National Oilfield Injury Lawyers with the #1 Largest Wins in US History
Oilfield work is dangerous.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, 1,038 oil and gas workers were tragically killed on the job from 2011 through 2019, resulting in a fatality rate six times higher than that of other industries. Fires, explosions, falls from rigs, truck and other motor vehicle accidents, falling objects, exposure to toxic liquids and gases, and equipment malfunctions are just some of the hazards oilfield workers face every day they’re on the job.
As home to the nation’s most productive energy-producing regions, including the Permian Basin, Eagle Ford Shale, Barnett Shale, and Haynesville Shale, Texas consistently leads the country in oilfield fatalities. In fact, in 2019 alone, the Lone Star State accounted for more than half of the oilfield deaths reported in the United States that year.
If your spouse or another family member was tragically killed in an oilfield accident or explosion, the shock and grief of your loss are likely being compounded by financial worries, especially if your loved one provided your primary source of income. And while no one wants to think about money at a time like this, it’s important that you take the appropriate steps to protect your rights and your family’s future.
Don’t Count on the Oilfield Company or its Insurer to Secure Your Family’s Future
Having successfully represented thousands of injured oilfield workers in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and across the United States and recovered the #1 largest oilfield accident settlement in history, it’s been our experience that the vast majority of injuries and fatalities are entirely preventable and usually a direct result of negligence on the part of an oilfield employer.
While it’s true that the oil and gas industry is dangerous, energy companies are notorious for taking shortcuts to speed up production. Oilfield employees and contractors also typically work long, tiring hours on the job, often 7 to 14 days in a row before getting a day off. The fatigue associated with those long hours, combined with the pressure to perform more work in less time, only increases the likelihood that workers will be seriously hurt or even die as a result of a catastrophic accident or explosion.
When a fatal accident occurs, oilfield companies act quickly—but not to protect your family. Internal investigations begin almost immediately. Reports are drafted, supervisors are interviewed, and decisions are made about how the incident will be characterized. These investigations are designed to protect the company from multi-million-dollar verdicts and settlements, not to uncover the full truth about what went wrong.
Unfortunately, an oil company will never willingly take responsibility for an oilfield death. No matter how much they appear to care or how convincingly they promise to “make things right,” the company and its insurance adjuster are only interested in avoiding accountability and limiting your financial recovery to whatever workers’ compensation death benefits you receive. That often includes blaming your loved one for the accident, downplaying safety violations, or claiming the incident was unavoidable.
At the same time, critical evidence can disappear. Equipment may be repaired or removed from service, worksites altered, and electronic data overwritten. Witnesses may be discouraged from speaking openly or pressured to align their statements with the company’s version of events. Once that evidence is lost, it becomes far more difficult to prove what actually caused the fatal accident.
Insurance adjusters are trained to sound sympathetic while protecting the company’s bottom line. Statements taken from grieving family members are not meant to help; they are often used later to dispute claims, suggest fault, or justify reduced payouts. Even casual conversations can be twisted to support a defense the company has already decided to pursue.
Bottom line? Families cannot rely on the oilfield operator or its insurer to secure their future. Their financial interests are directly opposed to yours. The less they pay, the better the outcome for them—and trusting their promises often results in families receiving only a fraction of what Texas law may allow.
Workers’ Compensation—If It’s Available—Doesn’t Cover Your Most Significant Losses and Damages
After a fatal oilfield accident or explosion, a decedent’s survivors may assume they’ll receive workers’ compensation death benefits. In Texas, these benefits are generally paid to the surviving spouse, minor children, and children under 25 who are enrolled in an accredited college or university. Some states, including Texas, also allow non-dependent parents to collect workers’ compensation benefits if the deceased has no surviving dependents.
Under Texas workers’ comp law, surviving dependents are entitled to only 75% of their loved one’s average weekly wages. However, these benefits are subject to a statutory weekly maximum of $895, even if that amount is well below 75% of the worker’s actual earnings.
As a result, many families experience an immediate and severe drop in household income, even though their financial obligations remain the same. Workers’ compensation death benefits also fall short in other ways. For example:
- There is no adjustment for inflation over time.
