanical engineer and an accident reconstructionist I hired.
The driver apparently lost control of the car. The report did not say why. Failure to control seems the likely cause of the accident and deaths.
Please condolences to the families that lost children in this horrible accident. All the insurance company’s involved should pay under their coverages and let the families move forward with their grief that will never end.
Recently a Cincinnati bus accident in the Walnut hills was reported by the local news services. They reported an SUV crashed into a bus at an intersection because of its brake failure. There was personal injury involved.
As a Cincinnati personal injury lawyer I have heard the brake defense before. It’s a good thing the law has a doctrine called negligence per se that can only be defeated if it was impossible to comply and brake failure is determined not to be something that makes it impossible to drive at a safe speed or within an assured clear distance to avoid a car accident. So in other words people can not excuse their negligent conduct in driving and causing a car crash.
However the legislature now allows a defendant to prove some other cause was at fault and you may be able to only recover a portion of your injury damages attributable to the person you sued. So now even a simple car bus accident injury can be complicated. So the best thing an car crash injury victim can do is contact a personal injury lawyer to protect their rights to a just insurance settlement.
Cincinnati injury lawyer
As always Anthony Castelli attorney Cincinnati personal injury lawyer welcomes your call for a free injury claim consultation in serious injury cases. Call 513-621-2345 to get help from Anthony
As a Cincinnati injury lawyer I find it sad that more has not been done to prevent the use of cellphones by car drivers. Recently the Federal transportation Board called for a ban on cell phone use in autos , except in the case of an emergency. This was preceeded by recent deadly car crashes.
Texting shows a conscious disregard for the high probability of causing a car accident injury. If texting causes a car accident injury it should demand not only compensatory damages but punitive ones as well. But the answer is prevention and criminalizing this conduct will go a long way toward car accident injury prevention.
The Ohio legislature has before it a bill to ban texting. but they do not want to ban cell phone use. Either way it’s driver inattention and taking your eyes off the road.
If anyone injures you in a car accident and was using a cell phone or texting call me right away at 621-2345 for a free car accident injury consult. Mere use of a cell phone does not equal liability , but if the cell phone use caused inattention which caused the car accident you should have a strong case .
Cincinnati personal injury lawyer Anthony Castelli was recently accredited by the Cincinnati Better Business Bureau. Prior to applying for the rating Anthony Castelli Attorney had and continues with an A+ rating , the highest rating awarded to businesses by the Better Business Bureau.
Accreditation and ratings are different aspects of the Better Business Bureau information to the public about businesses.
ACCREDITATION
BBB has determined that Anthony Castelli Attorney meets BBB accreditation standards, which include a commitment to make a good faith effort to resolve any consumer complaints. BBB Accredited Businesses pay a fee for accreditation review/monitoring and for support of BBB services to the public.
BBB accreditation does not mean that the business’ products or services have been evaluated or endorsed by BBB, or that BBB has made a determination as to the business’ product quality or competency in performing services.
Accreditation is something the business must request and a fee is required
Factors that raised the rating for Anthony Castelli Attorney include:
Length of time business has been operating.
No complaints filed with the better business bureau.
BBB has sufficient background information on this business.
BB letter grades represent the BBB’s opinion of the business. The BBB grade is based on BBB file information about the business. In some cases, a business’ grade may be lowered if the BBB does not have sufficient information about the business despite BBB requests for that information from the business.
BBB assigns letter grades from A+ (highest) to F (lowest). In some cases, BBB will not grade the business (indicated by an NR, or “No Rating”) for reasons that include insufficient information about a business or ongoing review/update of the business’ file.
Anthony stated, “I always knew about the Better Business Bureau, but never actually knew they had a rating scale for businesses. I was pleasantly surprised when I went to their site and saw that I was A+ Rated. I decided to take it a step farther and apply for accreditation. Although I have ratings from lawyer peer review agencies I thought that the general public may have a better appreciation for a Better Business Bureau accreditation and the trust and goodwill it may engender. I work hard to establish my reputation in the community as relationships begin with knowledge, trusting and liking people not only on a social level but on a business level as well.”
I’ve always felt in practicing law , especially as a sole practitioner, is all about building relationships that last a life time and not just seeing a client as another case to be completed. That’s why I’ve built a dedicated and responsive staff of professionals that realize it’s all about service to people in need of help and meeting their needs any way we can.
As a personal injury lawyer and as a father its so sad to read about the death of teens in car wrecks. It happened again in Clermont County Ohio. The Ohio State Highway Patrol continues to look at a one car crash that killed 2 people in Clermont County. The car wreck occured about 9:40 p.m. December 30, on Stonelick-Williams Corner Road in Stonelick Township, just north of an old covered bridge. Local 12 WKRC reported on this loss complete with video as did the other area media outlets .
Skye Gabriel of Norwood, a 19 year-old, and 18 year-old Corey Peacock of Milford were identified as the two people killed. A preliminary report shows that Skye Gabriel was driving a silver Honda Civic, and failed to negotiate a curve to the right. The car went off the left side of the roadway and struck a tree.
As usual the reporting includes whether someone was wearing a seat belt. I find this so not newsworthy and wonder why the media reports this. One wonders what really went wrong. Surely it was not the seat belt that caused the car to leave the road. I’d venture to say the seat belt had nothing to do with the crash.
We read this story and move on with our lives , but life will never ever be the same again for these families that lost loved ones. I ponder this as my 15 year old son asks me to be able to get his temps at 15 1/2. It scares the hell out of me.
I recently wrote an article on the subject of teen driving and have offered up access to the parent teen safe car driving contract . It’s available for free download at many different web sites. At least it is one small car accident safety tool. it’s useful to get a dialogue with your teen and set your expectations. But it’s certainly not fool proof. Sadly nothing is. Graduated driving in terms of the teen car driver’s responsibilities and activities is another tool to help prevent car wrecks.
Our mode of transportation car driving has always had a deadly risk to it. Whatever you can do to help eliminate the risk is a worthy endeavor. Our Ohio legislature is debating the complete ban on cell phones. Condolences in these times seem too little and belated . But what else is there once a terrible loss occurs.
