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Construction Injury Damages Calculator

Estimate a third-party settlement range for a construction site accident and see how the governing state’s fault rule changes it.

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Construction Site Injury: Third-Party Damages Calculator

Estimates a third-party personal-injury settlement range for a construction-site accident, using the special-damages + general-damages (multiplier or per-diem) method, netted against comparative-negligence offset. Workers' comp exclusivity, third-party contribution rules and OSHA-violation weight vary sharply by state. Check your state's construction-injury rules ↓

Special + General Damages Multiplier / Per-Diem Method Comparative-Negligence Offset
Scope note: This calculator estimates a third-party claim only (a GC, property owner, subcontractor, or equipment manufacturer other than the injured worker's own direct employer). It does not calculate workers' compensation benefits, which are a no-fault, statutory schedule set by each state's workers' comp agency, not something this tool computes. Answer the question below first; it determines whether this calculator applies to your situation at all.

Step 1: Who Is the Claim Against?

What it means: In every state, a worker's own direct employer is shielded from an ordinary negligence lawsuit by workers' comp exclusivity. That's the core trade-off of the workers' comp system. This calculator is built for the other scenario: a third party on the same job site whose own negligence contributed to the injury. What to enter: If you're unsure whether the party you're evaluating counts as a "statutory employer" (a GC can sometimes be treated as one), check your state's construction-injury reference above; it varies by state and this calculator can't determine that legal question for you.
Step 1Who you are suing
Step 2The four numbers
Step 3Refine

Step 2. The four numbers we need

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Example figures. Edit them or clear them.

What it means: Medical costs already billed for this injury: ER, surgery, hospital stay, physical therapy to date. What to enter: Total from itemized medical bills and the medical-payment ledger, not just what insurance paid.
What it means: Actual gross wages lost since the injury, from missed work. What to enter: Pay stubs or an employer wage-verification letter covering the missed period, times the applicable pay rate.
Why it matters: Fault does not reduce recovery the same way everywhere. Five jurisdictions bar recovery on any fault at all; most bar it once the worker crosses a threshold; ten reduce without any bar. The threshold is only half of it: the statute also fixes what that share is measured against. What to enter: The state whose law governs the claim, which is usually where the accident happened.
What it means: The percentage of fault attributable to the injured worker's own conduct, which most states' comparative-negligence rules use to proportionally reduce the recovery. What to enter: A handful of states use pure contributory negligence instead, where any fault at all (even 1%) can bar recovery entirely rather than just reducing it. A few others use a "modified" comparative rule with a 50% or 51% bar rather than a pure proportional reduction. Check your state's rule above before relying on a simple percentage reduction here.

Step 3. Refine this estimate. 0 fields, all with defaults applied. These change the result significantly.

Special Damages (Economic)

What it means: Reasonably certain future medical costs: additional surgery, ongoing PT, durable medical equipment, future care. What to enter: A treating physician's or life-care planner's estimate; a rough placeholder is fine for an early estimate, but a real settlement figure needs a documented medical opinion.
What it means: The present value of reduced future earning ability, for a worker who can't return to the same job or trade at the same capacity. What to enter: Usually requires a vocational expert and economist's report for a real claim; leave at 0 for a full-recovery injury with no permanent work restriction.
What it means: Damage to personal property in the same incident (tools, a personal vehicle if it was an equipment-involved accident, etc.). What to enter: Repair/replacement cost; leave at 0 if not applicable.

General Damages (Non-Economic)

What it means: Two conventional (not legally mandated) ways insurers and attorneys estimate pain-and-suffering value. The multiplier method scales your special damages by a severity factor; the per-diem method assigns a daily dollar value from injury date through maximum medical improvement. What to enter: Either is a starting negotiating estimate, not a formula a court is required to use; pick whichever your state's practitioners more commonly reference, or run both and compare.
What it means: A severity-scaled factor applied to special damages: lower (1.5–2) for a soft-tissue, fully-recovered injury; higher (4–5+) for permanent impairment, disfigurement, or a catastrophic injury. What to enter: There's no fixed rule; this is a negotiating convention, not a statute. Higher multipliers need more documentation (permanency ratings, expert opinion) to be credible in a real negotiation.

Comparative / Contributory Negligence

Why it matters: Several rules turn on when the claim arose rather than when suit is filed. Maryland’s damages cap steps up every 1 October; Louisiana moved from pure comparative fault to a 51% bar on 1 January 2026, applied prospectively. What to enter: The accident date, or the date the cause of action otherwise accrued.
What it means: A minority of states limit non-economic (general) damages in ordinary personal-injury actions. Economic losses are not capped by these statutes. What to enter: Leave at zero to use the stored figure for the selected state, or enter your own. Several state caps are adjusted for inflation each year, so confirm the figure for the year the cause of action arose.

Net to Client

A recovery is not what the client receives. The comparative-fault figure above is gross of the workers’ compensation lien and of fees and costs.

