Can a Construction Accident Cause a Spinal Cord Injury in Indiana?

Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month Highlights the Long-Term Consequences of Serious Construction Accidents

A fall from scaffolding, a collapsing trench, a falling load, or an accident involving heavy equipment can do much more than injure a construction worker’s back. Enough force to the neck or spine can damage the spinal cord itself and cause permanent changes in movement, sensation, breathing, and other body functions.

The spinal cord doesn’t have to be severed for that to happen.

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, direct trauma to the cord or damage to the vertebrae and surrounding tissues can produce a spinal cord injury. Bleeding, swelling, inflammation, fractures, and other trauma can also place pressure on the cord and contribute to neurological damage.

September is Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month. For Indiana construction workers, the observance is also an opportunity to recognize how a serious jobsite accident can create medical, employment, and legal consequences that last for decades.

An Indiana construction accident claim can be especially complicated because several businesses may be working on the same project. An injured employee may have a workers’ compensation claim through the employer and, depending on how the accident happened, a separate personal injury claim against another responsible company.

What Construction Accidents Can Damage the Spinal Cord?

Construction workers routinely perform their jobs around heights, heavy materials, moving equipment, trenches, temporary structures, and vehicles. Many of those hazards can generate enough force to injure the spine or spinal cord.

Potential causes include:

Falls From Heights: Falls from roofs, scaffolds, ladders, lifts, beams, or unfinished floors can fracture or dislocate vertebrae and damage the spinal cord.
Falling Objects: Steel, lumber, concrete, tools, pipes, or suspended loads can strike the head, neck, or back or knock a worker from an elevated surface.
Heavy Equipment Accidents: Forklifts, cranes, excavators, loaders, and skid steers can strike workers or pin them against fixed objects.
Caught-Between Accidents: A worker trapped between machinery, materials, vehicles, or structural components can sustain severe compression injuries.
Trench or Structural Collapses: Soil, concrete, masonry, framing, or other materials can bury or crush a worker.
Construction Vehicle Crashes: Dump trucks, delivery vehicles, and other equipment moving through a project can cause high-force collisions.
Electrical Incidents: Electrical contact may cause a worker to fall from an elevated surface or experience other traumatic injuries.

An accident can also involve more than one mechanism. A worker might first be struck by a load and then fall from a platform. Reconstructing that sequence can matter because different companies may have controlled the equipment, work area, or activity involved at each stage.

A Back Injury and a Spinal Cord Injury Aren’t the Same Thing

Not every serious back or neck injury damages the spinal cord.

A worker can suffer a fractured vertebra, herniated disc, torn ligament, or other spinal injury without experiencing neurological damage to the cord itself. Those injuries can still be severe and disabling.

A spinal cord injury involves damage affecting the bundle of nerve fibers that carries signals between the brain and the rest of the body.

NINDS classifies spinal cord injuries as complete or incomplete:

Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury: Some messages can still pass between the brain and areas below the injury. Some sensation, muscle control, or function remains.
Complete Spinal Cord Injury: Nerve communication below the injury is lost, resulting in loss of feeling, muscle control, or other function below the affected level.

The location of the injury also matters. Damage in the cervical spine can affect the arms, hands, trunk, legs, and breathing. Lower spinal cord injuries may primarily affect the trunk and legs.

Injuries to the cauda equina require a separate anatomical distinction. The cauda equina consists of nerve roots below the end of the spinal cord. Trauma or compression there can still cause severe leg weakness, numbness, saddle-area sensory loss, and bladder or bowel dysfunction, but it isn’t technically the same diagnosis as a spinal cord injury.

Spinal Cord Injury Symptoms Can Develop After the Initial Trauma

A worker doesn’t necessarily have to be immediately paralyzed for a serious spinal cord injury to exist.

NINDS explains that paralysis can occur immediately from the primary trauma or develop as bleeding, swelling, and other secondary damage affect the spinal cord.

