Personal Injury and Accident Lawyers

Charles H. Bechert, III represents individuals who have been injured due to the negligence, intentional conduct or otherwise tortious acts of another person or entity in a variety of personal injury cases.

Personal injury victims are injured through the fault of another person or group. Personal injury encompasses a broad range of cases, from motor vehicle accidents, products liability, premises liability/slip & fall, aviation disasters and maritime accidents to sexual abuse, sexual assault, elder abuse and nursing home negligence. Most personal injuries include physical, emotional, and financial hardships. At Bechert & Associates, we have the experience, skill and dedication to handle any personal injury case.

If you or a family member has been the victim of personal injury, our firm can help you receive the compensation you need and deserve. Please contact us to discuss your personal injury case.

Premises Liability/Slip & Fall

Bechert and Associates represents individuals in premises liability lawsuits who have been injured due to the negligence of landowners, occupiers, and businesses and the dangerous conditions of public or private property that they failed to make safe.

Premises liability deals with the breach of duties owed by an owner or occupier of land to protect people on and off the premises from dangerous conditions and defects in the property. Premises liability is a ÒÒform of negligenceÓÓ in which the owner has a duty to exercise reasonable care in the management of the premises and to avoid exposing persons to an unreasonable risk of harm. Slip and fall accidents are the most common form of premises liability cases. Common conditions giving rise to premises liability accidents include wet floors, slippery surfaces, uneven floors or steps, cracked sidewalks, falling objects, high-stacking, torn carpeting, poor lighting, inadequate security, dangerous conditions caused by weather conditions, the failure to secure a swimming pool area, inadequate protection from dogs or other animals, as well as a variety of other conditions.

Regardless of the specific condition or where the accident may happen, all property or building owners have a certain level of responsibility to make sure an environment is safe. Ultimately, the issue of liability hinges upon whether the landowner or landholder had actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition that caused the incident. In other words, in order to prevail in a cause of action for premises liability, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant knew or should have known that the dangerous condition existed causing the incident.

Commercial establishments and property owners are responsible for hazards on their property that lead to personal injury. Likewise, a homeowner or property owner is responsible for a slip or a fall that is caused by hazardous conditions on their premises. When a landowner or landholder fails to warn about potential slip and fall hazards or other dangerous conditions on their property, they may be legally responsible when an injury occurs.

If you or a loved one has been injured on anotherÕÕs property, please contact our office.

Construction Site Accidents

Working on a construction project at a construction site can be a dangerous and deadly occupation. Specifically, thousands of construction workers, many in the Miami Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties, are injured and even killed in construction site accidents each year. Like the construction project itself, construction site accident litigation can be complex. Furthermore, expert testimony may be critical in order to develop a full understanding of the design of the project, documents generated during the construction, and the parties involved with construction.

Construction companies have a duty to adequately inspect each site with safety engineers and provide sufficient safety programs. However, accidents still occur due to the inadequacy of these provisions. In addition, general contractors and subcontractors are required to provide a reasonably safe construction site, to warn of hazards, to hire responsible employees, to maintain project safety and to supervise compliance with safety measures. When these precautionary measures are not implemented or fail to protect construction workers, the owners, general contractors, subcontractors, design professionals, engineers, inspectors, architects, insurance companies, and equipment manufacturers may be legally responsible. Likewise, manufacturers of construction equipment are responsible for designing and maintaining safe products.

Liability may be based on common law causes of action, various federal and state statutes, regulations, industry standards, including the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), the Association of General Contractors of America Manual of Accident Prevention for Construction, and other guidelines. Common construction site accidents and construction injury cases involve:

• Electrocution & Electrical Incidents (serious injury or death resulting from some electrical problem);
• Construction Site Falls & Trench Collapse (serious injury or death caused by unstable and unsafe above ground worksite, inadequate fall protection equipment, and other insufficient safety precautions);
• Welding, Cutting and Brazing Accidents;
• Compressed Gases (mechanical and chemical dangers associated with use of compressed gas in construction project and the failure to follow proper protocol causing accident);
• Dangerous and/or Defective Machinery (serious injury and death can result from failure to properly use machinery or by the use of defective machinery when using, for example, mechanical power presses, nail guns, and other dangerous and heavy machinery);
• Machinery Hazards (serious injury and death can result from hazards relating to the power transmission apparatus and other moving parts of machinery at the construction site and the failure to take adequate safety measures);
• Defective Products and Construction Related Tools (cranes, scaffolding, power tools, derricks, hoists, ladders, conveyors, graters, trucks, winches, forklifts, bulldozers, boilers, gauges, and other construction related tools and equipment).

If you or a loved one has been involved in a serious construction site accident, please contact us.