San Angelo Oilfield Injury Lawyer Do Not Sign Anything Yet.
If someone has already handed you injury benefit paperwork and told you a workers compensation claim is your best option, get a second opinion before you sign. In a large share of San Angelo oilfield cases that advice is wrong, and signing can trade away most of what your case is worth.
Alex Horton was born and raised in San Angelo. He 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. His office is here on West Beauregard. He is not a big city lawyer flying in for a case.
Most Oilfield Employers Here Do Not Carry Workers Compensation
Texas is the only state in the country that lets private employers opt out of the workers compensation system entirely. A large share of oilfield service companies do exactly that. They are called nonsubscribers, and most of them hand injured workers an internal injury benefit plan without ever explaining the difference.
The difference is enormous. If your employer is a nonsubscriber, you can sue your employer directly for negligence, and Texas law strips away the three defenses that normally protect an employer. It cannot argue you were partly at fault. It cannot argue a coworker caused the accident. It cannot argue you assumed the risk of the job.
All you have to prove is that the employer was negligent and that the negligence hurt you. That is a far stronger position than a comp claim, and it is not capped the way comp benefits are capped. Find out which one your employer is before you make any decision. We can check it in a phone call.
Two things worth reading before you decide anything. If you were working as a contractor rather than an employee, start with can I sue an oil company as a contractor in West Texas. If you already know your employer is a nonsubscriber and you want to see what the process looks like, read how to file a lawsuit against your oilfield employer.
Nonsubscriber benefit plans almost always bury a mandatory arbitration agreement and a release of claims inside the enrollment documents. Signing can trade away your right to a jury for a fraction of what your case is worth. Bring the paperwork to us first. Reviewing it costs you nothing.
The Work Here Is Not The Work In Midland Or Odessa
Midland is where the operators keep their offices. Odessa is where the iron and the pressure pumping crews are. San Angelo sits on the eastern edge of the Permian, and the fields out here are mature.
There is drilling, but the day to day work is weighted toward keeping older wells producing. That means workover rigs, pulling units, rod and tubing work, swabbing, pump jack maintenance, saltwater disposal, and a great deal of service company running back and forth on lease roads.
Those jobs injure people differently than a drilling rig does. Rod and tubing handling crushes hands. Pulling unit failures drop loads. Older wellhead equipment fails under pressure. A lawyer who only knows drilling rig cases will miss the mechanism, and the mechanism is what proves the case.
We work across Tom Green, Irion, Sterling, Coke, Concho, Runnels, Schleicher, Reagan, Crockett, and Menard counties, plus the Basin counties to the west.
San Angelo Oilfield Accidents We Investigate
These are the cases that come out of well servicing country. Each one turns on a different set of records, and the records are what decide it. For the wider picture, see the common causes of oilfield and oil rig accidents.
Workover & Pulling Unit
Mast failures, dropped rod strings, sand line and wireline breaks, and blocks coming down on the floor. Pulling units get worked hard on old wells, and inspection records tell you what the company knew.
Rod & Tubing Handling
Tongs, rod wrenches, and elevators take fingers and hands. Employers treat these as routine minor injuries. A crushed hand that never fully recovers is not a minor injury.
Pressure & Wellhead Failures
Worn valves, old wellheads, and equipment that should have been pulled from service. A pressure release gives nobody time to move. Loss of well control is its own category.
Well Blowout Claims →Fires & Explosions
Tank battery work, hot work near vapor, gas buster failures, and flash fires. Burn cases require early scene work because the location gets cleaned up fast.
Equipment Failure
When a component fails as designed or as manufactured, the manufacturer becomes a defendant alongside the employer. Maintenance and inspection history is where these cases are won.
Top Safety Violations On Oil Rigs →Crane & Rigging
Dropped loads, outrigger failure on soft ground, sling and shackle failures, and swing radius crush injuries. Load charts and telematics data decide these.
Odessa Oilfield Injury Claims →Crew Transport & Lease Roads
Highway 87, US 67, US 277, and Loop 306 carry crews to location and back at shift change, often after fourteen hours. A fatigue wreck on the way home is still an oilfield case.
H2S & Chemical Exposure
Sour gas is present in parts of this field. Monitoring failures, missing detection, and inadequate respiratory protection are employer decisions with documentation behind them.
Your Employer Is Usually Not The Only Company At Fault
A single well site brings together the operator who controls the lease, the service company, the equipment lessor, the transport company, and often two or three more contractors. Even if your own employer carries workers compensation, a claim against those other companies is still open to you.
Expect the borrowed servant argument. The defense will try to say you were the borrowed servant of the one company on location that carried comp coverage, so comp is your only remedy. That argument turns on who actually directed the details of your work, not on what a contract said. It is winnable, which is why you should not give a recorded statement about your job duties before talking to a lawyer.
Sorting out control is the whole exercise. We break it down further in who is responsible for an oilfield accident in West Texas.
More On Oilfield Liability In Texas →- The operator who controls the lease
- Other contractors on location
- Equipment owners and lessors
- Maintenance and inspection contractors
- Transport and trucking companies
- Component manufacturers
- Your employer, directly, if it is a nonsubscriber
Oilfield Injuries Do Not End At The Emergency Room
Recovery affects work, income, independence, and family life for years. A case built only around the first hospital bill leaves most of the damage on the table.
If you lost a family member, the claim belongs to the surviving spouse, children, and parents. It is separate from anything the employer or its insurer has already offered you. Talk to a lawyer before you accept or sign anything, and read can families sue for wrongful death after an oilfield accident first.
