Hero
Construction Accident Lawyer in Long Island City
Long Island City has more cranes in the air than almost any other ZIP in the country. Center Boulevard, Court Square, and the blocks east of 21st Street are a continuous tower-construction zone, and the injuries follow the work. I represent the workers building these towers, including non-union, day-labor, and undocumented workers. Twenty plus years on Labor Law cases. Free consultation. Hablamos español.
Call: 718-261-0546
Where Long Island City construction injuries happen
LIC's tower row along Center Boulevard and 44th Drive runs concrete pours, curtain-wall installs, and façade work nearly every weekday. Falls from formwork, falling tools off the upper floors, and hoist failures all show up here. The Court Square cluster around Jackson Avenue at 44th Drive keeps adding glass towers next to the older Citigroup Building, and unloading and material staging on the narrow sidewalks puts workers in the path of moving cranes and forklifts.
The Vernon Boulevard corridor between 50th Avenue and Queens Plaza is a different mix: mid-block residential infill, façade replacements on older buildings, and the kind of two-story scaffold work where missing planks and missing guardrails do the most damage. The blocks east of 21st Street still carry industrial truck traffic, which means workers loading and unloading at sidewalk level get caught between trucks and storefronts.
Union jobs on the bigger Tishman and Plaza Construction towers run with site safety managers and documented training. The smaller residential and conversion jobs along Jackson Avenue and Northern Boulevard often run non-union, with day laborers paid in cash, no real fall protection, and no one keeping an OSHA log. Both sets of workers have full Labor Law protection. Union firms tend not to take the non-union cases. I do.
NY Labor Law § 240(1), the Scaffold Law in 200 words
NY Labor Law § 240(1) imposes absolute liability on property owners and general contractors when an elevation-related construction injury occurs because a required safety device was absent, defective, or inadequate. Falls from scaffolds, ladders, roofs, and platforms are covered. So are falling-object injuries: tools, debris, or unsecured materials that fall and strike a worker. After Wilinski v. 334 East 92nd Hous. Dev. Fund Corp., 18 N.Y.3d 1 (2011), even short-fall objects qualify when the weight and force create a meaningful elevation differential.
Absolute liability means comparative negligence is not a defense. Once the plaintiff proves the statute was violated and the violation caused the injury, the worker's own conduct does not reduce the recovery. The only narrow defenses are sole proximate cause and recalcitrant worker, both rare.
Labor Law § 241(6) runs alongside § 240. It treats specific Industrial Code Part 23 violations as negligence per se. We plead both when the facts support both.
Immigration status does not bar a claim. Under Balbuena v. IDR Realty LLC, 6 N.Y.3d 338 (2006), undocumented workers retain full damages, including lost wages, in New York personal injury cases.
What to do after a Long Island City construction accident
- Get medical attention. Mount Sinai Queens in Astoria is the closest full-service ER for most LIC sites. NewYork-Presbyterian Queens is the alternative further east. Tell the ER it was a work injury so the records reflect it.
- Report to your supervisor and get witness names. Coworkers move on to other jobs. Get phone numbers before the shift ends.
- File for New York Workers' Compensation within 30 days. Do this even if you plan a Labor Law third-party case. The two run in parallel and the comp filing protects your immediate medical and a portion of lost wages.
- Call before signing anything. Defense investigators and recorded statements show up fast. Documented workers and undocumented workers both have full personal injury rights. Status stays private with my office.
Cases I take
- Scaffold collapses and missing-guardrail falls on tower work
- Ladder falls, including kick-outs and missing safety feet
- Falling tools, debris, and unsecured material
- Hoist and personnel-elevator failures
- Trench and excavation collapses on utility work
- Electrocution from temporary site wiring
- Struck-by tools and dropped loads
- Demolition injuries on conversion projects
Talk to me
Call: 718-261-0546 Office: 102-11 Metropolitan Ave, Forest Hills, NY 11375 Hablamos español. Bilingual concierge on staff.
Free consultation. I will call you back personally during business hours. See Prior Results for verified case outcomes including the $2 million Brooklyn DOE Labor Law § 240 settlement.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.