What it means: Where workers’ compensation has paid medical or indemnity benefits, the comp carrier normally holds a subrogation lien against any third-party recovery, which is reimbursed out of the settlement. What to enter: The lien figure from the comp carrier’s statement. Leave at zero if there is no comp claim.
What it means: Many states reduce the comp lien by the carrier’s proportionate share of the attorney fees and costs that produced the recovery, under common-fund or made-whole doctrines. Others allow full reimbursement. What to enter: Whichever the governing state applies; confirm with counsel, as this varies and is frequently negotiated.
What it means: The contingency fee applied to the recovery. What to enter: The rate in the fee agreement. A third is common pre-suit, often stepping up once suit is filed. Some states cap the percentage in particular case types.
What it means: Expenses advanced to build the case: experts, depositions, records, filing fees. What to enter: Costs incurred to date plus a realistic estimate to resolution.
Estimated Total Damages before fault, fee, costs and lien
$0
Recovery After Fault
$0
Net to Client after lien, fee & costs
$0

If the pain and suffering assumption moves

ScenarioAfter faultNet to client

Documented losses do not move between these rows. Only the pain and suffering assumption does.

Damages Chart

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Full Line-Item Breakdown

Line ItemAmount

The full line-item breakdown is available with a paid ClaimDuke unlock: visit claimduke.com to purchase a report.

Methodology:
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How a third-party injury settlement range is calculated

A construction site injury claim is built from components that are calculated in different ways and proved with different records: past and future medical costs, lost earnings to date, diminished future earning capacity discounted to present value and non-economic damages. The gross figure is then reduced, or eliminated, according to the comparative negligence rule of the state where the injury occurred.

This calculator assembles those components, applies the correct comparative fault treatment for the state you select and shows the gross and net figures separately so the effect of the fault allocation is visible rather than buried in a total.

This is a third-party claim estimate. It does not compute workers' compensation benefits, which are a no-fault statutory schedule set by each state's comp agency. It does not apply to a claim against the injured worker's own direct employer, who is generally shielded by exclusive remedy. It applies to a claim against a separate party on the site: a general contractor, owner, another subcontractor, or an equipment manufacturer.

Special damages are the documented economic losses: medical bills incurred, estimated future medical costs, wages lost to date, future lost earning capacity and property damage. General damages, the non-economic component, are conventionally estimated either by applying a severity multiplier to special damages or by a per-diem rate across days to maximum medical improvement. Both are negotiating conventions, not formulas any court is required to apply.

Comparative fault is where the number can collapse entirely. In pure comparative states recovery is reduced by the worker's share with no threshold. In the handful of pure contributory jurisdictions, any fault at all defeats the claim. In modified comparative states a threshold bars the claim once the worker's share crosses it, usually 50% or 51%. But the threshold is only half the rule. The statute also fixes what that share is measured against: in some states the parties actually sued, in others everyone at fault whether sued or not and in at least one, each defendant taken separately. Where an employer is immune under workers' compensation, those produce opposite results on identical facts. The rule for each state, with the statute it comes from, is on its state-rules page. A calculation that reduces proportionally everywhere will overstate the claim in roughly two-thirds of the country.

A minority of states also cap non-economic damages. The recovery is further reduced by attorney fees, case costs and the workers' compensation carrier's subrogation lien, which many states reduce pro rata for fees under common-fund principles. The figure the client actually receives can be far below the gross.

How to cite this calculation in a brief or demand letter

A third-party injury claim is supported by:

  • The governing state's comparative or contributory negligence rule, cited with its authority on the matching state-rules page
  • OSHA citations and the site investigation file, evidence of the third party's breach of duty
  • The workers' compensation carrier's lien statement, the lien comes off the recovery and is routinely underestimated

State the negligence rule and the lien treatment explicitly in any demand. Both are material to the number and both vary by jurisdiction.

Comparative negligence changes the answer more than anything else

The same injury, with the same damages and the same 30% fault allocation to the plaintiff, produces three different outcomes depending on the state. Under pure comparative negligence the award is reduced by 30%. Under a modified rule with a 50% or 51% bar, it is still reduced by 30%, but at 51% fault the recovery becomes zero. Under contributory negligence, still the rule in a small number of jurisdictions, any fault at all can bar recovery entirely.

Selecting the state applies the correct rule automatically. The 50-state + DC injury liability reference gives the rule, the threshold and the citation for each jurisdiction.

Future losses and present value

Future medical costs and lost earning capacity are incurred over years and must be discounted to present value to be stated as a single figure. The discount rate and the assumed growth rate for earnings are both contestable inputs, which is why they are entered explicitly here rather than embedded in a multiplier.

Workers’ compensation is a separate track

Where the injured worker is an employee of the site contractor, workers’ compensation is usually the exclusive remedy against that employer and a third-party claim runs against other parties on the site. Any compensation lien against a third-party recovery affects the net to the claimant. The construction injury checklist covers the records for each component.

Frequently asked questions

What is comparative negligence?

A rule that reduces a claimant's recovery in proportion to their own share of fault for the injury. Most states apply either pure comparative negligence, where recovery is reduced by the claimant's percentage however high, or modified comparative negligence, where recovery is barred once the claimant's share crosses a threshold, usually 50% or 51%. The threshold is only half the rule: the statute also fixes what that share is measured against and that varies by state.

Which states still follow contributory negligence?

A small number of U.S. jurisdictions retain the contributory negligence rule, under which any fault attributable to the claimant can bar recovery completely. The state rules reference on this site identifies the current rule and threshold for each jurisdiction with a citation.

How is future lost earning capacity calculated?

Typically by projecting the difference between pre-injury and post-injury earning capacity over the remaining work-life expectancy, applying an assumed growth rate and discounting the stream to present value. Both the growth rate and the discount rate are entered separately here because both are commonly disputed.

Does this replace an economist's report?

No. It produces a structured, cited preliminary figure with the assumptions stated. A contested claim of any size will normally still require a forensic economist or vocational expert and this output is intended to inform that work rather than substitute for it.