Greenville Construction Accident Lawyer

When a Greenville Construction Accident Leaves You Wondering Who Pays for Your Recovery

You’re hurt, and you don’t know if the only money coming is a workers’ compensation check. Will the medical bills catch up to you before your next paycheck does? Will the subcontractor, the equipment company, or the property owner who caused this owe you something beyond what your employer’s insurance wants to pay? Could pursuing a recovery cost you your job when you are well enough to return to work?

None of that has to fall on you to sort out alone.

As a Greenville construction accident lawyer team, the lawyers at O’Malley Tunstall have decades of experience with North Carolina’s workers’ compensation system and have successfully represented more than 200 people at trial. That combination lets us work your comp claim and a case against the contractor, engineer, or equipment company that caused the accident at the same time, instead of settling for whichever check shows up first.

Tell us what happened on the site, and we’ll lay out every dollar you may be owed.

The Jobsite Accidents We Take On for Pitt County Construction Workers

Construction sites bring together crews from multiple companies at once: framing crews, electrical subs, crane operators, and equipment suppliers who don’t answer to your employer. When one of them causes the accident, you may have a claim that reaches well beyond what workers’ compensation alone pays. 

That is exactly why hiring a Greenville construction accident attorney who checks every angle matters. We look past the accident report your employer files and ask who else was on that site, whose equipment was involved, and whose safety failure set the accident in motion. We represent workers after:

• Falls from height because scaffolding, ladders, roofs, and unprotected floor openings cause a significant number of injuries and deaths.
• Struck-by accidents involving falling tools, shifting materials, or debris from work happening above you.
• Crane, forklift, and heavy equipment accidents caused by another company’s operator, rigger, or maintenance crew.
• Electrocutions and burns from exposed wiring, unmarked power lines, or equipment that was never properly grounded.
• Trench and excavation collapses on sites where shoring and protective systems were skipped or inadequate.
• Injuries from defective tools, scaffolding, or machinery that a manufacturer or rental company put on the site.

If your construction accident happened in another way, you may still have the same right to a fair recovery.

When a Pitt County Construction Accident Turns Fatal

Some construction accidents don’t leave a family with medical bills. They leave a family without a spouse, parent, or child who went to work and never came home. In North Carolina, a close family member acting as the worker’s “personal representative” can bring a wrongful death claim against the negligent contractor, equipment company, or property owner. This is separate from any workers’ comp death benefits the family may also receive.

A wrongful death claim can account for the income the family depended on, funeral and burial costs, and the loss of that person’s care and guidance going forward. We build these cases by identifying every company whose failure contributed to the accident, not by settling for whichever one the initial accident report happens to blame.

How We Build Your Case After a Pitt County Jobsite Accident

The first days after a jobsite accident decide how strong your claim becomes. We request the accident report, safety logs, and any citations from the North Carolina Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Division. This state agency, not federal OSHA, investigates most private construction-site accidents in North Carolina. 

We identify every company on site that day, not just your employer. A general contractor, a crane subcontractor, and an equipment rental company can all carry separate insurance that owes you money.

We work with medical providers, vocational specialists, and, when needed, engineers who can explain to an adjuster or a jury exactly what went wrong on the site and who is responsible for it.

For workers paid hourly or with regular overtime, we also document what your paycheck looked like before the accident, since insurers routinely lowball wage-loss calculations for crews whose hours shift week to week. That number can matter as much to your recovery as the medical bills.

Joseph Tunstall has served on the North Carolina Advocates for Justice’s Workers’ Compensation Section since 2004, and he uses that background to keep your comp claim and any third-party case moving together instead of one holding up the other. 

Where Your Greenville Construction Accident Claim Gets Decided

A third-party construction lawsuit claiming over $25,000 in damages is filed in Pitt County Superior Court, housed at the Pitt County Courthouse at 100 W. Third Street in Greenville. If your claim is worth $25,000 or less, it will be heard in Pitt County District Court in the same building.

Your workers’ compensation claim is decided separately by the North Carolina Industrial Commission. The Commission is based in Raleigh, but it sends Deputy Commissioners to hold hearings at courthouses close to where you live and work, including Pitt County, so you are not required to travel across the state.

We’re Here to Help You Take the Next Step

Free Case Evaluation

Questions Greenville Construction Workers Ask Us Most

Can a Greenville construction accident lawyer help me if your firm doesn’t have an office in Pitt County?

Yes. We handle cases across eastern North Carolina from our Raleigh and Rocky Mount offices, and we come to you for evaluations, depositions, and hearings held in Pitt County. Your case gets the same attention no matter where you live.

Can I file for workers’ comp and still go after the company that caused my accident?

In most cases, yes. North Carolina law lets you collect workers’ compensation from your employer’s insurer while separately pursuing a negligent subcontractor, property owner, or equipment maker.

What if I was partly responsible for what happened on the site?

It won’t impact your workers’ compensation claim, but it could affect your third-party injury claim. North Carolina follows a strict contributory negligence rule, meaning an insurer only needs to show you were slightly at fault to try to block your third-party claim. That makes early, careful investigation of exactly what happened critical to protecting your case.

How long do I have to file a claim after a construction accident in Greenville?

You generally have three years from the accident date to file a third-party injury lawsuit or two years to file a wrongful death lawsuit. However, you only have 30 days to report the injury to your employer in writing for workers’ comp purposes, and two years to file a workers’ compensation claim. Missing a deadline can cost you benefits you are otherwise owed.

Am I covered if I worked for a subcontractor rather than the general contractor on the job?

Coverage depends on which company’s insurance applied to you the day you were hurt, and a general contractor can sometimes be responsible if a subcontractor didn’t carry workers’ comp insurance at all. We check every layer of coverage before ruling anything out.

What if my employer says my injury wasn’t work-related?

Employers and their insurers dispute plenty of legitimate claims, especially when a preexisting condition is involved. We gather the medical and jobsite evidence needed to show the connection and push back on a denial through the North Carolina Industrial Commission.

Will I lose my job if I report a construction accident in Pitt County?

North Carolina law protects workers from retaliation for filing a legitimate workers’ comp claim. If you’re pressured to return to work early or threatened over reporting an injury, tell us immediately so we can address it as part of your case.

What does it cost to hire a construction accident attorney?

We handle construction accident and third-party injury claims on a contingency fee basis, so there’s no upfront cost and no fee unless we recover money for you. The consultation to review your case is free.

I was hurt on a construction site in Ayden or Winterville, not Greenville itself. Do you still handle my case?

Yes. We represent injured construction workers throughout Pitt County, including Ayden, Winterville, and Farmville, along with the surrounding eastern North Carolina counties.

What if the general contractor and the subcontractor blame each other for my accident?

That happens often, and it may work in your favor. Once two companies start pointing at each other, both are effectively admitting someone besides you was at fault, which strengthens a third-party claim against whichever one the evidence supports.

An insurance adjuster already called me about my construction accident. Should I talk to them?

Be careful if you do. Adjusters often ask recorded questions designed to get you to downplay your injuries or accept blame early, before you know the full extent of what’s wrong or who else was involved. Talk to us first so you understand what you’re agreeing to.

Talk to a Greenville Construction Accident Lawyer Today

You shouldn’t have to sort out who owes what while you’re still recovering from a construction accident injury. Contact O’Malley Tunstall, P.C. today for a free consultation about your Greenville construction accident, whether the case involves a workers’ comp claim, a third-party lawsuit, or both. We work on a contingency fee basis, so you pay nothing unless we recover for you.