Drilling & Oil Rig Accidents

Practice Areas Maritime Lawyers Drilling & Oil Rig Accidents

Drilling & Oil Rig Accident Claims

Workers on both onshore and offshore oil rigs face a variety of risks and hazards that can lead to serious injury or even death. If you have been injured while working on an oil rig, you could be facing substantial medical costs, in addition to the prospect of permanent disability that could impact your ability to work in the future. If you are interested in finding out more about how to cover the costs associated with your oil rig injury, reach out to an oil rig injury attorney at Brais Law Firm. 

The facts and circumstances surrounding your injury and the effectiveness of the claim that you file afterward will determine whether you can get compensation to cover these costs and damages or if you will have to shoulder the burden yourself. 

Common Causes of Oil Rig Injuries

When you are hurt as a result of the negligence of someone or something else, you may be entitled to compensation for the associated damages. A party is considered negligent when they violate some duty to you and an injury results, and when a party’s negligence causes damages, they can be held legally responsible for the costs. When it comes to oil rigs, you will generally file your claim with a private insurance company that is paid premiums by the employer, the owner of the rig, or some other third-party that caused your injury. 

Some of the most common causes of oil rig injuries include:

• The negligence or error of other people
• Equipment failure 
• Exposure to hazardous material 
• Slip-and-fall 

Being injured in one of the above-mentioned types of accidents does not automatically entitle you to full compensation for your injuries. Maritime law applies to workers employed at onshore and offshore locations, and the way in which liability is applied can be further complicated when the oil companies are based internationally. 

Oil Rig Workers Are Protected Under Maritime Law

Working on oil rigs that are often on international waters and owned by international companies can complicate matters when you are injured and need to collect compensation. However, when you are injured on the job as an oil rig worker, maritime laws may guarantee a path to recover the costs associated with your injuries. There are options that will generally provide you the right to recover compensation for your lost wages, medical costs, and potentially other losses. The compensation you may recover will depend on the maritime laws that apply and whether you qualify under either the Jones Act or the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHCWA). 

The LHCWA Is Similar to Workers’ Compensation and Covers Medical Bills, Lost Earning, and Even Vocational Retraining

The Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act, or LHWCA, provides injured workers who are covered under the Act with causes of action to recover benefits beyond what they would be able to collect under general maritime law. 

Through the LHWCA, you will generally be able to recover compensation for: 

• Medical costs 
• A portion of your lost earnings 
• Vocational training

The compensation may not be as completed as if you were able to file a private insurance claim or a lawsuit (which the Jones Act can provide for). Determining which Act applies and whether or not maritime law might complement or inhibit your ability to recover compensation depends on the interpretation of complex and overlapping laws. Your claim must contain sufficient evidence to require approval and must be submitted in the appropriate format with supporting evidence to the appropriate insurance company or liable party within a certain period of time. 

When you are injured on an oil rig, collecting the full amount you are entitled to require years of study and practice working in the maritime law field to win your claim or case against the oil rig’s insurance company and their attorneys. That is why it is crucial that you work with a skilled oil rig injury attorney at Brais Law immediately after your injury to ensure you achieve the best possible outcome for your case.

The Jones Act Provides Additional Paths to Compensation

The range of compensation available through the Jones Act can be broader than even the LHWCA. The Jones Act is a section of the 1920 Merchant Marine Act. Depending on the circumstances of your injury, the Jones Act or LHWCA may provide you with the right to bring an insurance claim or file a lawsuit against your employer, the owner of the vessel on which you were injured, or another liable third party. 

An insurance claim or lawsuit can help you recover the following in damages: 

• Economic damages – These are measurable damages with a set number for things such as related bills, as well as short- and long-term medical treatments, surgeries, rehabilitation, and other treatments. Such damages also include lost wages in the short term and lost earnings potential in the long term.
• Non-economic damages – Depending on the circumstances of your accident, you may also be entitled to damages that cannot be measured by a set number, such as pain and suffering or loss of enjoyment in life. 

When you are injured, the insurance company will use their teams of claim analysts and attorneys to carefully scrutinize your claim and the evidence provided for opportunities to deny it or reduce the amount you are paid. By working with an oil rig injury attorney on your case, you will not be taken advantage of by the insurance company. Additionally, your lawyer takes over all communications and negotiations with the insurance company, removing the stress of your claim from your life so you can focus on recovering from your injuries. 

Work With An Oil Rig Injury Attorney As Soon As Possible After Emergency Medical Care

After you have been injured, it is essential to seek immediate medical attention. The excitement and adrenaline surrounding an accident can lead you to overlook wounds. Follow-up opinions are also essential to determine the long-term effects of the accident. For example, a minor headache could be a symptom of a traumatic brain injury that is not apparent based on superficial examination. Such an injury could lead to severe complications that could require life-long medical care and lead to permanent disability. 

Often, it is additionally necessary to report your injury to your supervisor or appropriate employer’s agent within a certain amount of time. Your oil rig injury attorney can help you with this to ensure that you only provide information that is relevant to the accident and nothing that your employer or their insurance company could try and use against you. 

Once you have sought out emergency medical care, it is time to start considering how you will pay for the costs of your medical care and make up for your lost wages and earnings. It is at this point that connecting with an attorney can be especially beneficial. Often, your initial consultation will be free so you can determine if you have a case without worrying about building up expensive billable hours. 

Why Choose Brais Law Firm? Because of Our Direct Experience. 

You would be hard-pressed to find another attorney in Florida, Massachusetts, or anywhere else in the United States with the level of direct experience of Brais Law Firm’s founding partner, Mr. Keith Brais, and his team. He has a Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering and has worked for nearly a decade on a variety of different off-shore oil drilling rigs from 1981-1987. Keith Brais also acquired an MMSS-OCS-TI: Well Control, Surface Stack & Subsea Stack, Blow-Out Prevention (“BOP”) Course, and Driller Level Certificate. Over the course of this direct experience in oil rig work, Mr. Brais gained the kind of hands-on experience to support your case that most attorneys practicing in maritime law simply do not have. 

The experienced oil rig injury lawyers at Brais Law Firm have decades of combined experience representing clients injured in oil drilling and most other maritime industry occupations. We have been where you are and know how to use the courts and the precedents established by prior cases to help you recover the full amount you deserve for your injuries. 

Connect With An Oil Rig Injury Attorney to Discuss Your Options 

The best way to determine if you have a case is to consult with an attorney familiar with the area of law of your injury. The American Bar Association advises that you consider one primary factor before hiring an attorney: experience. With decades of combined experience winning cases for injured maritime workers, Brais Law Firm is a firm you can trust to achieve the best possible outcome in your case. 

Your Initial Consultation Is Free, And We Only Get Paid If You Win

Our firm is selective in terms of the cases we are able to accept, which is why we offer a free consultation. After we’ve gone over the facts and circumstances of your injuries, if we are able to help, we’ll discuss how our fee arrangement works. Generally, when we take an oil rig injury or any other personal injury case, we take it on contingency. This means that we only get paid if we win, and our fees come from a portion of what we get for you. This means that you pay nothing upfront and nothing out-of-pocket, ever. To take advantage of our decades of combined experience, which has yielded our injured clients millions of dollars throughout the duration of our practice, give us a call at (800) 499-0551 or visit our site to schedule a consultation.