WILMINGTON, NC — One person was taken to the hospital after a trench collapse that was reported in Wilmington, North Carolina on Monday, September 22nd, 2014. The report from Port City Daily said that the haccident happened sometime Monday afternoon.
Officials said that a worker was injured when the trench he was working collapsed in the 3800 block of Independence Boulevard. It is not immediately clear what caused the trench to collapse at this point. He was the only person hurt in the accident.
The worker was taken by EMS to New Hanover Medical Center where an update on his condition was immediately unavailable.
Local and state agencies are helping with the investigation at this time.
Scene of the Accident
Commentary:
The first inclination many people are going to have looking at this fact pattern is to dismiss it as a simple work accident, but there is a possibility that there is more going on than we see in a bare-bones news report? The articles I’ve seen said that the man was working in a trench, but we don’t currently know what he was doing. If the company he was working for was the same company that dug the trench, then workers’ compensation may be the only avenue to take. On the other hand, if the trench was not dug by the company the victim works for, then the course of things can change dramatically. If another company dug the trench, and the victim was laying cable or plumbing for a different company when the trench collapsed, then the worker’s claim would not be against his employer, but with the company that dug the trench. This essentially throws workers’ compensation, and the forfeiture of the right to sue out the window. We call this a claim against a third party, and it would be no different than any negligence-based claim against somebody other than your employer.
–Grossman Law Offices