- There is no consideration of promotions, raises, or career advancement that the deceased worker would have achieved during their career.
- Lifetime earning potential is not factored into benefits at all.
Just as importantly, workers’ compensation does not pay families for many of the most significant losses caused by an oilfield death that might otherwise be available through wrongful death and survival claims, such as:
- Loss of companionship and consortium
- Loss of parental guidance and support
- Mental anguish and emotional distress
- Loss of household services and contributions
In some cases, workers’ compensation benefits may not be available at all. Texas is the only state in the nation that allows employers to opt out of the workers’ compensation system.
Filing an Oilfield Wrongful Death Lawsuit Protects Your Family’s Future and Holds the Companies Accountable
Trusting the oilfield operator and its insurance company to take care of you after a fatal accident or explosion is no way to protect your family’s future. From the moment a death occurs, the company’s focus is not on what your family needs to survive long term. It is on limiting exposure, shaping the narrative, and closing the matter for as little as possible.
Unlike workers’ compensation, wrongful death claims allow families to seek recovery for both economic and non-economic damages that reflect the full impact of the loss. These damages may include:
- The full value of lost income and future earning capacity, without statutory caps
- Loss of household services, care, and support that the deceased would have provided
- Loss of society, companionship, and consortium
- Loss of inheritance resulting from the premature death
- Mental anguish and emotional suffering experienced by surviving family members
Wrongful death lawsuits also serve a function workers’ compensation never can: accountability. In litigation, companies can be forced to produce documents, submit to sworn testimony, and publicly explain their safety decisions. Unsafe practices that would otherwise remain hidden are exposed, and responsibility can no longer be quietly shifted or denied behind closed doors.
That accountability, however, is only available for a limited time. Texas law imposes strict deadlines on wrongful death claims, and companies are well aware that delay works in their favor. The longer a family waits, the more opportunity the company has to benefit from lost evidence, unavailable witnesses, and fading memories.
In most Texas oilfield fatality cases, families have two years from the date of death to file a wrongful death lawsuit. Once that window closes, courts will generally bar the claim entirely—no matter how clear the negligence may be or how severe the misconduct was.
In cases involving especially dangerous conduct, Texas law also allows families to seek Exemplary Damages. More commonly referred to as punitive damages, they are reserved for situations involving gross negligence or willful disregard for safety and are intended to punish conduct that places profits above human life. In the oilfield context, exemplary damages can expose systemic failures—ignored warnings, disabled safety systems, or production pressures that made a fatal accident foreseeable.
For many families, a wrongful death lawsuit is not simply about compensation. It is the only legal mechanism that forces oilfield companies to answer for their choices, confront the consequences of unsafe operations, and take responsibility for a death that never should have happened.
Survival Claims After a Fatal Oilfield Accident
In many cases, an oilfield worker survives the initial accident or explosion and endures significant pain, medical treatment, and suffering before passing away. Texas law recognizes this reality through survival claims, which are brought on behalf of the deceased’s estate and focus on the injuries and losses the worker personally suffered between the time of injury and death.
In oilfield explosion, burn, and crushing-injury cases, that period is often marked by extreme physical pain, intensive medical intervention, and prolonged hospitalization. Workers may be conscious for hours or days while receiving treatment, undergoing procedures, or fighting to survive catastrophic injuries caused by unsafe conditions or defective equipment.
Through a survival claim, the estate may seek compensation for:
- Medical expenses incurred prior to death
- Lost wages from the date of injury until death
- Physical pain and suffering endured by the worker
- Mental anguish experienced before passing
Unfortunately, survival claim damages are frequently disputed by oil companies and insurers, who attempt to minimize the duration or severity of the worker’s suffering to reduce exposure. Without aggressive investigation and medical evidence, this portion of the case is often undervalued or ignored entirely.
When pursued together, wrongful death and survival claims ensure that all legally recognized harm is addressed—both the losses suffered by surviving family members and the suffering endured by the worker themselves.
