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Injured oil workers face an uphill battle. Serious injuries may keep you from working, and you may face substantial medical bills for care and treatment. If you were seriously injured, you and your family may need help getting the compensation you need.
The Queenan Law Firm’s oil field injury lawyers in Bryan, Texas represent the victims of oil injuries and their families in cases against oil companies. Our goal is to get you the financial compensation you need to support yourself and your family and pay for the damages you suffered because of the accident.
Call our oil field injury lawyers at The Queenan Law Firm today at (817) 476-1797 to begin your case with a free legal analysis.
Suing for Oil Field Injuries in Bryan, TX
In some states, employees injured on the job are forced to file for Workers’ Compensation benefits. These programs may help injured workers obtain compensation for medical coverage and some lost earnings. Still, it is often far lower than the compensation you might be entitled to in a lawsuit.
Workers’ Compensation Benefits for Oil Field Injuries
When filing for Workers’ Compensation, you typically receive only around 2/3 of your lost wages, and medical care is only covered if it is provided through a doctor your employer chooses. In any Workers’ Comp case, the damages you receive do not include coverage for your pain and suffering.
Rejecting Workers’ Compensation in Bryan, TX
To maximize your compensation, you must protect your right to sue and take your case to a court of law instead of filing through Workers’ Comp In Texas, most workers are permitted to reject Workers’ Comp coverage in their first 5 days at a new job. If you want to protect your right to sue, you must reject coverage.
Filing a Lawsuit for Oil Field Injuries
When you take your case to court, you open the potential to have all damages covered in full, which can include medical expenses, full damages for lost wages, and pain and suffering damages. Pain and suffering are not typically covered through Workers’ Comp, so you must sue to get these damages.
How to Get Compensation for Oil Worker Injuries in Bryan, TX
Obtaining financial compensation after an accident is difficult. Even if you are legally entitled to compensation, there are complex legal channels to navigate before you receive any money.
Who to Include in Your Lawsuit
When you file a lawsuit for oil field injuries, you typically file it against your employer. You may need to include other responsible parties if the oil field was owned by another company, but your attorney can help you understand which parties need to be joined in the lawsuit to file a strong claim.
To get compensation for your injuries, you must demonstrate to the court that the employer was responsible for the harm you suffered, and you must prove the damages you faced.
Proving Your Employer’s Negligence
When proving your employer is responsible, your lawyer will typically prove your employer was “negligent.” Instead of claiming that your employer intentionally harmed you, injury cases are typically based on a theory that the at-fault party failed to use the proper care or skill the situation required, and you suffered injuries because of this.
You can sue for intentional injuries, even if you have Workers’ Comp coverage, but it is harder to prove those cases.
What Evidence Do You Need to Sue for Oil Field Injuries in Bryan, TX?
Being eligible to file a claim is not enough. You must have evidence to back up your claims. The evidence you need will vary based on how the accident occurred and what evidence is actually available.
Evidence of Negligence When Suing for Oil Field Injuries
When proving your employer was negligent, you typically provide evidence of safety violations or other errors in judgment that your employer should have avoided.
This can include failing to properly train you or your coworkers, failing to maintain the oil rig or keep it safe, providing workers with unsafe or defective tools or safety gear, or failing to screen workers for drug and alcohol use.
Evidence of Your Monetary Damages
If your employer was responsible for one of these issues or any other issue that demonstrates their negligence, you may be able to recover damages in court – but you must prove what those damages are.
The court will generally accept documentary evidence, such as medical bills and bank statements that reflect the costs you faced because of the injuries.
Any other damages you can prove, such as the cost of child care or transportation to and from doctors’ appointments, may also be claimed. Your bank records and pay stubs also provide excellent evidence of the wages you lost because of the injury.
Evidence of Pain and Suffering
Proving pain and suffering is more complex since there is no price tag or receipt for the pain you endure.
Each person experiences an injury differently, and so your testimony about your injuries and the suffering you experienced is often the best evidence to prove your pain and suffering damages.
Other damages you faced can also be claimed, such as the damages from a loved one’s death if you are suing as a family member who lost a loved one to an oil injury.
What Damages Can You Claim in a Lawsuit for Oil Field Injuries?
