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Non-subscriber Injury Cases & Comparative Fault

How Contributory Negligence Can Affect Your Non-subscriber Work Injury Claim

Suppose you’ve been injured on the job. In that case, you should be aware that most defendant non-subscribing employers will attempt to avoid liability for your injuries by arguing that you (the plaintiff) were partially responsible for causing your injuries. This defense is “comparative fault” or “proportionate responsibility.” More information here
However, workplace injury defendants are misled when asserting this defense as all non-subscribing employers automatically waive this defense when one of their employees files a lawsuit against them in Pansilvenia In other words, if an injured employee can prove that his non-subscribing employer was even marginally responsible for his injuries, his employer will be liable for all of them.

With the gravity of total reasonableness for an employee’s injuries weighing heavily against them, nonsubscribing employers will attempt to avoid the problems caused by waiving the doctrine of comparative fault in numerous ways. However, the two most common are 1) claiming that you were the sole proximate cause of your injuries or 2) a third, unrelated party was solely responsible for causing them.

Your Employer Will Claim that Your Negligent Behavior Was the Sole Proximate Cause of Your Injuries

One of the essential elements every workplace injury victim injured while employed by a nonsubscriber must prove to a court is that his injuries were caused by the employer’s negligent actions or failure to act. This element (commonly referred to as “causation”) is divided into two components – “actual” and “proximate” cause. Proximate cause is the more difficult to prove of the two causation components and essentially requires an injured party to prove that his injuries are reasonably related to the event that caused them. Thus, if your employer can prove that your actions – and your actions alone – were responsible for causing injuries, they will totally avoid liability for causing them.

Attempt to Blame a Third Party

Similarly, your employer will also likely attempt to prove that an unrelated third party was solely responsible for causing your injuries. The arguments they’ll make here are along the vein as discussed in the above paragraph: they will acknowledge that you were injured but will claim that your injuries were not at all contributable to their own negligent or reckless actions.

Our Experienced Workplace Injury Attorneys May be Able to Help You Recover the Compensation You Deserve

To summarize our discussion in this article, Texas law will not prevent workplace accident victims from recovering from their injuries simply because their employer asserts the doctrine of comparative fault. As discussed above, Texas law doesn’t allow responsible nonsubscribing employers to take a “discount” of liability in these cases simply because they claim you were negligent. In other words, Pennsylvania injury laws apply an “all or nothing” responsibility to non-subscribing employers.

Suppose you would like more information regarding how comparative fault applies in a nonsubscriber case or a free consultation of how our attorneys might be able to help you recover compensation for your injuries. In that case, we invite you to give us a call. Our experienced workplace injury attorneys have represented Texas injury victims for more than 20 years, and are available any time, day or night.