Emergency warning signs can include:

Severe pain or pressure in the neck or back;
Weakness in an arm or leg;
Numbness or tingling;
Loss of movement;
Difficulty walking or maintaining balance;
Loss of bladder or bowel control;
Difficulty breathing; or
An abnormal position of the neck or spine.

A person with a suspected neck or spinal injury generally shouldn’t be moved unnecessarily before emergency medical personnel arrive unless remaining where they are creates another immediate danger or movement is necessary for lifesaving care.

That is a medical safety issue, not simply a legal one. Additional movement can potentially worsen an unstable spinal injury.

How Do Doctors Diagnose a Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury?

Emergency physicians generally begin with neurological testing and imaging.

CT and MRI provide different types of information.

A CT scan can help identify fractures, bleeding, and narrowing of the spinal canal. MRI can provide more detailed information about the spinal cord, discs, ligaments, inflammation, bleeding, and other soft-tissue conditions that may be compressing or damaging neural tissue.

Doctors may also repeatedly evaluate muscle strength and sensation as the patient’s condition evolves.

Those records later have legal importance as well. Imaging, emergency department notes, operative reports, and neurological examinations can help establish what structures were injured and whether the findings are consistent with the construction accident.

What Long-Term Care Can a Spinal Cord Injury Require?

Some workers recover substantial function. Others experience lasting paralysis or neurological impairment.

Depending on the level and severity of the injury, treatment and support can involve:

Emergency stabilization;
Spinal decompression or stabilization surgery;
Hospitalization;
Inpatient rehabilitation;
Physical and occupational therapy;
Medication and pain management;
Wheelchairs and other mobility equipment;
Transfer equipment;
Accessible transportation;
Home modifications;
Personal or attendant care; and
Ongoing treatment for complications.

Long-term complications can include pressure injuries, respiratory problems, chronic pain, muscle spasms, urinary complications, and other medical issues.

For someone with permanent neurological limitations, evaluating damages may therefore require more than adding up the hospital bills already incurred. Treating physicians, rehabilitation professionals, vocational experts, economists, or life care planners may be needed to evaluate the person’s future medical and functional needs.

A Spinal Cord Injury Can End a Construction Career Even When Some Function Returns

Construction work can require lifting, climbing, kneeling, balancing, carrying materials, working at heights, and operating machinery.

A worker doesn’t necessarily need to experience complete paralysis to lose the ability to return to that occupation.

An incomplete spinal cord injury may leave enough neurological function to stand or walk while still causing weakness, impaired balance, chronic nerve pain, reduced hand function, or limited endurance. Those restrictions may make heavy construction work unsafe or unrealistic.

Some injured workers can retrain for less physically demanding employment. Others experience a substantial permanent reduction in earning capacity.

Evidence relevant to that loss can include wage history, union records, employment benefits, job descriptions, medical restrictions, vocational assessments, and economic projections.

Does Workers’ Compensation Cover an Indiana Construction Spinal Cord Injury?

For a qualifying work-related accident, Indiana workers’ compensation generally doesn’t require the employee to prove that the employer was negligent.

Indiana workers’ compensation benefits can include authorized medical treatment, temporary disability benefits when the employee can’t work, and benefits for qualifying permanent impairment or disability.

Under Indiana Code § 22-3-3-4, the employer generally must furnish necessary medical treatment for a compensable injury before permanent impairment is adjudicated.

Workers’ compensation benefits are important, but they aren’t the same as damages available in an ordinary personal injury lawsuit.

For example, workers’ compensation doesn’t ordinarily provide conventional damages for pain and suffering. Wage benefits are also governed by the compensation statutes rather than simply replacing every dollar a worker would otherwise have earned.

Can You Sue Your Employer After an Indiana Construction Accident?

Usually not for ordinary negligence when the injury falls within Indiana’s Workers’ Compensation Act.

Indiana Code § 22-3-2-6 contains the Act’s exclusive-remedy provision. For covered accidental injuries arising out of and in the course of employment, workers’ compensation ordinarily replaces a negligence lawsuit against the direct employer.

That doesn’t mean a construction worker can never have a civil lawsuit.

The more important question is whether a legally responsible person or company was someone other than the employer or someone in the same employ.

