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Oil and natural gas drilling is one of the biggest industries in Texas. Thousands of individuals work in oil, from roughnecks to managers and support staff. Many of these workers are at risk for serious injuries on a daily basis, but none are more at risk than the workers on drilling rigs.
If you or a loved one was injured while working on a natural gas or oil drilling rig in Plano, talk to an attorney today. The Plano, TX oil and natural gas drilling injury lawyers at The Queenan Law Firm represent injured victims and their families in lawsuits to recover compensation for these kinds of injuries. For a free consultation on your case, contact our law offices today at (817) 476-1797.
Can You Sue for Oil and Gas Drilling Injuries in Texas?
Texas law often prohibits workers from suing their boss for an on-the-job accident. Instead, workers commonly file through workers’ compensation to receive money for medical bills and lost wages. However, offshore drilling cases are often handled under maritime law instead of Texas law. This allows them to take advantage of federal laws like the Jones Act, which authorizes injured victims to sue the shipowner, rig owner, or their employer for the negligence that caused their injuries.
To prove an employer’s negligence, you must prove that they did something wrong that contributed to your injury. Specifically, you must show the following 4 elements:
- Your employer owed you a duty,
- Your employer breached that duty,
- The breach caused your injuries, and
- You suffered damages the court can compensate.
Some injury cases are caused by complete accidents. However, more often than not, another worker’s lack of training, faulty safety gear, malfunctioning equipment, or failure to maintain safe ships and rigs cause injuries, rather than pure accidents. Holding your employer accountable for these kinds of errors often means taking them to court and proving their errors and failures.
Proving your case requires showing the duty that your employer breached and how it lead to your injuries. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and other regulatory authorities create standards that employers must follow for safety equipment, lighting, handrails, machinery, and other safety precautions. If your boss violated one of these requirements, this could help you prove the breach of duty.
Proving that the employer’s negligence caused your injury can be complex in some cases. However, clear errors in judgment or violations of common safety protocols often make it easier to demonstrate your employer’s fault. Talk to an attorney about complicated details in your case.
Compensation for Injured Oil Workers in TX
If you are too injured to go back to work, medical costs and household expenses may be racking up while your paychecks are on hold. This can be a frustrating situation which can seem difficult to escape from. If your employer’s negligent actions or omissions caused your injuries, you should be able to claim direct compensation for any of those injuries. This often includes compensation for lost wages, pain and suffering, and medical costs.
Lost wage damages can cover any decrease in pay the injury caused. That means that if you are out of work for weeks or months while you recover from the injury, you should be able to claim lost paychecks for those periods. If you are too injured to return to work or must take a lower-paying job because of the permanent restrictions your injury put on your life, you may also claim compensation for those lost future wages.
The damages for pain and suffering are not easily proven by referencing pay stubs or medical bills, but you can receive substantial compensation for these damages. Keeping a journal of your pain and recovery and testifying in court about your level of pain, your emotional suffering, and your loss of enjoyment in activities can help show the court how much your pain and suffering is worth.
Medical expenses are some of the most straightforward damages in a lawsuit. You can submit your medical bills and bank statements as evidence to show how much money you paid for your medical services. You should be entitled to recover the full amount of these damages from the at-fault parties, including the cost of surgeries, emergency medical transportation (e.g., medivac, ambulances), rehabilitation, physical therapy, follow-ups, X-Rays, and more.
Our Plano Oil and Gas Worker Injury Lawyers Offer Free Consultations
If you or a member of your family was hurt in a workplace accident while working on a natural gas or oil drilling rig on an offshore drilling platform, contact the Plano, TX oil and natural gas drilling rig injury attorneys at The Queenan Law Firm today. Our attorneys offer free consultations to help you understand the process of filing your case and how much your case might be worth. For a free consultation on your injury claim, call our lawyers today at (817) 476-1797.