Dedicated Abilene Oilfield Injury Lawyer
Oilfield accidents cause debilitating injuries that threaten the financial stability of Texas families. If you’ve been hurt while working on an oilfield, it’s to your benefit to get legal advice about your options from an experienced Abilene oilfield injury lawyer. Our skilled lawyers at the Hanna Law Firm understand the physical, emotional and monetary toll these injuries have on workers and their loved ones. If your accident was due to the negligence of your employer or other party, you may be able to get compensation to help you in your recovery and to move on with your life.
Reach out to us to schedule a free consultation about your injury accident. Call us at 432-606-2378 or fill out our online form.
Experienced Oilfield Accident Lawyers
We Fight for the Rights of Injured Oil Workers
As fellow Texans and as attorneys who have handled many oilfield accident cases, we understand the dangers oil workers face in the state. We know you put your life on the line every day to earn a paycheck and to help power the nation. If you’ve been injured at work, we want to help you. Call our Abilene oilfield injury lawyer right away to help ensure that your rights are protected.
The Texas oil industry goes through a perpetual cycle of boom and bust. Whatever the cycle, worker safety is often a low priority. In good times, companies move fast to maximize profits. In down times, spending time and money to focus on safety is not something many feel they can afford to do. When safety takes a back seat, accidents and injuries are more likely to happen.
Let Our Abilene Oilfield Accident Attorney Help You Get Financial Justice
Oilfields are inherently treacherous places, with heavy machinery, large commercial trucks driving around, and always the risk of fire and explosion. The danger is increased when wealthy oil companies prioritize profits for their shareholders over the safety of their employees.
At the Hanna Law Firm, our oilfield accident lawyers have years of experience fighting for people injured while working on an oilfield. We understand the devastating impacts on-the-job accidents have on oilfield workers and their families, and we are committed to making sure they get justice. To schedule a free initial consultation with an oilfield accident lawyer, call 432-606-2378 or request an appointment through our online from. We can serve you at the West Texas office that is most convenient for you: Abilene, Odessa, Sweetwater or Midland.
How Will an Oilfield Injury Lawyer Help Me?
We Stand Up for Victims of On-the-Job Negligence
Oilfield injuries are often catastrophic, resulting in lost work, large medical bills, and long, painful recoveries. You almost certainly don’t know how much your injuries will cost you over the long term, and you may be tempted to take whatever money your employer or their insurer offers you. But doing so is a big mistake.
Oil companies and insurance companies don’t care about compensating you fully for your losses. Their goal is to pay you as little as they can get away with, and they hope you will take their lowball offer and then go away. Our oilfield accident attorney has the knowledge and experience to accurately calculate your total losses — including those you can expect to encounter in the future. You may think you are saving money by not hiring an attorney — but in reality, you will almost certainly end up leaving a lot of money on the table.
The oilfield lawyers at the Hanna Law Firm will thoroughly research your claim to discover any evidence of negligence or wrongdoing on the part of the oil company. We will fight to win you the full amount you deserve — whether through negotiation or in court. This leaves you to focus on what’s most important: recovering from your injuries and getting on with your life.
Call 432-606-2378 to schedule a free consultation with one of our oilfield injury lawyers. You may also get in touch with us online.
Our Oilfield Injury Lawyer Answers Common FAQs
An oilfield accident claim falls under the personal injury umbrella. The damages you are entitled to receive fall under two main categories: economic (or “special”) and non-economic (or “general”).
Economic Damages
Economic damages are relatively simple to calculate. These are the straightforward monetary losses and expenses that you encounter as a result of your accident. Economic damages related to an injury in an oilfield accident may include:
- Hospital bills and copays
- Medication costs and copays
- Medical devices and mobility aids
- Rehabilitation and therapy
- Paid help, such as housecleaning
- Lost wages due to an inability to work
- Lost earning capacity if your ability to work will be affected long-term or permanently.
Non-Economic Damages Related to an Oilfield Accident
Not all types of losses have a clear dollar amount attached to them. Even so, you may be compensated for them in the form of non-economic damages. Non-economic damages include:
- Emotional, mental, and physical pain and suffering
- Anxiety and stress
- Diminished quality of life
- Loss of consortium.
Punitive Damages
In some cases, you may pursue a third type of damages, called punitive damages. These are designed to punish the defendant if it’s determined that the accident was the result of the defendant’s gross negligence, fraud, or malice. The State of Texas caps punitive damages at the greater of $200,000 or two times the total economic damages, plus the amount of non-economic damages up to $750,000.