Indiana Code § 22-3-2-13 expressly preserves potential claims against those third parties.

That is why we investigate possible third-party claims after serious Indiana work injuries rather than assuming workers’ compensation is the only available source of recovery.

Which Companies Could Be Liable in a Third-Party Construction Claim?

Construction projects often involve owners, general contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, equipment companies, and outside service providers.

Depending on the evidence, a third-party investigation may involve:

Another Subcontractor: Employees of another business may have created an unsafe opening, dropped materials, removed safety protection, or operated machinery negligently.
An Equipment Operator’s Employer: A separate company may employ the crane, forklift, excavator, or delivery-vehicle operator who caused the accident.
A Product Manufacturer or Seller: Defective machinery, lifts, ladders, scaffolding components, fall-protection equipment, or other products can raise Indiana product liability issues.
A Maintenance or Rental Company: A company may have negligently repaired, inspected, or maintained equipment used on the project.
A Property Owner: Depending on control of the property and the particular hazard, a premises liability claim may need to be investigated.
A General Contractor: Liability depends on whether the general contractor actually owed the injured worker a relevant legal duty and whether a breach of that duty contributed to the accident.

Simply identifying another company on the project isn’t enough. Each potential defendant needs a legally recognized duty connected to the accident.

Is the General Contractor Automatically Responsible for Jobsite Safety?

No.

This is an important point under Indiana law.

In Ryan v. TCI Architects/Engineers/Contractors, Inc., the Indiana Supreme Court explained that a general contractor ordinarily doesn’t owe an outright duty of care to employees of its subcontractors merely because of its position on the project.

There are exceptions.

One particularly important exception arises when the general contractor contractually assumes a specific safety duty.

In Ryan, the project’s contract required the general contractor to assume responsibility for implementing and monitoring safety precautions and programs for everyone working on the site and to designate a safety representative. The Indiana Supreme Court held that this language demonstrated an intent to assume a nondelegable duty of care.

That makes construction contracts important evidence.

The analysis shouldn’t begin and end with the title “general contractor.” It should examine the owner-contractor agreement, subcontracts, safety provisions, actual jobsite responsibilities, and conduct of the companies involved.

Does an OSHA or Safety Violation Automatically Prove Liability?

No.

OSHA and Indiana occupational-safety requirements can be relevant to understanding what safety measures applied to a construction activity, but an OSHA violation doesn’t automatically create civil liability or establish negligence by itself.

Indiana courts have distinguished regulatory safety requirements from the separate question of whether a defendant owed the injured worker a civil duty.

That is another reason the contracts, work assignments, control of the hazard, and circumstances of the accident need to be evaluated together rather than treating a citation or regulation as the entire case.

How Does Indiana Comparative Fault Affect a Third-Party Claim?

A third-party personal injury action is also different from workers’ compensation because fault matters.

Indiana follows a modified comparative fault system for most ordinary negligence actions.

Under Indiana Code § 34-51-2-6, an injured claimant is generally barred from recovering when the claimant’s own fault is greater than the combined fault of the other persons whose conduct proximately contributed to the damages. When the claimant’s fault doesn’t exceed that threshold, damages are reduced according to the percentage assigned to the claimant.

Construction cases can become particularly complicated because fault may be disputed among several contractors and other entities.

For example, one defendant may argue that another subcontractor created the hazard, that the employer failed to follow a safety procedure, or that the injured employee also contributed to what happened. Indiana’s comparative-fault rules allow fault allocation issues to affect the ultimate third-party recovery even when workers’ compensation itself didn’t require proof of fault.

Workers’ Compensation Can Have a Lien on a Third-Party Recovery

Receiving workers’ compensation and pursuing a third-party case doesn’t necessarily mean the same losses can simply be collected twice.

Indiana Code § 22-3-2-13 gives the employer or workers’ compensation carrier subrogation and lien rights in many third-party cases.

If workers’ compensation has paid medical bills or disability benefits and the employee later obtains money from a responsible third party, some of that recovery may have to reimburse the compensation carrier, subject to the statute’s rules regarding costs, attorney fees, and other adjustments.

