If you are in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence and, if that negligence actually caused the injury, then that injury would be compensable in monetary damages.
However, just because you are injured, does not mean that you have the right to recover damages to pay for the costs of your injury.
A good example is a slip and fall injury. You may have walked into a store after walking across wet pavement. You then slip and fall after walking into a store to shop. The store owner, in this case, would not be responsible for your injury because he did nothing wrong to cause your fall. In this case, you would not be eligible for compensatory damages.
In order to collect damages, you must prove that someone did something wrong – that someone else is responsible for your accident.
Where workers’ compensation is concerned, compensable damage is very-well laid out as to if and how you may be compensated for an injury. However, just because an accident occurs at work does not mean the accident will be covered by the Act.
A good example of this would be an accident in the workplace parking lot. An employee is walking into work and injures himself in the parking lot. The injury happens within a reasonable time of the work shift, and is in the employer’s parking lot. This injury will most likely be covered under the Workers’ Compensation Act. However, if the employee was there after hours, for whatever reason having nothing to do with the job, and has an accident in the parking lot, then these injuries will most likely not be covered.
Under the Workers’ Compensation Act, a compensable injury is an injury from an accident out of and in the course of employment.
If you have questions regarding compensation from an accident whether at work, or off of the job, please consult our Online Legal Directory to find an attorney in your area.