Massachusetts Workers Compensation Lawyers Blog
According to a recent news feature from the Boston Herald, a Chilean soccer fan who had been watching the international competition was arrested after he had allegedly hit a construction worker in Boston’s Ted Williams Tunnel and then fled the scene.
Police say that when they caught up with the suspect and pulled him over, he allegedly pretended to blow into the roadside breath test and then told the officer that his wife “looks like a toilet.”
After refusing to take the breath test and reportedly failing the standardized field sobriety tests, he was placed under arrest for drunk driving. At this point, he was placed in the back of the police car and was allegedly yelling with excitement and yelling an elongated version of “excuse me” for the entire ride to the police station.
The defendant was charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence alcohol (OUI), hit-and-run, and other charges, such as negligent operation of a motor vehicle. He was held on $25,000 cash bond.
As for the injured worker, he was putting out traffic cones in the westbound of the tunnel on the Mass Pike in Boston when he was hit and seriously injured by the alleged drunk driver. The incident was captured on video, and the car can be seen driving through a line of cones and knocking them out of the way before hitting a MassDOT truck and injuring the construction worker.
As our Boston workers’ compensation attorneys can explain, the system was set up as no-fault system in which an employee who is injured on the job, or who suffers a work-related illness can file for a claim against his employer for workers’ compensation benefits without regard to whose fault the accident or illness was. This means that it does not matter if the accident was a result of the employer’s negligence, or the employee’s negligence or it was simply an accident that was nobody’s fault.
Even if the accident was a result of the employer’s negligence, the employee cannot file a claim against the employer, because the system is also a single recovery system. It doesn’t matter whether the employee actually files for workers’ compensation, because the test is whether he or she was eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. However, if the employee was injured on the job by a negligent third party, he or she may be able file claim in civil court against that third party, but may have to reimburse the employers’ workers’ compensation insurance company for any benefits paid.
However, this is fairly complex process, and one of the best things you can do is to speak with an experienced workers’ compensation attorney who is also familiar with the process of filing civil personal injury claims against negligent third parties, such as is often the case when an employee is injured by a vendor or third party driver. It is important to understand that if the accident was the fault of another employee, that person is not considered a third party for purposes of filling of a civil personal injury lawsuit.
If you or someone you love has been injured a Boston work accident, call for a free and confidential appointment at (617) 777-7777.
Additional Resources:
Cops: Chilean Soccer fan ran down DOT worker, tried to Flee, June 28, 2016, Boston Herald, By Laurel J. Sweet
More Blog Entries:
Plymouth Worker Suffers Electrical Injury, July 6, 2016, Boston Worker Injury Lawyer Blog