What Happens In The First Two Weeks Decides The Case
Equipment goes back into service. Inspection tags get replaced. Locations get reworked. A preservation letter needs to go out in days, not months.
The Records
Incident reports, the JSA, the toolbox talk, daily reports, permits, and internal safety records for that shift.
The Equipment
Condition before repair, maintenance and inspection history, failed components, and the physical rigging where relevant.
The People
Coworkers, contractors you did not recognize, supervisors, drivers, and anyone who knew about the condition beforehand.
The Data
Photographs, site camera footage, dispatch logs, telematics and equipment data, and third party inspection reports.
What An Oilfield Injury Claim Covers
What a case is worth depends on the facts, the responsible parties, and the extent of the injury. These are the categories that make up the number.
Medical Expenses
Emergency treatment, hospitalization, surgery, rehabilitation, medication, specialist care, and future medical needs. Hospital liens and health plan subrogation get handled early rather than in the last week, because that is where a settlement quietly loses its value.
Lost Income
Time off, lost wages, the overtime that made the job worth working, and reduced earning capacity if you cannot go back to the patch. For a hand in his thirties that last piece is usually the largest number in the case.
Physical & Personal Loss
Physical pain, permanent impairment, disfigurement, and the things you can no longer do. Scarring and loss of function carry real value and insurers routinely undervalue both.
Fatal Accident Claims
A wrongful death claim and a survival claim are separate causes of action with separate damages. The wrongful death claim belongs to the spouse, children, and parents. Do not sign anything an employer or insurer puts in front of you first.
What To Do Now
Get Treated
See a provider and tell them it was a work injury. That single sentence in the chart matters later. Your health comes first regardless.
Report It In Writing
Report the injury in writing and keep your own copy. Photograph the equipment, the location, and the conditions if you are able.
Say Nothing On The Record
Do not give a recorded statement to any adjuster. Do not sign a release, an arbitration agreement, or benefit plan enrollment paperwork.
Call Before The Cleanup
Write down everyone who was on location, including contractors you did not recognize. Then call us, before the equipment is repaired.
Treatment And Filing Here At Home
Serious injuries in this part of the state go to Shannon Medical Center in San Angelo. The worst of them get flown to Lubbock, Fort Worth, or San Antonio.
Wherever you were treated, hospital liens and health plan subrogation claims need handling early. Left to the end of a case, they are where a settlement quietly loses its value.
Civil cases in Tom Green County are filed in the 51st and 119th District Courts here in San Angelo. Depending on where the incident happened and where the defendants do business, we also file in Ector County, Midland County, and the surrounding Concho Valley counties. Alex tries cases. That matters when the other side is putting a number on your claim.
If the accident happened out in the field but your work, your employer, or your family is based here, call and tell us what happened.
Built Around What Actually Happened
Work The Location
Understand the operation, the equipment, the contractors on site, the conditions, and the sequence that led to the injury. Mechanism first, argument second.
Find Every Defendant
Determine who controlled the work, who owned the equipment, and if your employer is a nonsubscriber. That one answer changes the entire shape of the case.
Prove The Full Loss
Medical evidence, permanent work limitations, lost earning capacity, and the long term consequences an early settlement offer ignores.
Try It If Needed
Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law, and Alex tries cases. Insurers price a claim differently when the lawyer across the table has been to verdict.
How Long You Have
In Texas the deadline to file a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit is generally two years from the date of the injury or the date of death. Some claims run shorter. If a governmental entity is involved, written notice can be due in as little as six months, and sometimes sooner under a city charter.
Two years sounds like plenty. It is not, because the evidence that decides an oilfield case is gone long before then.
San Angelo Oilfield Injury Questions
My employer says I have to use their injury benefit plan. Is that true?
Usually not. If your employer is a nonsubscriber, that plan is a private program, not workers compensation, and enrolling almost always requires you to sign an arbitration agreement and a release. You likely have the right to sue your employer directly for negligence instead. Have the paperwork reviewed before you sign it.
I am already receiving workers compensation. Is my case over?
No. Workers compensation blocks a claim against your own employer, but it does not block claims against the operator who controls the lease, other contractors on location, the equipment owner, or the manufacturer. Oilfield accidents almost always involve companies other than your employer.
I am a contractor, not an employee. Can I still bring a claim?
Yes, and contractor status often makes the claim stronger rather than weaker, because there is no workers compensation bar. Expect the company to argue you were really its employee or its borrowed servant. That turns on who directed the details of your work, not on what the contract said.
Will I lose my job if I bring a claim?
Retaliating against a worker for pursuing an injury claim is unlawful in Texas, and a retaliation claim is separate from the injury claim itself. If it happens, document it and tell us immediately.
Do you handle cases outside San Angelo?
Yes. San Angelo is our office. We take oilfield cases across Tom Green, Irion, Sterling, Coke, Concho, Runnels, Schleicher, Reagan, Crockett, and Menard counties, plus Ector, Midland, and the rest of the Permian Basin.
What does it cost to hire you?
Nothing up front. We take oilfield injury cases on a contingency fee, which means we are paid a percentage of what we recover and you owe no fee if there is no recovery. Case expenses are advanced by the firm.
Talk To A San Angelo Lawyer Who Tries Oilfield Cases.
Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law. Free consultation, no fee unless we recover, and we come to you if you are still in the hospital or cannot travel. Bring the benefit plan paperwork with you.