If you or a family member has been injured in a coal mining accident, one of the first things you’re going to ask is how much is the average settlement for a case like mine? You’ve obviously suffered some damages and are eager to get the recovery you deserve. The thing is, there are as many different types of settlements as there are types of coal mining injuries. We at The Segal Law Firm have seen every type of injury you can imagine and we have to approach each case individually to try to get the most we can for our clients.
The amount of a settlement is based on several different factors. Who is the target of the lawsuit? If it’s your employer, then there’s a more difficult legal standard. We have to prove that certain safety rules, whether federal, state, or industry practice, were violated. We’ve seen many cases where the coal company is putting profit ahead of safety and when this is happens, injuries are bound to occur. And if the jury believes that the employer did in fact put profit over safety or that the contractor came onsite badly prepared to do the job he was contracted to do, then that is going to make the verdict bigger for a coal miner and his family.
A verdict also depends a great deal on the medical bills of the miner; how much will his surgeries and medical procedures cost and how expensive is his rehabilitation? You’ve got to look at loss of wages due to the injury and, perhaps most importantly, will the miner be able to go back to work? If the answer to that is a negative, then you’re probably talking hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions. Certainly in death cases, whether it’s a surface or a deep mine, you’re seeing those types of numbers.
The level of misconduct is what will ultimately affect how valuable a jury verdict or settlement will be. The Segal Law Firm is extremely experienced with the various state and federal regulations that protect coal miners and we will dive into the investigation to find out why the injury occurred. We look to the federal and state inspectors to see what they were able to find out and certainly dig into the company’s documentation to search for error. Believe it or not, I’ve had cases where we check a coal miner’s personnel file and they don’t have the right licenses, permits, or task training to do the job they were doing when they hurt someone. And so, you’ve got to look at every shred of paper to figure out what went wrong. And that’s what we pride ourselves on here at The Segal Law Firm. While there isn’t a way to give you an average settlement number for a coal mining case, we can promise that we’ll do everything we can to make sure you get what you deserve for yours. Call us toll free with any and all questions at about your coal mining injury case at 855-344-9100.