Clearfield Construction Accident Lawyer
A construction injury can take your income, your health, and your ability to work in your trade. If that happened on a Clearfield job site, a workers’ compensation claim is usually only part of the picture.
Utah law limits what you can recover from your employer. It does not shield every other business on the project, and on a site with a general contractor, several subcontractors, equipment suppliers, and a property owner, responsibility rarely sits in one place.
Our attorneys determine who is actually responsible for your injuries before the evidence disappears. Talk with a Clearfield construction accident lawyer at Good Guys Injury Law by calling (801) 506-0800 for a free case evaluation.
One call can change everything—find out where you stand today.
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Why Choose Good Guys Injury Law After a Construction Accident in Clearfield?
Our Clearfield office sits at 1030 University Park Blvd, Suite 1A. Being close to job sites, contractors, and crews matters because witnesses move on to the next project within weeks.
Construction claims run through two systems at once. Our team handles workers’ compensation benefits alongside injury claims against outside companies, so neither one stalls while you are in treatment. Our founding attorney has more than 20 years of personal injury experience.
We request inspection records, identify every company working near you on the day you were hurt, and ask that damaged equipment be preserved before it is repaired or scrapped.
Our Utah construction accident attorney page covers this practice statewide. For a broader view of our work in this city, visit our Clearfield personal injury attorney page.
Who Can Be Held Responsible for a Clearfield Construction Accident
Begin with the rule that catches most injured workers by surprise. Utah Code 34A-2-105 makes workers’ compensation the exclusive remedy against your employer, and that protection covers its officers, agents, and employees.
The question that decides your case is not simply whether someone was careless. It is whether that party sits inside or outside your employment relationship.
Clearfield projects often carry several employers on the same site at the same time. The company that controlled the hazard that injured you is frequently not the company that signs your paycheck, and that gap is where a third-party claim lives.
When a General Contractor Claims to be Your Statutory Employer
General contractors frequently argue that they are protected too. Utah Code 34A-2-103 treats a company that procures work as the statutory employer of the crews working below it in some situations, which carries the same protection from suit.
That argument is not automatic. It turns on how much control the contractor kept over the work, and on whether it obtained and relied on proof that your employer carried its own coverage. Contracts, daily logs, and certificates of insurance decide it.
Parties Outside The Employment Relationship
Utah Code 34A-2-106 allows an action for damages against a person other than your employer, and it names the parties it reaches:
- A subcontractor whose crew created the hazard.
- A general contractor that is not your statutory employer.
- An independent contractor working on the same project.
- A property owner.
- A lessee or assignee of a property owner.
Equipment manufacturers, rental companies, and delivery drivers also sit outside that relationship. We handle workplace accident claims across Utah with that line in mind.
What Happens to Your Benefits If You Recover From a Third Party
Filing both claims raises a question nobody answers at the start: Who keeps the money?
Once your employer or its carrier becomes obligated to pay benefits, that carrier becomes trustee of the cause of action against the third party. It may bring the case in its own name or in yours, and it cannot settle and release the claim without the commission’s consent.
You also have a duty. Before proceeding against a third party, you must give written notice of that intention to the carrier and to anyone else obligated for your compensation payments.
When a recovery comes in, the statute directs how it is divided. Reasonable expenses and attorney fees are charged proportionately, the party that paid benefits is reimbursed, and the balance goes to you.
That reimbursement is reduced when the combined fault assigned to parties immune from suit reaches 40%. The fight over fault percentages and the fight over money are the same fight.
From evidence to resolution
we handle Construction Accident cases with precision.
How Shared Blame Changes a Clearfield Construction Claim
Insurers and contractors often argue that the injured worker ignored a safety rule. That argument does not end a case by itself.
Utah Code 78B-5-818 states that a person’s fault alone may not bar recovery. You may recover from a defendant or group of defendants whose fault, combined with the fault of parties immune from suit and nonparties, exceeds your own share.
That wording carries real weight on a job site. Fault assigned to your employer still counts on the other side of the comparison even though the employer cannot be sued, which can keep a claim alive that would otherwise fail.
