Texas Oil-Field Wrongful Death Claims: What Families Need to Know

Despite all of the safety equipment and procedures, oilfield accidents continue to be fairly common. Most of these accident are avoidable, but when production is pushed, shortcuts are made, and the odds of accidents increase. Unfortunately, some of these situations lead to serious accidents resulting in the loss of life. Oilfield workers understand that the job carries risks, but deadly accidents are often caused by negligence, poor training, inadequate supervision, defective equipment, or companies failing to follow proper safety standards. When that happens, workers and their families deserve answers, accountability, and the compensation they are owed.

Texas law gives the family of someone killed due to another party’s negligence two separate legal claims they can bring. One claim covers the direct losses to the surviving family, while the other covers the pain and suffering of your loved one before they passed. You have two years to file that suit from the date of death, and you almost certainly will not have to pay your lawyer anything unless you win the case.

If your family has lost someone in an oilfield accident, it is important to speak with an experienced Texas oilfield wrongful death lawyer as soon as possible. Not only will they be able to help secure the maximum compensation available, but they will also provide piece of mind and guidance throughout the entire process. If you would like to learn more about how we can help secure the compensation you deserve, contact Armstrong Lee & Baker today for a free consultation.

What Is a Texas Oilfield Wrongful Death Claim?

A wrongful death claim is a civil lawsuit brought by the family of someone who was killed because of another party’s negligence. In Texas, the rules live in Chapter 71 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, usually shortened to “CPRC.”

As mentioned, Texas law actually gives the family two separate claims that people often mistakenly lump together but which are, in fact, two technically distinct legal remedies:

• The first is a wrongful death claim under CPRC § 71.002. This is designed to compensate family members for the losses they suffered because of the death itself. Parties who have a right to bring a suit like this are the surviving spouse, the children, and the parents.
• In addition, the other claim possible is called a survival action under CPRC § 71.021. This legal remedy covers the losses your deceased loved one suffered before their death (the pain and suffering between the accident and death, the medical bills, the funeral expenses, etc.) The party who can bring this sort of claim is the decedent’s estate.

A good oilfield wrongful death lawyer would usually elect to file both sorts of claims and the two are typically filed together and tried as one case. Also note that siblings, grandparents, cousins, and household members who never adopted are not eligible to bring either type of claim. The good news is that the parties need not all file separate suits; one family member can file on behalf of all eligible beneficiaries.

Texas Law Usually Governs (With Two Short Exceptions)

Most Texas oilfield deaths happen on land in places like The Permian, the Eagle Ford, the Barnett, the East Texas oil fields. In fact, consider this sobering statistic: The Permian Basin in West Texas is the most active and most dangerous oilfield in the country. A federal CDC report tracking oil-and-gas extraction worker deaths from 2014 through 2019 found that the Permian Basin alone accounted for 31.5% of all U.S. oilfield fatalities during that period.

The tricky part of the law here has to do with where the death occurred. In Texas, when a death happens on a land-based oil well site, or on the road to or from it, at a service yard, or anywhere else on Texas soil, Texas state wrongful death law controls. Conversely, if your loved one died on a fixed offshore Gulf platform, federal law via the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act would control (though it borrows most of Texas’s rules anyway). And finally, if your loved one was a crew member of a moving vessel, the federal Jones Act or the Death on the High Seas Act may apply instead.

(Because the vast majority of such Texas oilfield deaths happen on land, the rest of this page is about Texas land-based oilfield deaths.)

How Long Do You Have to File a Texas Oilfield Wrongful Death Case?

Family members have two years from the date of death to file a claim (i.e., a lawsuit.) That is the rule under CPRC § 16.003(b), and Texas courts apply it strictly.

A couple of important wrinkles of which to be aware: The two-year clock starts ticking on the date of the death, not the date of the injury; if your loved one was hurt in February and died from those injuries in August, the clock starts ticking in August. The clock can also be delayed from starting (Texas law call this “tolling”) for minor children who lost a parent. In that case, the two-year period does not begin until the child turns 18.

Even with two years on the clock, waiting is bad. Oilfield evidence rots. Memories fade and witnesses move. Accident sites get cleaned up. Equipment gets repaired or scrapped. That’s why hiring a lawyer early on is the smart move. They can work from the get-go to preserve critical evidence, whereas a lawyer who comes in twenty-one months after the accident is stuck working with whatever happens to still exist.

The Process: What to Expect if You Choose to File

Here is how a Texas oilfield wrongful death case typically moves from the day you call a lawyer to the day a check is cut to the family.

