Miami workplace accident lawyer

Which Florida laws apply to a Miami workplace injury claim

The rules are the same across Florida, so they are written out in full on one page rather than repeated here. They are explained on the statewide workplace injury page, with the statute text linked.

This firm does not handle workers’ compensation claims. What it handles is the third-party claim — the case against everyone who caused the injury and is not your employer — which runs alongside a compensation claim rather than instead of it.

But first, which system you are even in. Most Florida workers are under chapter 440, where § 440.11 makes compensation the exclusive remedy against the employer. A worker injured on a pier, a wharf or a marine terminal is likely under the federal Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act instead. A crew member of a vessel is under neither — that is the Jones Act.

And the Longshore Act carries its own third-party claim. Under 33 U.S.C. § 905(b), a covered worker injured by the negligence of a vessel may bring an action against that vessel as a third party. The deadline on a Florida negligence claim is two years.

What follows is the part that is specific to Miami-Dade County — where these claims arise, where you will be treated, which courthouse the case goes to, and how the records are obtained.

Three compensation systems, and where you worked decides

People assume there is one scheme for injured workers. There are three, and being in the wrong one costs time that cannot be bought back.

Florida workers’ compensation, chapter 440. The default for most employment in the state. Section 440.11 makes it the exclusive remedy against the employer, with the narrow exceptions set out on the Florida workplace accident page.

The federal Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act. It covers maritime employment — 33 U.S.C. § 902(3) names longshore workers and harbor workers including ship repairers, shipbuilders and ship-breakers. Section 903(a) sets where: injuries on the navigable waters of the United States, including any adjoining pier, wharf, dry dock, terminal, building way, marine railway, or other adjoining area customarily used in loading, unloading, repairing, dismantling or building a vessel.

The Jones Act, for a master or member of a crew of a vessel — who § 902(3)(G) expressly writes out of the Longshore Act. Those claims are covered on the cruise ship crew injuries page.

The exclusions matter as much as the inclusions. Section 902(3) writes out office clerical and security staff, people employed by a restaurant, club or retail outlet, certain marina employees, and suppliers or vendors temporarily on the premises — but only where those individuals are covered by a state compensation law instead. Which is to say: the answer is a question of fact about your job and your location, not a label on a paycheck.

The third-party claim the Longshore Act builds in

This is the provision that makes a port injury case different from every other work injury case.

Section 905(b) provides that where a covered worker is injured by the negligence of a vessel, that person may bring an action against the vessel as a third party, and the employer is not liable to the vessel for those damages — with any agreement to the contrary void.

It has boundaries, and they are specific. The liability is not based on the warranty of seaworthiness. A worker employed by the vessel to provide stevedoring services cannot bring the action where the injury was caused by the negligence of people providing stevedoring services to that vessel. And where a shipbuilding, repair or breaking worker’s employer was itself the vessel’s owner, operator or charterer, the action is not permitted against that employer in any capacity.

Read together, that is a real claim against a real defendant — the ship, its owner or its operator — sitting on top of a compensation scheme that otherwise pays benefits without regard to fault.

Which makes identifying the vessel urgent. Ships leave. The name, the flag, the operator, the berth and the date are facts that are easy to capture in the first week and very difficult afterward.

Warehouse, hospitality and agricultural injuries, and who else is liable

Most work injuries in Miami-Dade County are not maritime and not construction, and the third-party question is the same one asked differently.

In a warehouse or distribution center: the manufacturer of a forklift, a pallet jack, a conveyor or a lift that failed; a maintenance contractor; a delivery company whose driver caused it; the owner of the building where a condition rather than the work caused the injury.

In hospitality: an equipment manufacturer, a cleaning or maintenance contractor, a staffing company that is not your employer, or a property owner. Note that § 440.11(2) treats a worker supplied by a help supply services company as a borrowed employee of the company using them, which extends that company’s immunity — so who your employer is for this purpose is not always who signs the check.

In agricultural work: equipment and machinery claims, chemical exposure claims against a manufacturer or applicator, and vehicle claims where transport was involved. Florida treats agricultural employment differently for compensation purposes, which is a reason to have the facts looked at rather than assumed.

The through-line is the same. Compensation handles the employer. Everyone else is a separate question, and it is the one that carries pain and suffering, full wage loss and future care.

What exists after a Miami workplace injury, and what to secure

Report the injury to your employer in writing. That starts the compensation claim, which pays for treatment while everything else is worked out, and it fixes the date.

Federal OSHA covers Florida — the state has no plan for private employers — and OSHA’s own county listing puts Miami-Dade under the Fort Lauderdale Area Office, (954) 424-0242. Its establishment search publishes a company’s inspections, citations and penalties by name, free and without discovery.

Then preserve the third-party case. Photograph the equipment and the condition before either is changed. Get the make, model and serial number of any machine involved, because a product claim starts there. Where a vessel was involved, get its name and the berth.

Write down every company that was present — contractors, vendors, staffing agencies, delivery drivers — and the names of the people working near you. On a port or in a warehouse the workforce turns over and rotates, and a name is far easier to get in week one than in month six.

And keep every piece of paper. The incident report, the clinic notes, the work restriction slip. A compensation file and a third-party case are built from the same early documents.

Where the Miami office is, and how to get there

DAPENALAW is at 5975 Sunset Drive, Suite 102, South Miami, FL 33143, open Monday to Friday, 08:30 to 17:00. The direct number is (305) 662-4323.

The office is on Sunset Drive in South Miami, a few blocks west of US-1 and close to the South Miami Metrorail station, with parking on site. A first conversation can happen by phone or video, and home and hospital visits are available when someone cannot travel.

You do not have to come in. The first conversation can be by phone or video, documents are handled electronically, and where an injury makes travel difficult the meeting happens where you are. The Sunset Drive office serves Miami-Dade generally, and most often South Miami, Coral Gables, Westchester, Kendall, Coral Terrace, Olympia Heights, West Miami, Sweetwater, Glenvar Heights, Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay, Coconut Grove, Little Havana, Hialeah and Doral.

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