Construction Site Accident Attorney Serving Northeast Wisconsin

You were doing your job when everything went wrong. Now your employer is telling you workers' comp covers it — and that's the end of the story. It isn't. Wisconsin construction workers often have two legal paths to recovery, and most never hear about the second one.

Two Legal Tracks. Most Workers Only Know About One.

Workers' compensation is a no-fault system in Wisconsin. That means you're entitled to benefits — medical costs, wage replacement — regardless of who caused the accident. Your employer cannot deny you workers' comp because they claim you were at fault. That's not how the law works.

But workers' comp is not always the ceiling on what you can recover. When a third party — a subcontractor, equipment manufacturer, or property owner — contributed to your accident, Wisconsin law allows you to pursue a separate personal injury claim against them in addition to your workers' comp benefits. These are two distinct legal tracks. They run at the same time, and they produce separate recoveries.

At Janssen Law, we handle both. Most construction accident attorneys in Wisconsin focus on one or the other. We know how these cases develop under both systems and how to build the strongest possible recovery across both tracks.

Who Else May Be Liable for Your Construction Injury

Workers' comp covers your employer's liability. It does not cover everyone else's. On a typical construction site in northeast Wisconsin, there are multiple parties on the ground — general contractors, subcontractors, equipment vendors, property owners, and manufacturers of the tools and machinery your crew depends on every day.

If any of those parties contributed to the conditions that caused your injury, they can be held accountable through a third-party personal injury claim. Common examples include:

• A subcontractor whose crew created a fall hazard another worker then encountered
• A manufacturer whose defective equipment failed during normal use
• A property owner who knew about a dangerous condition and did nothing
• A general contractor who failed to enforce site safety standards

OSHA violations documented at the worksite are admissible evidence in these claims. When the records show that safety rules were ignored, that documentation tells a different story than what your employer may be saying now. We know how to use it.

Why Fault on Your Part Doesn't End the Conversation

One of the most common things we hear from construction workers is some version of: "My employer is saying it was my fault — and I'm not sure they're wrong." This concern keeps injured workers from pursuing the full recovery they're entitled to.

Here is what you need to know. Wisconsin workers' compensation is a no-fault system. Your benefits are not contingent on proving someone else caused the accident. You are covered. The question of fault matters in a third-party personal injury claim — but even there, Wisconsin's comparative fault rules allow recovery as long as you are not more than 50% responsible for the accident. OSHA records, worksite inspection reports, and contractor documentation routinely establish that the conditions causing an injury were outside a worker's control, regardless of what a supervisor says in the aftermath.

What It Costs to Hire Janssen Law

Nothing upfront. We handle construction accident cases on a contingency fee basis, which means we only get paid when you do. If we don't recover for you, you owe us nothing.

Construction cases often involve well-funded defendants — large general contractors, national equipment manufacturers, and the insurance carriers behind them. We have been litigating against those defendants in northeast Wisconsin for more than 35 years. The size of the company on the other side of the table is not a reason to walk away from your claim. It is a reason to make sure you have the right attorney in your corner.

Construction Accident Questions We Hear Often