• Investigation: Your lawyer pulls the federal OSHA workplace safety report and cross-references Texas Railroad Commission data on well or equipment failures. The Railroad Commission is the historic Texas agency (founded in 1891) that regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, including the investigation of serious incidents. Within the first two to four months, your legal team will issue formal letters to freeze evidence, interview crew members before they scatter, and gather medical and autopsy records.
• Identifying defendants: Beyond your loved one’s direct employer, there are usually other potentially negligent parties on the site, for example, the well operator, drilling contractors, service companies, the manufacturer of a part that failed, the trucking company that hauled the load, and so on. A serious lawyer will identify every party whose negligence possibly contributed to the wrongful death and pursues them all.
• Filing the lawsuit: The case is filed in Texas district court and in the proper county. The complaint names the beneficiaries and the defendants, lays out the alleged negligence, and demands damages (but typically not a specific number.)
• From here, both sides are legally required to exchange all relevant documents, take depositions, and designate expert witnesses (e.g., an accident reconstruction or oilfield safety expert, a forensic economist to model the lost-earnings claim, and so on.) Usually this is the longest phase of any lawsuit, often twelve to eighteen months.
• Settlement or trial: Most Texas oilfield wrongful death cases settle before trial, often after damaging depositions. Your lawyer will prepare for trial regardless, because preparation is what produces serious settlement offers.
• Distribution to beneficiaries: Once the case resolves, the wrongful death recovery is split among the surviving spouse, children, and parents under an agreement or a court allocation. The survival action recovery goes to the decedent’s estate and is distributed under his or her will or Texas intestacy rules.
• Typical timeline: Expect that a typical wrongful death case in Texas will take up to thirty-six months from filing (though not necessarily that long), depending on liability complexity and whether the defendants settle or push to trial.

What a Strong Texas Oilfield Wrongful Death Case Looks Like

Strong wrongful death oilfield cases in Texas tend to share four things.

First, you want to see a documented safety failure, such as an OSHA citation, or Texas Railroad Commission findings of a regulatory violation, or a clear breach of an industry standard such as an API (the American Petroleum Institute) recommended practice. These give the case a paper trail of institutional negligence that defense counsel cannot wave away.

Second, a solid case would involve having multiple deep-pocket defendants. Texas oilfield work is layered. There are operators, drilling contractors, service companies, and equipment manufacturers, all of whom usually carry insurance running to seven or eight figures.

Next, a good case would have a sympathetic and dependent surviving family, such as a widow with dependent children or parents who relied on a young worker. Winning cases are often those where the family’s loss is concrete and demonstrable.

Finally, a good case is one where there liability is clear and there are no major comparative-fault issues (that is, the decedent was not also partially to blame for the death.) Instead, it is the defendant’s negligence that was the primary cause.

Also, do not be afraid of the team of corporate lawyers that the oil company has at its disposal. They are not the boogeyman it may look like from the outside. Yes, sure, they are there to protect the interests of their clients, but know too that they are also paid to negotiate seriously with plaintiff firms who have prepared their case and who have a track record of trying cases when the settlement offer is not serious.

The Money Question: Can You Afford to Do This?

This is the one issue that keeps families from calling an attorney… and it should not.

Here is how Texas oilfield wrongful death cases actually get paid for:

• Contingency fees: These cases are handled on contingency basis, meaning you pay nothing out of pocket and the lawyer’s fee comes as a percentage of the recovery. Standard ranges run from about 33% pre-suit up to 40% once a lawsuit is filed, and sometimes higher if the case goes through trial and appeal. If the case does not win, you would not owe the firm anything.
• Case expenses: Bringing a lawsuit to trial is expensive. There are deposition costs, expert fees, accident reconstruction fees, and medical-records charges. They all add up over a year or two of litigation. A solid Texas plaintiff firm will advance these expenses, and most do not collect them back if the case loses.
• Filing fees: Texas district court civil filing fee runs somewhere in the $300 to $500 range, depending on a few different factors, but here again, some firms will advance this as part of case expenses, others will cover it for you if you lose.

What Can a Family Actually Recover?

When a Texas oilfield wrongful death case succeeds, the law compensates the family in several distinct ways.

• Pecuniary loss: This is the lost financial support the family would have received from their loved one over their expected working life. A forensic economist would build the financial model from earnings history and career trajectory.
• Loss of companionship and society: This recovery is for the non-economic loss of the relationship itself: The partner is no longer there, dad is no longer at the dinner table.
• Mental anguish: Needless to say, the emotional suffering of the surviving family members from the loss is worth substantial compensation.
• Loss of consortium: For the surviving spouse specifically, this is compensation for loss of the marital relationship, including affection, comfort, and intimacy.
• Survival action damages: Again, through a separate survival claim under CPRC § 71.021, the estate can recover for the pain and suffering your loved one suffered between the time of the accident and their actual death. This also would include reimbursement for medical bills and funeral expenses.
• Punitive damages: Finally, if a defendant’s conduct rose to the level the law would call “gross negligence,” the jury can award punitive damages too. Texas caps these under CPRC § 41.008 at the greater of $200,000, or an amount equal to twice the economic damages plus the jury’s non-economic damage finding up to a maximum of $750,000.

Understand that no two oilfield cases settle for the same number. Outcomes depend on the degree of liability, the level of the defendant’s insurance coverage, your loved one’s earnings, and whether the case goes to trial.

Talk to Lawyer Today

If you lost someone in a Texas oilfield accident, the right move is to talk to a personal injury lawyer who handles oilfield wrongful death cases early on. Initial consultations are free and you pay nothing out of pocket. The trial team at Armstrong Lee & Baker LLP handles these cases under Texas law every day, and they would be glad to speak with you for free, answer your questions, and help you understand your options.

C.J. Baker

C.J. Baker represents victims with serious injuries and he won’t let any corporation or insurance company stop his clients from getting complete justice. He has won millions of dollars for victims of 18-wheeler crashes, oilfield equipment failures, offshore platform explosions, and defective medical devices. Our lawyers have 25+ years of combined experience.

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