CALL (800) 863-5312 to speak with corpus christi oil field injury lawyers
Texas produces the more than 43% of all crude oil in the United States, and with lots of oil comes lots of jobs. Texas’s outstanding oil production continues to grow in Corpus Christi. More oil fields, however, means a higher likelihood of injuries. That’s why it’s important to know Corpus Christi oil field injury lawyers you can trust in the event of an accident.
If you were hurt in an oil field or fracking accident, act now. Call (800) 863-5312 to speak with a Zinda Law Group attorney. Learn your next steps in a free case evaluation with a Corpus Christi injury attorney.
How can an injury lawyer near me help?
You might debate whether a lawyer can help you with your legal claim. You know the accident was not your fault, but you are not sure how much your injury will be worth. Here’s how an oil field accident lawyer can help you with your case:
John (Jack) Zinda
Founder / CEO
Over 100 years of combined experience representing injured victims across the country.
Available 24 / 7|Free ConsultationConsulting with a Corpus Christi Injury Attorney
First, a personal injury lawyer will meet with you for a free consultation. There, the attorney will listen to you describe the accident and ask you questions regarding who was involved and what precautions your workplace took to prevent the accident. The lawyer can try to answer questions you have regarding your case and determine your next steps.
Neil Solomon
Partner
Real results matter. We do not get paid unless we win your case.
Available 24 / 7|Free ConsultationFiling Your Oil Field Injury Claim
If you choose to move forward with your claim, you can hire a Corpus Christi workplace injury lawyer to help you file a claim against your employer. Under Texas law, you must file your claim within two years of the accident to be eligible for compensation. The attorney will know the proper steps to take when filing a claim, including the proper procedures and substantive elements.
Jason Aldridge
Attorney
Standing by 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ready to answer in your time of need.
Available 24 / 7|Free ConsultationGathering Information about the Accident
Next, an attorney can help you gather all the evidence necessary to build your case against your employer. This evidence relates to your injuries and whether your workplace met the industry standards of safety. Also, the attorney may interview people who saw the accident to get other perspectives on the accident and learn whether they would make good witnesses at trial.
Cole Gumm
Attorney
We are here to ensure you won’t have to face this difficult time alone.
Available 24 / 7|Free ConsultationNegotiating with the Defendant
An personal injury attorney can usually anticipate the types of defenses the defendant will raise. Therefore, the lawyer can rebut those defenses to keep your claim as strong as possible. Negotiation also requires the lawyer to be in constant contact with the insurance companies and the defendant’s lawyers involved in the claim. Throughout this communication, the lawyer will pursue an appropriate settlement amount.
Pursuing Compensation
Lawyers on either side of a claim attempt to agree on the proper compensation amount by evaluating the evidence both sides have presented and deciding whether the plaintiff would be successful at trial. At trial, a jury decides the compensation amount, which can be somewhat unpredictable. This unpredictability means that both sides typically like to avoid trial and agree to settle on their own.
The compensation amount in personal injury claims depend on the plaintiff’s economic damages and noneconomic damages. Economic damages include the plaintiff’s medical bills, missed wages from time the plaintiff had to take off work, and other financial costs the plaintiff paid due to the accident. Noneconomic damages are not strictly financial, such as the plaintiff’s pain and suffering. Talk to a Corpus Christi lawyer to see which damages are present in your case.
What to do after an oil field accident in corpus christi
If you have been in or witnessed an oil field accident, it’s important to know what to do next to preserve your claim. You may have already taken some steps toward your recovery. Here’s what you should do after an oil field accident in order to aid in your recovery:
1. Visit a Doctor if Injured
See your doctor soon after the accident, even if you think you have your injuries under control. Some injuries take days to appear. Plus, ifyou do not visit your doctor, you may miss the opportunity for compensation and find it harder to prove the extent of your injuries. Make a personal record of all of your appointments, what happened at each appointment, the diagnoses and treatments you received, and the costs.
2. Report the Accident
Report the accident to your employer. Note the department you notified, the name of the person you spoke with, and the date you reported the accident. If your employer responded, track the safety measures your employer took because of your report and what your employer said to you.
3. Gather Evidence
Complete this step as soon as possible if you do not need to receive emergency medical treatment immediately after the accident takes place. If you were evacuated from the accident scene, go back when you can and take pictures of the scene of the accident. Document the defective equipment or personal protective equipment (PPE) that caused your injury.
4. Contact a Corpus Christi Workplace Injury Lawyer
Talk to a lawyer who deals with oil field injury cases to see what compensation might be available in your case. We have already discussed the various ways an attorney can help you at different stages of litigation. If you want to know more about what to do in your specific case, speak with an attorney today.
Why oil field accidents occur in corpus christi
Every workplace poses injury risks —whether it’s the back pain of sitting at a desk too long or injuries from a collision with cars on the road. Outdoor workers, like construction workers or oil and fracking workers, face additional risks of injury. Oil industry workers face even more risk than the average outdoor worker by working with pressurized gas. Plus,more oil industry workers get fatally injured in Texas than in any other state.