No defendant pays more than its assigned proportion of fault, so your percentage reduces what you collect. Because those percentages drive the result, we build the record with site photographs, training files, and testimony from other crew members instead of accepting a company-written incident report.
Deadlines That Apply to a Utah Construction Injury Claim
Several clocks start the day you are hurt, and they do not run at the same speed.
- Notice to your employer. The Utah Labor Commission warns that a worker who fails to report an injury within 180 days may be disqualified from benefits.
- The third-party lawsuit. Utah Code 78B-2-307 allows 4 years for relief not otherwise provided for by law, and that limit generally governs a negligence claim against an outside company.
- A death claim. A wrongful death action carries a 2-year limit under Utah Code 78B-2-304.
One Utah rule works in your favor. Utah Code 78B-2-225 bars many claims tied to completed construction projects, but it expressly does not apply to death or bodily injury. That exception covers any person engaged in the design, installation, or construction of an improvement.
Evidence still moves faster than any deadline. Scaffolding comes down, equipment is repaired, and crews move to the next project within weeks.
How Dangerous Construction Work Is in Utah
The numbers match what every crew already knows. According to the Utah Labor Commission’s 2024 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 63 workers died from work injuries in Utah during 2024, down from 69 the year before.
Construction carried a fatal injury rate of 6.1 deaths per 100,000 workers, well above the statewide rate of 3.7. Nine of those deaths came from the construction industry.
Utah employers must report a workplace accident to the Utah Occupational Safety and Health Division within 8 hours. When a worker does not come home, families can pursue a wrongful death claim alongside the benefits claim.
What a Clearfield Construction Accident Claim Can Cover
Benefits under the workers’ compensation system follow a schedule set by statute. A claim against a negligent third party is measured differently, and the categories reach further.
That difference is the reason both claims matter. The benefits system replaces only a portion of lost income and does not address pain and suffering, while a third-party claim can account for the full scope of what an injury cost you.
Depending on the evidence, a third-party construction claim may include the following:
- Medical expenses, from emergency care through surgery and rehabilitation.
- Future medical costs supported by medical opinion.
- Lost wages, including overtime the records support.
- Reduced earning capacity when an injury keeps you out of your trade.
- Pain and suffering.
Every category turns on documentation. Our team gathers medical records, wage history, and opinions on future care so we can support losses rather than estimate them.
Frequently Asked Questions About Clearfield Construction Accidents
Can I sue the general contractor on my Clearfield job site?
It depends on whether that contractor qualifies as your statutory employer under Utah Code 34A-2-103, which turns on the control it kept over the work and whether it relied on proof of your employer’s coverage.
Does my employer’s insurer take part of my settlement?
The carrier that paid your benefits is reimbursed out of a third-party recovery, less its proportionate share of costs and attorney fees. Review the division of proceeds before you agree to settle.
Do I have to tell the workers’ compensation carrier before I sue?
Yes. Utah law requires written notice of your intent to bring an action against a third party, and that notice goes to the carrier and anyone else obligated to make your compensation payments.
What if I was partly responsible for the accident?
You can still recover when the combined fault of the defendants, immune parties, and nonparties exceeds your own share. Each defendant pays only the proportion of fault assigned to it, so your percentage reduces what you collect.
Is there a deadline if the project was finished years ago?
Utah’s repose statute for completed construction projects does not apply to bodily injury or death of a person engaged in the construction work itself. The ordinary injury deadline governs your claim instead.
What should I do before giving a recorded statement?
Report the injury to your employer in writing and get medical treatment right away. Photograph the scene and the equipment if you are able, and write down the name of every company working near you. Then call us before you describe the accident to an adjuster.
Your story matters, and so does your outcome—talk to us today.
Contact a Clearfield Construction Accident Lawyer Today
You shouldn’t have to navigate the benefits system and a third-party claim while you are still in treatment. Good Guys Injury Law investigates who was responsible for your Clearfield construction accident, deals with the insurers, and explains each option as your case moves forward. Ask us how our contingency fee terms apply to your situation.
Call a Clearfield construction accident lawyer at Good Guys Injury Law at (801) 506-0800, or reach our team through our contact page, to schedule a free case evaluation.
