Midland Oilfield Injury Lawyer The Decision Was Made Before You Got There.
Rig selection, the drilling program, the casing design, the mud weight, and the schedule everyone was working against. Those calls get made in an office in Midland, weeks before a crew ever reaches location. When a rig hurts somebody, that is usually where the case actually starts.
Alex Horton is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a credential held by a small fraction of Texas attorneys, and has been recognized as a Texas Super Lawyer for more than ten years. He tries cases. If you were hurt on a rig in Midland County, call and tell us what happened.
Midland Is The Office. The Rig Is Just Where It Lands.
Odessa is where the iron and the service crews stage. San Angelo sits out on the eastern edge where the fields are mature. Midland is where the operators keep their offices and where the active drilling gets planned.
That means the cases out of Midland County are drilling cases. Land rigs, top drives, tripping pipe, casing runs, cementing, and the long hours that come with a rig running twenty four hours a day on a schedule somebody else set.
It also means the paper trail is different. A drilling rig generates more documentation than almost any other worksite in the patch. Daily drilling reports, tour sheets, mud logs, BOP test records, and the drilling program itself. Every one of those documents shows what somebody knew and when. That is why these cases are winnable, and it is why they are lost when nobody moves fast enough to preserve them.
We work Midland, Martin, Glasscock, Upton, Andrews, Dawson, and Ector counties, and we file across the Basin. See the common causes of oilfield and oil rig accidents for the wider picture.
Drilling Rig Cases We Take
Each one turns on a different set of records, and on a rig those records exist. Getting to them before the rig moves is the job.
Land Rig Explosions
Gas to surface, a gas buster that could not handle the volume, ignition at the shale shakers or the rig floor, and flash fires during trips. Mud logs and pit volume records show how long the well had been talking before anyone acted.
Well Blowouts
Loss of well control never comes down to one person. BOP test records, kick tolerance, mud weight decisions, and what the company man was told in the hours beforehand are the case.
Well Blowout Claims →Rig Floor & Pipe Handling
Tongs, slips, elevators, and the iron roughneck. Fingers and hands go first, then arms. These get written up as routine, and a hand that never works again is not routine.
Falls From The Derrick
Monkey board, racking board, and stabbing board work. Fall protection that was inadequate, unavailable, or never inspected, and climbing assist systems that were down for weeks before anyone reported it.
Rig Moves & Crane Work
Rig up and rig down is when a large share of drilling injuries happen. Substructure, mast raising, and crane lifts on ground nobody tested, usually at the end of a long hitch.
Mud, Gas & Chemical
H2S in sour zones, drilling fluid chemicals, shaker house exposure, and monitoring that was not calibrated. Gas detection records show what the rig knew and when the alarms sounded.
Top Safety Violations On Oil Rigs →Caught Between & Struck By
Pinch points around the rotary, the catwalk, and the pipe racks. Suspended loads over people who had nowhere else to stand. The incident report will say human error. It rarely stops there.
Crew Transport
Interstate 20, Highway 191, Loop 250, and State Highway 158 carry crews to location and home at tower change. A fatigue wreck at the end of a hitch is a drilling case that happened to occur on asphalt.
Reaching Past The Drilling Contractor
The operator will tell you it hired an independent drilling contractor and had nothing to do with how the work was performed. Sometimes that is true. Often it is not, because operators keep a company man on location, approve the drilling program, set the mud weight, sign off on casing points, and control the schedule.
Texas law turns on that distinction. An operator that retained control over the manner of the work, or that had actual knowledge of a dangerous condition, is in a different position than one that genuinely stood back. Working out which one you are dealing with means reading the master service agreement, the drilling program, the daily reports, and the company man's own notes.
Expect Chapter 95 to come up. The defense will raise Chapter 95 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, which limits a property owner's liability to contractors doing certain work on the property. It is not the end of a case. It is a doorway with conditions on it, and retained control plus actual knowledge is how you get through. Ask about it early rather than being told about it late.
More on how this works in who is liable for oilfield injuries in Texas and who is responsible for an oilfield accident in West Texas.
- The operator and its company man on location
- The drilling contractor
- Directional, MWD, and mud logging providers
- Casing, cementing, and wireline crews
- The rig moving and crane contractor
- Equipment owners and lessors
- Component and equipment manufacturers
- Your employer, directly, if it is a nonsubscriber
Drilling Contractors Are Not All The Same On This
Some carry workers compensation. Some run an internal injury benefit plan instead, which Texas allows because it is the only state that lets private employers opt out of the comp system entirely. Those employers are called nonsubscribers, and most hands have never been told which one they work for.
It matters enormously. Against a nonsubscriber you can sue your employer directly for negligence, and it loses contributory negligence, the fellow servant defense, and assumption of risk. You prove the company was negligent and that the negligence hurt you. That is the whole burden.
Third party hands on a rig, meaning directional drillers, MWD, mud loggers, casing crews, and wireline, are in a different position again and often a stronger one. Start with can I sue an oil company as a contractor in West Texas, then how to file a lawsuit against your oilfield employer.
Benefit plan enrollment paperwork routinely carries a mandatory arbitration clause and a release. It is presented as a formality and it is not one. If you already signed, bring it in anyway. Those agreements are not always enforceable.
A Rig Does Not Injure People Gently
Rotating equipment, suspended loads, high pressure, and heat. When something goes wrong at the rig floor or in the derrick, it tends to go all the way wrong.
Rig explosions and blowouts frequently injure or kill more than one person, which raises questions about insurance limits and how a recovery gets shared across families. That has to be handled properly from the start. If you lost someone, read can families sue for wrongful death after an oilfield accident before you talk to anyone from the company.