Oilfield injury cases are complex, and you’re facing companies that want to pay you the least amount possible. To get the most damages you’re entitled to after your oilfield accident, it’s important to work with an experienced attorney. Call one of our oilfield injury lawyers in Abilene and get the skilled, compassionate help you need, and the compensation you deserve. You can use our online form or call us at 432-606-2378.
One job of your oilfield accident lawyer is to determine who is liable for your injuries. In the case of an oilfield, this is not necessarily an easy question to answer. There are several entities that may bear some measure of responsibility, including refinery companies, transport operators, landowners, and equipment manufacturers.
At the Hanna Law Firm, we understand the complexities of this unique workplace, and we will make sure we hold every at-fault party to account.
Negligence on the part of oil companies and other parties involved in oilfields comes in many forms. Here are a few our oilfield injury lawyers have encountered when seeking justice for our clients:
- Failure to implement or enforce safety regulations
- Failure to repair or replace damaged or faulty equipment
- Failure to record violations / lack of good record-keeping
- Failure to properly train employees
- Improper storage of hazardous chemicals
- Failure to supply safety equipment like goggles, helmets, etc.
- Shoddy construction, leading to accidents.
If your injury accident was caused for one of these reasons, or another negligent action, we will fight for your interests.
If you are the spouse, child, or parent of an oilfield worker who was killed in an accident, you may be able to bring a wrongful death lawsuit against the responsible party or parties. In a wrongful death lawsuit related to an oilfield accident, you could receive damages for losses including:
- Loss of earning capacity
- Lost inheritance, or what the deceased person likely would have earned and left to you over a normal lifetime
- Mental and emotional trauma resulting from the death
- Lost companionship and comfort
- Lost love and support
- Funeral and burial costs.
We’ll investigate the circumstances of your family member’s death and advise you about the legal process. If a lawsuit is a viable option in your case, we’ll guide you through every step of the filing process and work hard to get you maximum compensation.
Every lawsuit is different. How long it may take will depend on all the factors involved. The seriousness or injuries, the specific way the accident happened, the number of parties involved, the degree of negligence and other things can all figure in to how long a lawsuit takes to resolve. Sometimes compensation for claims involving oilfield accidents can be successfully negotiated without going to court. In other cases, when at-fault parties and their insurers deny blame or they try to get injured victims to go away by offering a low-ball sum, claims go to trial to be decided by a judge or jury. Cases that settle outside of court typically take a much shorter time to complete, especially if the at-fault party is motivated to settle. Cases that settle may take only a few months. When cases go to trial, it can take as long as a year or more. In any event, our oilfield injury lawyers in Abilene are skilled negotiators as well as aggressive litigators. Whatever approach your case requires, we have the knowledge and experience to effectively handle it.
It’s important when looking for an attorney that you find one who is experienced at successfully handling oilfield injury cases in Texas. An attorney who doesn’t work in this area of the law will not understand the intricacies and complexities of how accidents happen in the oil industry. Hanna Law Firm understands the oil industry and oil industry employers. We have achieved million-dollar-plus results in oilfield injury cases.
When you work with our law firm on an oilfield accident lawsuit, you don’t pay us anything unless we get you compensation. Once we negotiate a settlement for you or win a jury award, we take a previously agreed-upon percentage. We also offer free consultations so we can learn whether you have a legal case for negligence. At Hanna Law, when we accept a case, it’s because we believe there is strong evidence that shows an employer’s or other party’s negligence was responsible for the injury accident. We don’t back down in working to get compensation for clients who have been innocent victims of negligence.
Employers in Texas don’t have to carry workers’ comp, and many don’t. Employers that don’t carry it are known as non-subscribers. They can be sued when oilfield injuries happen. Sometimes non-subscriber employers aren’t clear about whether they carry workers’ comp, because they don’t want to be sued. If you aren’t sure whether your employer carries workers’ comp or not, you can check here. If your employer does carry it, you may not be able to directly sue them, but you may be able to file an oilfield injury lawsuit against a third party, depending on all the circumstances of the accident. Third parties can be other companies present at the oilfield, contractors, suppliers, trucking companies or others who contributed to causing the accident. There are instances in which injured oilfield workers can get workers’ comp benefits as well as compensation through a lawsuit. If you need help determining whether your employer subscribes to workers’ comp or is a non-subscriber, an oilfield accident attorney from our firm can help you.
Texas has a two-year deadline, called a statute of limitations, for filing injury lawsuits. The clock starts running the day you are injured or discover your injuries. But the deadline is a general one, and there are many exceptions to it. Always speak with an experienced oilfield injury lawyer in Texas to learn the deadlines for your own case. You can talk to an Abilene oilfield injury lawyer from our firm by calling 432-606-2378.
