Workplace Injuries Honesty. Experience. Results.

Workplace Injuries Lawyers in Charleston, WV

Third Party Claims for Workers in West Virginia

When you are injured on the job, your first instinct is usually to file a workers’ compensation claim. While this provides essential baseline assistance, it is a no-fault system that severely limits your recovery.

It primarily pays a percentage of your lost wages and covers medical bills, but it completely bars you from collecting compensation for your pain, suffering, emotional trauma, or loss of life enjoyment.

Many workers do not realize that a workplace accident can also qualify as a comprehensive personal injury claim. If an outside party’s negligence or an employer's flagrant disregard for safety standards caused your injury, you can step outside the restrictive workers' comp system.

To uncover these overlapping claims and maximize your financial recovery, you need an aggressive law firm that handles both high-stakes employment disputes and personal injury litigation.

Addair Entsminger PLLC brings the legal proficiency of veteran trial attorneys who have spent decades resolving disputes on both sides of the courtroom. From defending large corporations to now exclusively fighting for individuals, our team knows the playbook of the other side firsthand.

Consult a Charleston workplace injuries attorney in a confidential in-office or virtual meeting. Call (304) 902-8518 or contact us online to get started.

What Addair Entsminger PLLC Does on Your Behalf

Navigating the intersection of workers' compensation, corporate safety regulations, and personal injury law requires a highly detail-oriented approach. Large corporations and insurance companies will try to convince you that workers’ comp is your only option.

Because our attorneys spent decades defending large corporations and insurance networks before representing individuals, we know where to look for hidden liability. When we take your workplace injury case, we do the following.

Meticulously investigate the scene: We secure site photographs, interview eyewitnesses, and review safety logs to identify every potentially liable third party.
Audit safety compliance: We cross-reference your accident with OSHA, MSHA, and state safety regulations to determine if your employer’s conduct crosses the high legal threshold into a deliberate intent claim.
Coordinate all legal fronts: We handle the complex task of managing your third-party lawsuit while coordinating it with any ongoing administrative workers' comp files.

How Workplace Injuries Qualify as Personal Injury Claims

There are two primary legal avenues through which a job-site injury can expand into a full personal injury lawsuit.

Third-Party Liability Claims

If your injury was caused by the carelessness or defective product of someone who is not your direct employer or coworker, you can file a separate third-party personal injury lawsuit. In a third-party claim, you have no caps on your financial recovery, allowing you to seek maximum compensation for your personal losses.

West Virginia "Deliberate Intent" Lawsuits

Normally, the law grants employers immunity from personal injury lawsuits in exchange for carrying workers' comp insurance. However, under West Virginia Code § 23-4-2, an employer loses this immunity if they acted with "deliberate intent."

To win a deliberate intent claim, we must prove the employer had actual knowledge of a specific, highly dangerous workplace condition that violated safety regulations, yet intentionally exposed you to that risk anyway.

Real-World Examples of Overlapping Claims

Workplace personal injury claims frequently arise in West Virginia's industrial, construction, and transportation sectors.

Common Examples

Construction site accidents: A subcontractor drops heavy materials from a scaffolding unit, striking and severely injuring a general laborer working below. The injured worker can collect workers' comp from their employer while simultaneously filing a third-party personal injury lawsuit against the negligent subcontractor.

Defective industrial machinery: A manufacturing or mining employee loses a limb because a piece of heavy machinery was manufactured without a mandatory emergency shut-off switch. This opens the door to a third-party product liability claim against the equipment manufacturer.

Commercial vehicle crashes: A delivery driver or traveling healthcare worker is rear-ended by a distracted driver while operating a company vehicle. The worker can pursue a standard car accident injury claim against the at-fault motorist.

Deliberate intent violations: A plant manager actively orders a worker to bypass a safety guard on a conveyor belt to speed up production, despite multiple prior warnings and explicit OSHA regulations. Because management knowingly created an unsafe environment, the worker can sue the employer directly under the deliberate intent statute.

Additional Compensation Available to Injured Workers

By filing a third-party or deliberate intent personal injury claim, you can pursue substantial damages that workers’ comp will never pay you.

100% of lost wages: Workers' comp only pays a fraction of your income; a personal injury claim seeks the full remaining balance of your past and future lost earnings.
Pain and suffering: Financial compensation for the physical agony, surgeries, and grueling rehabilitation process.
Mental anguish and humiliation: Recovery for the psychological toll of a permanent disability, severe scarring, or the loss of a career.
Loss of consortium: Compensation for the negative impact the severe injury has on your relationship with your spouse and family.

The contingency fee plan: Recovering from a devastating workplace accident shouldn't ruin your family financially. Addair Entsminger PLLC operates on a contingency-fee basis. We fund the expert engineers, investigators, and court costs. We only collect an attorney's fee if we secure a financial settlement or verdict for you.

Fight for the Full Value of Your Claim

The deadlines for filing workplace personal injury and deliberate intent claims are strict, and critical job-site evidence can be altered or removed within days of an accident. Do not let an insurance adjuster dictate what your injuries are worth.

Put our skilled trial lawyers on your side and take advantage of 65+ years of combined experience from litigation veterans.

Call (304) 902-8518 or message our team online to request a case review with a Charleston workplace injury attorney today.

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“Went above and beyond for our family!”
“He was very supportive and always quickly communicated information or answered questions. Highly recommend if you are ever in need of an attorney!”

- J.S.
“Kept me informed at every step.”
Mike and his team, answered any questions I had and were very good at informing me at every step of my process with them. I highly recommend hiring this law firm.

- R.A.
“You can’t go wrong with his firm.”
“Mike was great to work with on my case, very knowledgeable and kept me up to date on what was going on with my case. I would definitely use him again.”

- H.H.
“You won't go wrong choosing this firm.”
“Great to work with. They went out of their way to make sure I was compensated for my losses. They are friendly, honest and down to earth people.”

- J.J.
“I couldn't ask for a better lawyer.”
“I appreciated his time and effort. He fights in the courtroom and is not afraid to speak up. He is an overall genuine person who works hard for his clients.”

- C.A.

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