The statute also contains important settlement requirements. A release or settlement generally requires written consent from both the employee and employer or compensation carrier unless the carrier has been fully indemnified or otherwise protected as provided by law.

Those issues should be addressed as part of settlement planning rather than discovered after an agreement has already been reached.

How Long Do You Have to Bring an Indiana Construction Injury Claim?

Different deadlines can apply to different parts of the case.

A third-party personal injury lawsuit in Indiana generally must be filed within two years after the cause of action accrues under Indiana Code § 34-11-2-4.

Section 22-3-2-13 also provides a two-year period for the employee to institute proceedings against a third person in a work-related injury case.

The workers’ compensation side has separate rules. Indiana law generally requires a workers’ compensation claim to be filed with the Workers’ Compensation Board within two years after the accident, subject to statutory provisions that can affect how the period is calculated.

Notice can matter much earlier. Indiana Code § 22-3-3-1 generally requires notice to the employer as soon as practicable. If the employer doesn’t already have knowledge of the accident and notice isn’t provided within 30 days, the statute can affect the payment of compensation, subject to its prejudice provisions.

Those deadlines are another reason a seriously injured worker shouldn’t assume that an open workers’ compensation file automatically protects a separate third-party lawsuit.

Why Does Jobsite Evidence Need to Be Preserved Quickly?

Construction sites don’t remain frozen after an accident.

Scaffolding comes down. Trenches are filled. Openings are covered. Equipment is repaired or moved. Contractors finish their work and leave. Electronic records may be overwritten according to normal retention schedules.

Potentially important evidence can include:

Photographs and Video: Images can document the work area, equipment, guardrails, openings, debris, lighting, and conditions shortly after the accident.
Project Contracts: Owner agreements and subcontracts can identify which companies assumed particular work or safety responsibilities.
Safety Plans: Written procedures can help establish how the project was organized and which contractors were assigned particular safety functions.
Inspection and Maintenance Records: These documents may identify prior equipment problems, inspections, repairs, or complaints.
Equipment: Machinery, fall-protection systems, scaffolding components, or other products may need inspection before they’re altered or returned to service.
Training and Qualification Records: These records can become relevant when equipment operation or specialized work is disputed.
Electronic Information: Cameras, access systems, vehicles, lifts, and other equipment may contain time-sensitive data.
Witness Testimony: Other workers may know who controlled the activity, gave instructions, observed the hazard, or knew about earlier problems.
Medical Evidence: Imaging, neurological examinations, surgery reports, and rehabilitation records establish the nature and progression of the spinal cord injury.

A preservation demand can be appropriate when another company controls evidence that may otherwise be lost.

These are also the kinds of records we consider when explaining the evidence used to build an Indiana personal injury case.

A Serious Construction Spinal Cord Injury May Involve More Than One Legal Claim

A catastrophic spinal cord injury can affect medical care, mobility, employment, independence, housing, transportation, and a family’s finances for years to come.

For someone injured while working, the legal analysis should account for the same complexity.

Workers’ compensation may provide important medical and disability benefits. A third-party claim may provide additional damages when a separate contractor, property owner, equipment company, manufacturer, or another legally responsible party contributed to the accident.

At Boughter Sinak, LLC, we handle both workers’ compensation and third-party injury claims for Indiana workers. We can investigate the project relationships, preserve jobsite evidence, review the construction contracts, and work with appropriate medical and technical professionals to document what caused the accident and how the injury will affect the future.

Our case results include a $3 million recovery for a worker who suffered paraplegia after a pipe fell and struck him because of a third-party contractor’s negligence. The defense argued that workers’ compensation was his exclusive remedy, but the third-party claim was successfully pursued. * Prior results don’t guarantee a similar outcome in another case.

If you or someone in your family suffered a spinal cord injury on an Indiana construction site, contact us to discuss the accident and the potential claims involved. You can also request a free case consultation. We can review the available evidence and explain how workers’ compensation and any potential third-party claim may interact.

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