How Do Oilfield Accidents Happen?
Our Oilfield Injury Lawyers Protect Workers’ Interests
As any oil worker knows, an oilfield is not your average workplace. There is a lot of dangerous and heavy equipment, many different types of vehicles, dangerous gasses and chemicals, and a lot of moving parts. All of these things combined leave a lot of opportunities — and ways — to get hurt. At the Hanna Law Firm, no matter how your injury happened, if it was due to negligence, our hardworking attorneys will protect your rights and interests. We take on the full variety of oilfield injury cases.
Here are some of the more common ways that oilfield injuries happen:
- Vehicular accidents. With so many vehicles operating in and around oilfields, accidents involving trucks and other vehicles are frequent.
- Burns. Oilfields are filled with gasses, chemicals, and other flammable materials. It takes very little for these to ignite, causing explosions, fires, and potentially catastrophic injury.
- Falls. Not all work on an oilfield occurs close to the ground. Workers on drilling platforms and equipment risk falls and serious injury. Falls from heights commonly cause oilfield injuries.
- Chemical exposure. Toxic chemicals can cause burn injuries. Chemical exposure can also cause respiratory distress, organ damage, and illnesses such as cancer.
- Equipment injuries. Heavy equipment with lots of moving parts can trap, fall on, and otherwise injure workers. Caught-in-between equipment accidents are a leading cause of injuries and fatalities, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Even if your injury does not fall into one of the categories described above, our attorneys can help. Call 432-606-2378.
Oilfield Accidents Cause Severe Injuries
Our Oilfield Injury Lawyers in Abilene Take on Negligent Companies
Oilfield injuries are often severe. They can require extensive recuperation time. Sometimes these injuries are life-changing and people can never work again. They may need ongoing medical treatment, long-term nursing care or assistance with the basic tasks of daily life. Here are injuries that commonly occur from oilfield accidents:
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Spinal cord damage
- Fractured bones
- Burns and disfigurement
- Scarring
- Organ damage
- Arm, hand, foot and leg injuries, including amputations
- Soft tissue damage to tendons and ligaments
- Illnesses from chemical exposure.
The more serious the injury, the more expensive it will be to treat. And the more it can impact a worker’s earning capacity. Find out what kind of compensation you could be entitled to for your injury by speaking to an experienced oilfield accident lawyer. Your future financial stability may be at stake. It’s important to get skilled advice about your legal options.
What to Do Following an Oilfield Accident
Get Medical Help and Call an Experienced Oilfield Injury Lawyer in Texas
Following an oilfield accident, it’s most important to get medical help for yourself and other injured workers. In emergency situations, you should dial 911. If it isn’t an emergency, see a doctor right away. Your health and well-being is most important. Getting medical treatment will also serve to document your injuries, which will be evidence in a legal claim. Here are additional steps to take to protect your rights following an oilfield accident:
- Notify your employer of the accident as soon as possible.
- If you can, use your cell phone to photograph or video the accident scene.
- Identify any eyewitnesses to the accident and get contact information.
- Write down what you remember about the accident so you don’t forget the details.
- Keep a file that contains your medical records and your medical bills.
- Don’t sign anything from your employer’s insurer or accept any payments until you’ve spoken with an oilfield accident attorney, especially if your injuries are serious.
Reach out to an experienced Abilene oilfield injury lawyer. A lawyer will help gather evidence and safeguard your rights and interests. Call our law firm at 432-606-2378.
Contact Our Experienced Oilfield Accident Attorney Today
Compassionate Legal Help is Just a Phone Call Away
Oilfield accidents are far too common. If you do this difficult work, you put yourself at risk every time you step on the oilfield. And if you are injured, you may face a long recovery period, medical bills, physical pain, emotional distress, and other consequences. As attorneys who have stood up for many oil industry workers through the years, we clearly understand the journey you have ahead of you. We want to help make it easier for you by relieving the financial stress.
At the Hanna Law Firm, with offices in Abilene, Midland, Sweetwater and Odessa, we will be your strong advocate as you work to rebuild your life. We aren’t afraid to stand up to the big oil companies and their insurers on your behalf. We will do our best to get you the money you deserve through a settlement. If necessary, we will help you take them to court — and aggressively work toward getting you justice. You are not alone when you’ve been hurt because of a rich oil company’s negligence or that of another party on an oilfield. Call our office at 432-606-2378 or fill out our online form to schedule your free consultation.