The Rig Is In Another County By Next Month
A drilling rig is a moving worksite. It gets torn down, hauled, and rigged up somewhere else, and the crew that was on tour that night scatters across three companies. Preservation letters have to go out in days.
Drilling Records
Daily drilling reports, tour sheets, the drilling program, mud logs, pit volume totalizer data, and BOP test records.
The Contracts
The drilling contract, master service agreements, and the indemnity language, which is where retained control is defined or denied.
The Equipment
The failed component, maintenance and inspection history, gas detection calibration records, and fall protection inspection logs.
The People
The full tour crew, the company man, third party hands on location, and the safety meeting attendance sheets that prove who was there.
What A Drilling Injury Claim Covers
Value depends on the facts, the defendants, and the injury. These are the pieces that build it and the ones an early offer leaves out.
Lost Earning Capacity
Drilling money with a full hitch is not average money, and a hand who cannot climb a derrick or work a floor again has lost decades of it. This is usually the largest number in a rig case and the one most often missing from a first offer.
Medical, Past And Future
Emergency care, air transport, burn unit treatment, surgery, and lifetime care needs. Hospital liens and health plan subrogation get addressed early, because left to the end they take a settlement apart quietly.
Impairment And Disfigurement
Permanent loss of function and scarring, which burn cases carry heavily. Both are real damages under Texas law and adjusters undervalue both as a matter of routine.
Gross Negligence
Where a company knew a well was kicking, knew a BOP had failed a test, or knew fall protection was down, and kept drilling anyway, exemplary damages come into play. Proving it takes the internal records, which is another reason preservation cannot wait.
What To Do Before The Rig Moves
Get Treated Properly
Tell the provider it was a work injury and describe the mechanism exactly. A vague chart note becomes a defense argument two years later.
Write Down The Tour
Everyone on that tour, the company man, and every third party outfit on location. Crews scatter across companies within weeks and memories go with them.
Sign Nothing
No recorded statement, no release, no arbitration agreement, no benefit plan enrollment. If you already signed, bring it in rather than assuming it is settled.
Call Immediately
The rig will be torn down and moved. Daily reports, mud logs, and BOP records need a preservation letter while the well is still current business.
Where You Get Treated And Where It Gets Filed
Midland Memorial Hospital takes most Midland County injuries. The worst, particularly serious burns, are usually moved on to the trauma center in Odessa or flown to Lubbock or Dallas.
That transfer matters more than it sounds. Records end up split across two or three facilities, air transport bills arrive separately, and pieces of the medical picture go missing unless somebody chases all of it. We do that early rather than at the end.
Civil cases in Midland County are filed in the 142nd, 238th, and 385th District Courts here in Midland. Depending on where the incident happened and where the defendants do business, we also file in Ector County, Martin County, and Tom Green County.
Also see our Odessa oilfield injury lawyer page and our San Angelo oilfield injury lawyer page, where the office is.
What A Drilling Case Actually Takes
Read The Program
The drilling program, the daily reports, and the mud logs tell you what was known and when. That is the case, and most of the work is in reading it properly.
Reach The Operator
Retained control and actual knowledge are how you get past Chapter 95 and past the independent contractor defense to the party that set the conditions.
Move Before The Rig Does
Preservation letters to the operator, the drilling contractor, and every third party on location, in days rather than months.
Take It To A Jury
Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law, held by a small fraction of Texas attorneys. Insurers price a file differently when the lawyer has been to verdict.
Two Years On Paper, Weeks In Practice
Texas generally allows two years from the date of injury or death to file a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit. Some claims run shorter, and where a governmental entity is involved written notice can be due in as little as six months.
On a drilling case the real clock is much faster. The rig moves, the crew disperses, and the well becomes a completed file rather than active business. What gets preserved in the first few weeks decides what is still provable two years later.
Midland Oilfield Injury Questions
The operator says it was the drilling contractor's crew, not theirs. Does that end it?
No, it starts the argument. Operators routinely keep a company man on location, approve the drilling program, set mud weight, and control the schedule. Where an operator retained control over how the work was done, or knew about a dangerous condition, it can be responsible regardless of who signed the crew's checks.
I was a third party hand on the rig. Do I have a claim?
Often a stronger one. Directional drillers, MWD hands, mud loggers, casing crews, and wireline are employed by companies other than the drilling contractor, which means the drilling contractor and the operator are both potential defendants rather than being shielded as your employer.
The rig has already moved. Is the evidence gone?
Not necessarily. Rigs move but records do not travel with them. Daily drilling reports, tour sheets, mud logs, and BOP test records live with the operator and the drilling contractor, and a preservation letter reaches them wherever the rig went. Move quickly, because retention schedules are not generous.
What is Chapter 95 and does it kill my case?
Chapter 95 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code limits a property owner's liability to contractors performing certain work on the property. It is a defense, not an automatic bar. It has conditions, and retained control combined with actual knowledge of the danger is how cases get through it. Ask about it at the start rather than hearing about it at the end.
How long does a Midland oilfield case take?
It varies with the injury and the number of defendants. Cases usually cannot be valued properly until treatment reaches a stable point, because the future medical and work limitations are most of the number. Multiple defendant drilling cases take longer than single defendant ones. We will give you a realistic picture once we have seen the records.
What does it cost to hire you?
Nothing up front. We take oilfield injury cases on a contingency fee, so we are paid a percentage of what we recover and you owe no fee if there is no recovery. The firm advances case expenses.
Hurt On A Midland Rig? Call Before It Moves.
Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law. Free consultation, no fee unless we recover, and we come to you if you cannot travel. Bring anything the company has asked you to sign.