Read through these common causes of oil and fracking accidents to see if your accident aligns with any of them. These are just a few kinds of cases that Corpus Christi personal injury lawyers take. If your case does not perfectly align with one of these common accident types, talk to an attorney anyway to see if you can recover for your injuries.
Vehicle Collisions
Vehicles are constantly moving on and off of oil fields, and it is not unusual for those vehicles to strike each other. Oil fields are often in remote locations and require workers to be trucked in. Most fatal oil field accidents occur on highways during the commute to the worksite. As with any vehicle accident, passengers can experience countless types of injuries from scrapes and sprains to broken bones or even back injuries.
Workers Struck by Heavy Equipment
In addition to vehicles hitting each other on the commute to the site, vehicles and other equipment can also strike workers at the worksite. Workers may also be struck by cranes, derricks, and hoists. High pressure lines and equipment might also burst and injure workers.
Falling
While slip and falls are common injuries, they are even more dangerous at oil fields because of the elevated surfaces that workers often fall from. For example, workers in Corpus Christi could fall from elevated oil rigs, leading to broken bones, brain injuries, spine injuries, or even death. It is therefore important for employers to understand and implement the correct training and PPE for oil field workers.
Weather-Related Injuries
As we mentioned, much of the work in the oil industry requires workers to be outside. That means that in addition to all of the other dangers mentioned here, oil workers also must deal with the weather. The temperature on an average July day in Corpus Christi averages a high of 93 degrees Fahrenheit. Employers should know the signs of and prepare to prevent heat-related injuries like heat stroke.
Notably, Extreme heat is not the only weather-related risk that oil field workers face. Employees should never work in lightning storms. They work with pressurized, flammable gas, so disasters with lightning should be foreseeable to employers.
Gas Poisoning
Employees are also at risk of gas poisoning. OSHA has identified one especially harmful gas to workers: hydrogen sulfide. Hydrogen sulfide is a colorless gas that smells like rotten eggs;, and it can cause apnea, coma, convulsions, dizziness, headache, irritability, insomnia, upset stomach, and weakness. The exposed person could die of gas poisoning if he or she does not stop breathing in hydrogen sulfide. If employers suspect that hydrogen sulfide might be present in a workplace, they must provide workers with the proper PPE to ventilate the gas and protect workers.
Fires and Explosions
When a spark meets pressurized gas, it will explode. If the gas is not correctly insulated, the risk of explosion increases. Employers must protect employees by insulating the pressurized gas and reducing the chances that a spark could ignite a fire.
If employers fail to implement industry standards to protect employees from fires and explosions, oil field workers could receive serious injuries. Fires can cause burns and even seriously disfigure employees. Disfigurement can scar victims not just physically but psychologically.
Electrocution
One last possible cause of an oil field accident is electrocution. Oil fields can quickly become homes for uncontrolled electrical energy and conductive chemicals. Employers should establish a lockout/tagout system to reduce the risk of electrocution. Injuries from electrocution include burns, unconsciousness, and sometimes death.
Who should i sue for an oil field accident?
As you can probably see in the types of accidents listed above, a negligent employer can cause a lot of harm. Your employer has a duty to keep employees safe on the job, and when it fails to do so, the resulting victim employees could have a negligence claim against it. It is your employer’s responsibility to train employees effectively and provide the correct PPE. If a piece of equipment harmed you, your employer might not have taken the correct measures to block off parts of the equipment when not in use or warn employees of the danger.
However, the employer might have worker’s compensation in place, which prevents employees from filing negligence claims against it. A lawyer can still help you with a worker’s compensation case, especially if your employer is working against your attempts to recover. Talk with a lawyer to see whether you should sue your employer for negligence or pursue recovery through worker’s compensation.
A negligent employer is not the only cause of injury in the oil field and fracking industry. Equipment can also defect because of manufacturing issues that are entirely independent of the employer. Those cases will require a different legal theory as well as a different defendant from negligence cases. When a manufacturer has a faulty design for a product, fails to manufacture the product correctly according to the design, or fails to adequately label the product, it is strictly liable for the victim’s injuries.
The zinda law group corpus christi oil field injury lawyers are here to help
It can be difficult to get started on your route to recovery after an oil field injury, but once you have a lawyer you trust, you can confidently move forward with your claim. As an oil field accident victim, your primary focus should be on taking care of your injuries. Let someone else handle the legal side of things so that you can prioritize your recovery.
If you were hurt by a negligent employer or defective equipment in a Corpus Christi oil field, call the compassionate attorneys at Zinda Law Group at (800) 863-5312. We feel so strongly about helping our clients that we have a No Win, No Fee Guarantee to take the financial pressure off of you. That means that we do not charge you anything unless we win your case for you. Call us now for your free consultation.
Meetings with attorneys are available by appointment only.
Jason Aldridge
Attorney
We have successfully represented clients in a wide variety of cases across the country.
Available 24 / 7|Free Consultation