A myriad of damages may be available, especially since oil field injuries tend to be severe. If your injuries are extreme, you may be entitled to future damages that you have not yet incurred but likely will in the future.
Lost Income
People injured in oil field accidents are often oil field workers, and these accidents often cost them their jobs.
You might be so badly hurt that you cannot return to work for a while. You might be out for weeks, months, or longer. Some people are so badly hurt that they can never return to full-time work.
As such, you may claim any income you lose because of your injuries. You can and should also claim lost future earnings if your injuries will prevent you from working for a long time.
Medical Bills
As mentioned, injuries sustained in oil field accidents can be severe. Exposure to hazardous materials, burns, and full-body injuries are not unusual. As a result, you should claim the staggering cost of medical treatment.
Again, we must consider future damages. If your injuries are extreme, you may need long-term care that lasts beyond the completion of your lawsuit. In that case, we can calculate the value of your future medical needs and add them to your claims.
Therapy and Mental Health Treatment
Again, oil field accidents are known to be extreme and traumatic. Even if you emerge from the accident relatively unharmed or doctors believe you will make a full recovery, we should still consider how the accident affected you mentally.
After such a severe accident, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be possible, if not likely. We should also consider the cost of mental health care and therapy as you try to move past what happened to you.
Physical Pain
Your injuries are likely extremely painful. Common injuries in oil field accidents include, but are not limited to, serious burns, broken bones, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and illnesses from exposure to toxic materials.
Mental and Emotional Distress
The mental trauma and distress of an oil field accident may not be completely resolved through therapy, although therapy does help many victims. You might live with some distress or trauma for a long time, maybe forever, and you should be compensated for everything you endure.
Distress may come from the intense, long-term pain of your injuries. You might also feel distress over the loss of a career or damage to your professional reputation within the oil industry. You might even feel intense humiliation from being involved in a workplace accident, especially if you are unfairly blamed for the accident by coworkers.
FAQs About Suing for Oil Field Injuries in Bryan, TX
Who Should You Sue After an Oil Field Accident?
After an oil field accident, you should sue your employer and anyone else you believe contributed to the accident.
In Texas, you may opt out of Workers’ Compensation, which would otherwise block you from suing your employer. Third parties you may include in a lawsuit include manufacturers of faulty equipment, negligent coworkers, and even people who were not permitted to be in the field with you, like trespassers.
Do You Have to File a Workers’ Compensation Claim After Suffering an Oil Field Injury?
Workers’ Compensation may be available after you are injured in a Texas oil field accident, but you are not required to file a claim just because you are eligible.
Texas, unlike many other states, allows workers to opt out of Workers’ Compensation. Doing so would allow you to sue your employer, possibly recovering greater compensation than you would through a Workers’ Compensation claim.
What Damages Are Available in Oil Field Injury Lawsuits?
Damages available in oil field accident lawsuits should include vast damages for economic and non-economic injuries and losses. You should claim compensation for medical costs, lost income, pain, mental distress, and more. If you opt out of Workers’ Comp, you may sue your employer for punitive damages.
To prove punitive damages, we must prove by “clear and convincing evidence” that your employer caused the accident by fraud, malice or gross negligence.
What Evidence is Important in Lawsuits for Oil Field Injuries?
To prove that your employer was negligent and is responsible for the accident, we need evidence establishing how the accident happened. Business records from your employer, security camera footage, safety and inspection reports, and testimony from workers may be invaluable.
We also need evidence of your damages. Medical bills, receipts to show costs, and your testimony may help us establish economic and non-economic damages.
When Should You Hire a Lawyer After an Oil Field Accident?
Hire an attorney as soon as possible. In Texas, plaintiffs seeking to file personal injury claims must do so within 2 years of the accident. If your loved one died in an oil field accident, you have 2 years from the date of their passing to file a lawsuit.
Preparing a lawsuit takes time. The longer you wait to hire a lawyer, the less time they have to build your case before filing it.
Bryan, Texas Oil Field Accident Lawyer Offering Free Consultations
Call our oil field injury lawyers at The Queenan Law Firm today at (817) 476-1797 to begin your case with a free legal analysis.