Billings Construction Accident Lawyers

Billings Construction Accident lawyer icon, Boland Aarab PLLP

Billings, MontanaBillings Construction Accident

Billings Construction Accident Lawyers: Falls, Trench Collapses, Crane Accidents and Work-Zone Injuries in Yellowstone County

Boland Aarab PLLP.

If you were hurt on a Billings construction site, workers’ compensation is usually your only remedy against your own employer, but a general contractor, another subcontractor, the owner or an equipment maker may also be responsible. A claim against them can recover the full damages that workers’ compensation does not pay. Most such claims must be filed within 3 years.

Hurt on a Billings job site, or lost someone in a construction accident? Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.

What construction work is happening around Billings?

Billings has been building in every direction: new housing on the West End and in the Heights, commercial projects along the arterials, hospital and school expansions, and a long list of road and utility work. Road projects put crews next to traffic for months at a time. Examples from public agencies include:

  • The Lockwood Interchange. The Montana Department of Transportation is designing a reconstruction of the I-90 Lockwood Interchange, including a diverging diamond interchange and widening I-90 to three lanes each way between the Lockwood and Johnson Lane interchanges. MDT lists design completion in 2026 and tentative construction in 2029, depending on funding (MDT).
  • Heights-to-West End connections. The city’s Inner Belt Loop, a roughly five-mile road linking Highway 3 and Zimmerman Trail to Alkali Creek Road in the Heights, was built with the help of a federal BUILD grant (City of Billings BUILD memo).
  • Utility trenching. Water, sewer, storm-drain and fiber lines go in under nearly every new subdivision and street project.

Each of these jobs has a general contractor, several subcontractors and an owner, which is exactly where third-party claims come from.

Billings weather adds its own hazards: summer heat on steel and roofing, high winds on the Rims and the open benches, early freezes on concrete and scaffolding, and spring thaw that can weaken trench walls.

What happens after a construction accident in Billings?

Emergency care. Critical injuries in the region go to Billings Clinic or St. Vincent Regional Hospital, the two Level 1 / Comprehensive Trauma Centers on the state’s list (DPHHS). Rural sites may be served by air ambulance.

Report and file. Tell your employer in writing and file your workers’ compensation claim on time. That claim runs through the insurer and, if disputed, the Workers’ Compensation Court. We do not handle workers’ compensation claims, but we coordinate the third-party case with it, including the insurer’s lien.

OSHA. Montana has no OSHA-approved state plan for private employers, so federal OSHA investigates serious construction injuries here (OSHA State Plans). The Billings Area Office is downtown on 4th Avenue North (OSHA). Its inspection file, including photographs, interview notes and any citations, can later be requested and used in a civil case.

Evidence. Photograph the scene if you or a coworker can do so safely. Write down the names of every company on site: the general contractor, the crane or excavation subcontractor, and the rental company that supplied the lift. Ask that failed equipment be kept.

Court. A third-party lawsuit is filed in the Thirteenth Judicial District Court at the Yellowstone County Courthouse, 217 North 27th Street (§ 3-5-101, MCA). National contractors and equipment makers often remove cases to the Billings Division of federal court at the James F. Battin Federal Courthouse (District of Montana).

Who can be responsible besides my employer?

  • The general contractor, if it assumed safety duties by contract, the work was inherently dangerous, or it retained control and used it carelessly.
  • The property owner or developer in the same circumstances.
  • Other subcontractors whose crews created the hazard.
  • Equipment manufacturers and rental companies for defective or poorly maintained scaffolds, lifts, harnesses and tools (§ 27-1-719, MCA).
  • Drivers who crash into highway work zones, and their employers.
  • Engineers and utility companies whose plans or lines created the danger.

Montana law that applies

More detail is on our Montana construction accident page.

Why hire a Great Falls firm for a Billings case?

We are based in Great Falls and handle construction injury cases statewide. These cases are built from contracts, safety plans, daily logs, OSHA files and engineering analysis, then tried to a jury if the contractors will not pay fair value. Our attorneys travel to Billings for site inspections, depositions, hearings and trial, and our firm has tried jury trials in Yellowstone County. We do not have a Billings office.

The Boland Aarab Way

  • We try cases. More than a dozen jury trials, in Cascade, Phillips, Meagher and Yellowstone Counties, and more than 4,000 hours in the courtroom.
  • We know federal court. More than 40 cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana over nine years; Samir Aarab has argued twice before the Ninth Circuit.
  • We protect verdicts. The Montana Supreme Court reinstated a $168,500 jury verdict for our client (Voegel v. Salsbery, 2023 MT 137).
  • You work with the lawyers, Caitlin Boland Aarab and Samir Aarab, from the first call.

Related Billings pages: workplace injury · spinal cord injury · all Billings personal injury cases

Frequently Asked Questions

I work for a subcontractor on a Billings project. Can I sue the general contractor? Often. A general contractor can be liable when it assumed safety duties by contract, the work was inherently dangerous, or it retained control and exercised it negligently (Fabich, 2007 MT 258).

A driver hit me in an I-90 work zone. Who pays? The driver and the driver’s insurer, and possibly the driver’s employer. That claim is separate from workers’ compensation.

Will OSHA’s Billings office investigate my accident? Serious injuries on private sites are under federal OSHA, and its file can later be used as evidence. An OSHA citation does not decide a lawsuit, and the lack of one does not end it.

The trench caved in on a city utility job. Is that different? Trenching is inherently dangerous under Montana law, which can make the owner or general contractor responsible. If a government entity is involved, a written claim must be presented first (§ 2-9-301, MCA).

Do I lose my comp benefits if I sue a contractor? No. You keep them, and the insurer has a lien on the third-party recovery that Montana law limits (§ 39-71-414, MCA).

Talk to a Billings Construction Accident Lawyer

Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.

Our attorneys: Caitlin Boland Aarab · Samir F. Aarab

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.