If someone other than your employer contributed to your workplace or construction accident in California, you can typically file a third-party personal injury claim in addition to your workers’ compensation benefits. That claim can recover what workers’ comp leaves behind: full lost wages, future earning loss, and pain and suffering.
Construction sites and workplaces across California injure thousands of workers every year, and it’s rarely because the work itself is inherently dangerous. It’s because a general contractor, a subcontractor, an equipment manufacturer, or a property owner decided speed and profit mattered more than safety. When that’s what happened to you, you’re entitled to more than a comp check that barely covers your medical bills.
How Fault Works in a Third-Party Workplace or Construction Claim
A third-party claim requires proving negligence: the other party owed you a duty of care, breached that duty, and caused your injury as a result. On a job site, that duty runs in different directions depending on who’s involved. A general contractor owes a duty to keep the site reasonably safe for every worker on it, not just its own crew. A subcontractor owes a duty to perform its own scope of work without endangering the people around it. A manufacturer owes a duty to design and build equipment that doesn’t fail under normal use. A property owner owes a duty to disclose or fix hazards it knew about, or should have known about, before work began.
Proving which duty was breached, and by whom, is usually the hardest part of a job-site case. It often takes site records, safety logs, and expert review of the equipment or conditions involved to show exactly where the failure occurred.
California’s Comparative Negligence Rule
California follows a pure comparative negligence rule.[4] That means even if you were partly responsible for your own injury, say you were on a scaffold without a harness because your supervisor told you it wasn’t necessary, you can still recover compensation. Your total award is simply reduced by your percentage of fault.
Insurers and opposing contractors use comparative negligence as a negotiating tool, arguing you share more blame than you actually do to shrink what they owe. Fault percentages should be argued and evidenced, not assumed.
The Types of Workplace & Construction Injuries We Handle
At Haffner Law, injured workers don’t go up against employers and contractors alone. We step in, take over the legal fight, and make sure the people who failed you answer for it.
Workplace Injury
Third-party liability claims against the subcontractor, equipment maker, or property owner whose negligence caused your injury, pursued alongside your workers' comp benefits, not instead of them.
Construction Accident
Holding contractors, site owners, and manufacturers accountable for falls, electrocution, structural collapses, and heavy machinery accidents.
Common Workplace & Construction Accidents in California
- Falls from scaffolding, ladders, or roof edges
- Scaffolding and structural collapses
- Electrocution from unmarked or exposed live wires
- Heavy machinery and equipment accidents, including forklifts, cranes, and bulldozers
- Being struck by falling tools or materials
- Trench and excavation collapses
- Toxic chemical exposure and burns
- Repetitive strain and overexertion injuries
Workers’ Comp Pays Part of the Bill. A Third-Party Claim Can Cover the Rest.
California requires nearly every employer to carry workers’ compensation, and it pays out regardless of fault. That’s the good news. The bad news: it caps your wage replacement, ignores pain and suffering entirely, and closes the door on suing your employer directly in all but the rarest cases.
A third-party claim is a different door. If a general contractor, a subcontractor from another company, a property owner, an equipment manufacturer, or anyone other than your employer contributed to your injury, you can pursue them directly for the damages workers’ comp leaves on the table. You can pursue both at the same time. California law doesn’t make you choose.
Who Can Be Held Liable Beyond Your Employer
- General contractor: for failing to enforce site-wide safety standards across every crew on the job
- Subcontractor from another company: for a hazard their own crew created that injured a worker who wasn’t theirs
- Equipment manufacturer: for a defective crane, scaffold, harness, or power tool that failed under normal use
- Property owner: for a hazard on the premises that existed before the job began and was never disclosed
- A third-party driver: for a work-related vehicle accident caused by someone outside your employer’s operation
Damages You Can Recover in a Third-Party Claim
- Full medical expenses, including treatment a workers’ comp adjuster refused to authorize
- Complete lost wages, not the capped percentage workers’ comp pays
- Loss of future earning capacity if you can’t return to the same work
- Pain and suffering and emotional distress
- Loss of consortium for your spouse or family in more serious cases
- Wrongful death damages if the accident was fatal
Don’t Let the Job Site Tell a Different Story
Employers and contractors responsible for your injury move fast to protect themselves. Incident reports get rewritten. Job sites get cleared and reconfigured before anyone documents the hazard. Witnesses scatter to new projects, and surveillance footage overwrites itself within days. Every hour you wait makes it harder to prove what happened and who’s responsible.
California law enforces strict deadlines:
- Workplace Injury: Two years from the date of injury to file a civil lawsuit against a negligent third party (CCP § 335.1).[1] Workers’ compensation claims carry separate and shorter deadlines.
- Construction Accident: Two years from the date of injury to file against liable contractors, site owners, or equipment manufacturers (CCP § 335.1).[1]
- Government Worksites: Only six months to file an administrative claim if injured on publicly funded property (Gov. Code § 911.2).[2] Missing this window can permanently bar recovery.
We move immediately, securing incident reports, documenting site conditions, and identifying every liable party before evidence disappears.
What to Do After a Workplace or Construction Accident in California
- Get medical attention immediately, even if the injury seems minor.
- Report the accident to your employer in writing within 30 days to protect your workers’ compensation rights (Labor Code § 5400).[5]
- Photograph the scene, the equipment involved, and any visible hazards before conditions change.
- Get the names and contact information of anyone who witnessed what happened.
- Avoid giving a recorded statement to any insurer, workers’ compensation carrier, or third party without speaking to an attorney first.
- Don’t sign anything releasing your claim until you understand its full value.
California Workplace & Construction Injury FAQs
Can I get workers' comp and sue a third party for the same injury?
Yes. California allows both. Workers’ comp comes from your employer’s insurer regardless of fault. A third-party claim goes after whoever else caused the harm, a subcontractor, a manufacturer, a property owner, and can recover damages workers’ comp doesn’t cover, like pain and suffering and full lost wages.
Does filing a workers'-comp claim hurt my third-party case?
No. The two claims run on separate tracks. Your workers’-comp claim creates a documented record of the injury that can strengthen a third-party case.
What if I'm not sure who else was at fault?
That’s what an investigation is for. Contractors, equipment vendors, and property owners rarely volunteer that they cut corners. We identify every liable party before evidence disappears.
Speak With a California Workplace & Construction Injury Lawyer
The insurer behind your workers’ compensation check is counting on you to stop looking for who else is responsible. Haffner Law has spent over 20 years fighting California workplace and construction injury cases under the direction of founding attorney Joshua Haffner, nominated 2012 Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Consumer Attorneys of California.[3] In Whittenberg v. Robertson’s Ready Mix, our client fell from a platform while working at a cement manufacturing plant, and the case settled after one week of trial for $2,600,000. Past results do not guarantee an outcome in any future case, but they show the kind of fight we bring to job-site injury claims.
Reach out to Haffner Law today for a case review. We will examine the facts, pinpoint who is liable, and pursue the full accountability you deserve. Call (213) 514-5681, or visit one of our California office locations. You pay nothing unless we win.
Sources
- California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1 — Two-Year Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury
- California Government Code § 911.2 — Six-Month Claim Deadline Against a Public Entity
- Joshua Haffner Attorney Profile, Including Case Results and Credentials
- California Civil Code § 1714 — General Duty of Care Underlying California's Comparative Negligence Rule
- California Labor Code § 5400 — 30-Day Written Notice of Injury to Employer
