Texas Offshore Injury Lawyer

The Gulf of Mexico supports one of the largest offshore energy industries in the world. Thousands of oil platforms, drilling rigs, production platforms, supply vessels, and diving operations employ Texans from Houston to Corpus Christi to the Mexican border. When an offshore worker is hurt or killed — whether on a fixed platform, a jack-up rig, a deepwater semisubmersible, a supply boat, or in transit by helicopter or crew boat — the legal rules that govern the recovery are some of the most complex in American law. A Texas offshore injury lawyer at McFarlane Law specializes in Jones Act, OCSLA, Longshore Act, and maritime tort cases across the Gulf.

The Three Legal Regimes for Offshore Injuries

Offshore injury law operates at the intersection of three federal regimes. The Jones Act covers seamen injured aboard vessels in navigation — including offshore supply vessels (OSVs), crew boats, dynamically positioned construction vessels, and, in many cases, jack-up and semisubmersible rigs while in transit or during certain drilling modes. The Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) covers maritime employees working on navigable waters and in adjoining areas who are not seamen. The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) extends federal law to fixed platforms and artificial islands on the Outer Continental Shelf (generally more than three nautical miles offshore) and borrows adjacent state law as surrogate federal law. Determining which regime applies — and when one regime controls vs. another — is the first critical step in any offshore injury case.

Who We Represent in Texas Offshore Cases

McFarlane Law represents the full range of Gulf offshore workers: floor hands, derrick hands, drillers, toolpushers, roustabouts, and roughnecks on drilling rigs; production operators, technicians, and mechanics on production platforms; OSV, crew boat, and helicopter crews supporting platforms; subsea construction, diving, and pipelaying workers; third-party contractors, service company employees, and catering crews; and decommissioning and plug-and-abandon workers as Gulf platforms reach end of life. We handle Jones Act and unseaworthiness claims for vessel-based workers, OCSLA third-party claims for platform-based workers, and DOHSA death cases for fatalities beyond three nautical miles from shore.

Why Offshore Cases Demand Specialized Texas Counsel

Offshore litigation is notoriously complex. Multiple companies routinely contract together on a single platform — the operator, the driller, the service company, the catering contractor, the marine contractor, the diving contractor, and the crane contractor may all be separately insured and separately responsible for some portion of the hazard. Indemnity agreements under OCSLA interact with Louisiana Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Act (LOAIA) and the Texas Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Act (TOAIA), dramatically changing which company ultimately pays. Vessel owners can be liable under Section 905(b) or unseaworthiness. The Death on the High Seas Act limits damages in some fatality cases. McFarlane Law has recovered more than $100 million for injured Texans and knows how to navigate this web of statutes, contracts, and insurance policies to maximize your family’s recovery.

Talk to a Texas Offshore Injury Lawyer Today

If you or a family member was injured or killed offshore in the Gulf of Mexico — or in any Texas offshore operation — call McFarlane Law before you sign anything or give a recorded statement. Many offshore employers push injured workers into inadequate lump-sum releases within days of the incident. We offer free consultations, charge nothing unless we win, and handle offshore cases across the Gulf. Austin (512) 222-4900, Odessa (432) 803-5000.