Who May Be Held Responsible for a Fatal Oilfield Accident or Explosion
Oilfield deaths are rarely caused by a single mistake or a single company. Modern drilling and production operations involve multiple entities working simultaneously at the same site, each responsible for different aspects of safety, equipment, supervision, and operations. When a fatal accident occurs, responsibility often extends far beyond the worker’s direct employer.
Depending on how the accident happened, one or more of the following parties may be held legally responsible for an oilfield death:
- Oilfield operators and leaseholders are responsible for overall site safety, operational decisions, and production pressures
- Drilling companies and contractors are tasked with day-to-day operations, supervision, and enforcement of safety procedures.
- Subcontractors and service companies performing specialized work such as pressure control, well servicing, electrical work, or maintenance.
- Equipment and machinery manufacturers are required to report when a defect or design failure contributes to an explosion, fire, or mechanical failure.
- Maintenance or inspection companies that failed to identify or correct dangerous conditions.
- Transportation companies involved in fatal truck crashes, equipment transport, or hauling operations connected to the oilfield.
In our experience, multiple failures occurring simultaneously are common. Equipment may malfunction while safety procedures are ignored. Fatigue may combine with inadequate supervision. Production deadlines may override known hazards. Identifying every contributing factor—and every responsible party—requires a detailed, independent investigation.
Oil companies and contractors often attempt to obscure responsibility by pointing fingers at one another or by hiding behind complex contractual arrangements. Layers of contractors and staffing companies are frequently used to distance decision-makers from on-the-ground safety failures. Without aggressive investigation and litigation, those responsible may never be held to account.
Holding all responsible parties accountable is critical for two reasons. First, it allows families to pursue the full measure of compensation available under the law, rather than being limited by the assets or insurance of a single defendant. Second, it forces unsafe companies to confront the consequences of their actions and correct dangerous practices that put other workers at risk.
Hire an Experienced Oilfield Accident Lawyer
When your loved one is seriously injured or tragically killed in the oilfield, you want an Oilfield Accident Attorney with a history of taking on the largest oil and gas companies in the world and recovering the largest Oilfield Injury Settlements in History.
Oilfield wrongful death cases are not ordinary workplace injury claims. They are among the most aggressively defended cases in the country, often involving multiple corporate defendants, overlapping insurance policies, and companies that are prepared to spend years avoiding responsibility. Without an attorney who has successfully gone toe-to-toe with major oil and gas companies before, families are placed at an immediate disadvantage.
These cases demand more than basic litigation experience. They require attorneys who understand how oilfield operations actually work, who know the safety rules and regulations governing drilling and production, and who have the resources to conduct independent investigations long before a case ever reaches a courtroom.
Our Undefeated Houston Oilfield Accident Lawyers have consistently won record-breaking verdicts and settlements for oilfield workers and families across Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and throughout the United States, including the #1 Largest Oilfield Accident Settlement in History and #1 Largest Burn Injury Settlement in History.
These results matter because oil companies and their insurers pay close attention to who is on the other side of the case. They know which firms have the experience, resources, and resolve to take a case to trial—and which firms rely on early settlements. That distinction affects how a case is valued, how aggressively it is defended, and whether a company is willing to accept responsibility or force a family to fight.
Why is our law firm so successful?
We limit our caseload to give each client the full attention they deserve, we never accept anything less than the maximum compensation available, and we possess a deep knowledge of the safety rules and regulations governing the oil and gas industry. Most importantly, we are always prepared for trial in the event the company refuses to fully compensate our clients for all of their damages and losses.
When everything is on the line, families need more than promises. They need attorneys with a proven record of results, a reputation oil companies respect, and the willingness to do the work necessary to hold powerful defendants accountable.
Contact our Undefeated Houston Oilfield Accident Lawyers at 1-888-603-3636 or Click Here for a Free Consultation.
If you or a loved one were seriously injured or tragically killed in an oilfield accident or explosion, our Undefeated Houston Oilfield Accident Lawyers will devote whatever resources are necessary to holding the oil company accountable and ensuring that you and your family are protected for life.
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