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Transportation and Materials Handling

Transportation and Materials Handling

Fatal Materials Handling Accidental Death Claims Lawyer

Families of workers who are killed on the job here in New Jersey have the unenviable distinction of receiving death benefits through employer-paid workers’ compensation insurance. At New Jersey Workers Compensation Lawyer of JFM Law, our law firm is dedicated to assisting widows, widowers, dependent children, and other qualifying survivors to collect on death claims following a heartbreaking fatal transportation and materials handling accident at work.

Increased financial burden is often one of the serious consequences of an untimely death of a family breadwinner. Not only do funeral, mortuary, and burial costs impact the survivors following the individual’s demise, but unpaid medical bills that may have accumulated before the victim died can come due at exactly the wrong time for a bereaved spouse and young children.

A number of fatal on-the-job accidents befall those people who work in materials transport and handling jobs. Working around bulky, heavy containers and large materials handling equipment can put these employees in jeopardy on a daily basis. Our New Jersey workers’ compensation specialist, Daniel Santarsiero, Esq., has a great deal of experience with death benefit claims cases throughout the Garden State.

Workers’ Compensation Claims Attorneys

Warehouse jobs, transportation and Materials handling involve a range of skills and activities, such as lifting large containers, hoisting building materials, operating fork trucks loaded with heavy and oversized items, plus carrying materials by hand and stacking pallets with chemical drums, auto parts, retail merchandise and other goods.

Unfortunately, mishandling or improper procedures can sometimes result in a serious or fatal accident. Training and education, as well as observing general safety procedures can go a long way toward reducing the opportunity for workplace deaths. Even so, if a company or its management cuts corners, the chances of fatal on-the-job injuries can rise precipitously.

In terms of workplace hazards for materials handling workers, weight and bulkiness of cargo and other stored items are significant contributing factors to injury and death in the workplace. While simple injuries are the predominant result of accidents at warehouses and other storage facilities, deaths also occur from large fallen objects, as well as fatal crush accidents involving large materials handling machinery.

At New Jersey Workers Compensation Lawyer of The Law Offices of Jonathan F. Marshall, our experienced workers’ compensation attorneys are ready to assist the families of victims killed while working at warehouse jobs and in materials handling positions. Even when safety rules and regulations are followed, such as those provided by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), simple mistakes can lead to deadly workplace incidents.

New Jersey Commercial Vehicle Accidents Leading to On-the-Job Deaths

For those individuals who are killed in a New Jersey roadway collision or other motor vehicle driving accident while performing a job-related function, the law still allows the victim’s family to file for death benefits. Survivors who typically qualify for workers’ comp death benefits include one or more of the following:

  • Surviving spouse or civil union partner
  • Natural-born children (up to 18 years of age; 23 if a full-time student)
  • Parents, grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, etc., under certain circumstances

Please remember that any survivor who claims the death benefits of a deceased worker must prove actual dependency at the time of the worker’s death. This also applies to children and parents of the deceased, though physically/mentally handicapped dependent children may be eligible for additional benefits under New Jersey law.

Furthermore, employers themselves cannot be sued under the terms of New Jersey’s Worker’s Compensation statutes; however, third-party actions are possible. If an employee dies because a materials handling machine fails to operate as intended, there may be the possibility of a third-party lawsuit naming the manufacturer, distributor or installer of that machinery as a responsible party in a wrongful death claim.

Workers’ Comp Death Claims and On-the-Job Trucking Accidents

Widows and dependent children may also file survival claims following the death of a worker who has died on the job in a commercial truck collision or other roadway accident. The workers’ compensation experts at New Jersey Workers Compensation Lawyer can assist families after the loss of a loved one due to a fatal on-the-job traffic accident.

While traffic accidents take the lives of many thousands of innocent victims every year in the U.S., as well as across New Jersey, a fatal commercial trucking collision also brings with it the potential for an on-the-job death of an employee engaged in work-related activities on public roadways and on company premises.

We fully understand the burden that lost income can cause a family, especially in cases where the worker who died was the sole breadwinner or provided the bulk of the family’s income. When death takes a loved one, no matter the cause, the last thing that grieving family members should have to deal with is financial chaos, yet this is exactly what happens to many working families each year in the Garden State.

