➢ Start Your Claim Today
Workers who suffered amputation, electrocution, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injuries, severe burns, or crush injuries in a Texas factory, plant, oilfield, refinery or other workplace accident may qualify to file a lawsuit and receive compensation.
Families who lost a loved one in a fatal workplace accident may also qualify to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the companies who were responsible.
Find out whether you qualify to file a lawsuit or start the process of filing your claim today by contacting the lawyers at Hissey Mulderig & Friend toll-free at 1-866-806-8117, or by filling out our free claims submission form located on the right side of this page.
➢ Catastrophic Injuries That May Qualify for a Lawsuit
The injuries below are the most serious outcomes of construction and industrial accidents. Workers who suffered any of them, and families of workers who were killed, may be eligible to file a lawsuit and receive compensation.
Amputations and crush injuries. Machine entanglement, pinch points, conveyor systems, presses, and caught-between accidents can sever a hand, arm, leg, or foot, or crush a limb badly enough that surgical amputation follows. Degloving injuries and severe crush trauma fall in the same category.
Electrocutions and electrical injuries. Contact with live power lines, unguarded equipment, faulty wiring, and arc flash events can cause deep internal burns, cardiac damage, and neurological injury. Arc flash injuries in particular are frequently catastrophic even when the worker survives.
Traumatic brain injuries. Falls from height, struck-by object accidents, and explosions cause traumatic brain injury, or TBI, meaning damage to the brain from an external force. Severe TBI can permanently affect memory, speech, judgment, and the ability to work.
Spinal cord injuries and paralysis. Damage to the spinal cord can cause paraplegia, meaning paralysis of the lower body, or quadriplegia, meaning paralysis affecting all four limbs. These injuries typically require attendant care and home modification for life.
Severe and chemical burns. Flash fires, explosions, steam releases, and contact with corrosive chemicals cause third-degree and chemical burns requiring skin grafts, reconstructive surgery, and long rehabilitation.
Fatal workplace accidents. When a worker is killed, surviving spouses, children, and parents may qualify to file a wrongful death lawsuit and recover damages for their loss.
➢ Texas Jobs Where Catastrophic Injuries Happen Most Often
Some workplaces carry far more risk than others. The industries below account for a large share of the catastrophic injuries and workplace deaths reported in Texas each year.
Oilfield, Drilling, and Well Site Accidents
Texas produces more oil and gas than any other state, and this work is among the most dangerous in the country.
Roughnecks, floorhands, derrickhands, and other oilfield workers in the Permian Basin, the Eagle Ford Shale, and the Barnett Shale face blowouts, tank battery explosions, falling drill pipe, high-pressure line failures, and hydrogen sulfide exposure.
Hydrogen sulfide, also called H2S or sour gas, can cause unconsciousness and death within seconds at high concentrations.
Refinery and Petrochemical Plant Accidents
The refining and petrochemical corridor along the Texas Gulf Coast, including Houston, Baytown, Texas City, Pasadena, Port Arthur, Beaumont, and Corpus Christi, employs tens of thousands of operators, pipefitters, boilermakers, and contract workers.
Flash fires, vapor cloud explosions, chemical releases, and unit turnaround accidents at these facilities produce some of the most severe burn and blast injuries seen anywhere in American industry.
Workers at these sites also face long-term risk from benzene exposure and other toxic chemicals.
Factory, Plant, and Manufacturing Accidents
Manufacturing and processing facilities across Texas expose workers to unguarded machinery, conveyor systems, industrial presses, forklifts, ammonia and other chemical releases, boiler failures, and confined space hazards.
Steel mills, foundries, grain elevators, food processing plants, and cement plants all carry a documented risk of amputation, crush injury, and asphyxiation.
Construction and Heavy Industrial Accidents
Construction sites in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Houston, and El Paso produce catastrophic injuries through a recognizable set of events.
The OSHA identifies four causes of most construction deaths, sometimes called the Fatal Four:
- Falls from height
- Struck-by object accidents
- Caught-in or caught-between accidents, and
- Electrocutions
Crane collapses, scaffolding failures, trench collapses, building collapses, boom lift and man lift accidents, heavy equipment rollovers, and power line contact injuries account for much of the remainder.
➢ Texas Workers Can File a Lawsuit After a Serious Accident
Texas is the only state that does not require private employers to carry workers’ compensation insurance. This affects what an injured worker is able to do after a catastrophic accident.
Employers who choose not to carry coverage are known as nonsubscribers. A worker injured while employed by a nonsubscriber may be able to sue that employer directly for negligence, and the employer loses several of the legal defenses it would otherwise have available.
Workers whose employers do carry coverage may still be able to file a lawsuit against a third party, meaning a company other than their employer that contributed to the accident. Third parties frequently include property owners, general contractors, subcontractors, equipment manufacturers, staffing agencies, and maintenance or service contractors.
Contract and temporary workers on industrial sites are often injured by the conduct of a company that never employed them, and may also qualify to take legal action.
A lawsuit can recover categories of loss that a benefits claim does not, including full lost earning capacity, future medical and attendant care, disfigurement, physical impairment, and pain and suffering. Workers hurt in less severe on-the-job accidents may also have claims worth reviewing.
➢ Who May Be Eligible to File a Catastrophic Work Injury Lawsuit
Injured workers and surviving family members may be eligible to file if they meet the following case criteria:
- The worker suffered a catastrophic injury, including an amputation, an electrocution or arc flash injury, a traumatic brain injury, a spinal cord injury or paralysis, a severe or chemical burn, a crush injury, or a fatal injury.
- The injury occurred at a construction site, factory, plant, refinery, oilfield, warehouse, or other industrial workplace.
- The accident was caused at least in part by the negligence of an employer, property owner, contractor, equipment manufacturer, or other party.
- The claim is brought within the applicable Texas statute of limitations, which is generally two years from the date of the accident or death.
Families – including the surviving spouse, children, and parents of a worker who was killed – may bring a wrongful death action, and the deceased worker’s estate may bring a survival action for the losses the worker suffered before death.
➢ No Legal Fees or Costs Unless We Win Your Case
Our law firm, Hissey Mulderig & Friend, has represented hundreds of workers who were injured or who developed serious illnesses because of their workplace, including workers harmed by asbestos exposure and workplace accidents.
Our attorneys operate on a strict contingency basis, meaning that you or your family will never pay legal fees, court costs, or other expenses unless we are able to recover damages in your case.
➢ Find Out If You Qualify & Start Your Claim Today
If you or a loved one suffered an amputation, an electrocution, a traumatic brain injury, a spinal cord injury, a severe burn, a crush injury, or a fatal injury in a Texas construction, factory, plant, oilfield, or refinery accident, you may qualify to file a lawsuit and receive compensation.
Our law firm, Hissey Mulderig & Friend, is currently accepting claims from Texas workers who suffered serious injuries on the job. There is no cost to talk with a lawyer to find out if you qualify, and no legal fees unless we recover compensation in your case.
For more information about whether you or your family may qualify to file a lawsuit, or to start the process of filing your claim today, contact Hissey Mulderig & Friend toll-free at 1-866-806-8117, or send us a message by filling out the free contact form at the top of this page.