Although workers’ comp death benefits can help a great deal in keeping a family afloat, in many instances that relief can be slow to come. Sometimes, what the survivors need is professional legal help right away. Especially in situations where death benefits are not sufficient to sustain the family. Depending on the facts of the case, a qualified survival claims specialist can look into the possibility of third-party negligence.

When a truck driver, delivery person, or transportation employee is killed on the job, a skilled personal injury attorney can investigate the circumstances surrounding the accident to determine a course of action. Beyond workers’ compensation death benefits, a wrongful death suit can sometimes be brought against another person or company other than the victim’s employer.

Causal factors, such as defective equipment, incorrectly manufactured or poorly recapped or retreaded tires, or even poorly maintained roadway directional signage can each have a direct influence on how or why a fatal trucking accident may have happened. Our attorneys have the experience and training to investigate the facts and determine the proper steps to help the victim’s family recover any benefits or third-party damages due them under the law.

For instance, there are known to be instances where another motor vehicle may have caused a fatal on-the-job trucking accident without physically contacting the victim’s vehicle. In such cases, the results of a crash involving an 18-wheel tractor-trailer, box truck or other delivery vehicle can claim the lives of the worker and other victims as well. Eyewitness testimony can play an important part in assembling a case for wrongful death.

Fatal Commercial Vehicle Accident Claims Attorneys

Mr. Santarsiero and our legal staff can review your case and provide guidance for filing a death benefit claim, in addition to formulating possible legal action against other parties believed to be responsible for your loved one’s death. Whether the victim was killed on a New Jersey expressway, the Garden State Parkway, turnpike or surface street, our legal team has the experience and know-how to help get your family through what is truly one of the most difficult times of your life.

If you have lost a loved one following a transportation and materials handling accident in the workplace or an on-the-job commercial truck crash, the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Act provides you with a means of recovering death benefits. This even applies to individuals who have lost their fight against a disease brought about by a work-related mishap or other occupational-related exposure to toxic or cancer-causing substances.

New Jersey Workers Compensation Lawyer Dan Santarsiero at JFM Law can assist surviving spouses and dependent children in recovering death benefits due them under New Jersey law. This includes not only lost wages, but also expenses related to the victim’s death, such as funeral, memorial service and burial charges; as well as any medical expenses for the treatment of the victim prior to his or her death.

Whether your loved one died on the factory floor, in a company warehouse or on the road while driving a box truck or semi tractor-trailer rig, our skilled transportation and materials handling workers’ comp attorneys can be effective in the recovery of death benefits for the families of victims who have lost their lives on the job all across New Jersey, including Hudson, Monmouth, Atlantic, Middlesex, and Bergen counties. If you have experienced the loss of a loved one as a result of a deadly workplace accident, we urge you to contact Mr. Santarsiero today at 866-916-3549 to arrange a free, no-obligation initial consultation.

If, after your initial consultation with one of our staff, you choose to retain our law firm, we will represent your family on a contingent fee basis (no legal fees unless we make a recovery on your behalf). As experts in workers’ compensation death benefits, we can help you navigate through the claims process and help you get the compensation you deserve under the laws of the State of New Jersey.

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Let Us Guide You Through The Process

If you have been injured in a workplace accident, you may have many questions about the financial benefits available to you under New Jersey’s workers’ compensation system. You should know that you only have a limited amount of time to report your work injury and make a claim for workers’ comp benefits. Therefore, it is important to have a New Jersey workers compensation attorney review your claim as soon as possible to see that you are being treated fairly and to ensure that you receive full compensation for your injuries. Please call 866-916-3549 or contact our office using our convenient online contact form to arrange a free consultation. Our injury attorneys do not charge a fee unless we make a recovery on your behalf.

Representative Cases

Our client, a nurse at a long-term care center, suffered a work-related herniated disk injury in her back. As a result of her preexisting medical condition and her herniated disk, the court found that the client was totally disabled and awarded the client lifetime weekly disability payments and medical coverage for life.

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