Texas Offshore Contractor Injury Lawyer

The Gulf of Mexico offshore industry runs on contractors. For every operator (ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Shell, Hess, Murphy, etc.) and every drilling contractor (Transocean, Valaris, Noble, Diamond, Seadrill), there are dozens of service companies providing specialized crews: directional drilling, casing and cementing, mud and fluids, wireline, coiled tubing, well testing, completions, perforation, fracturing, downhole tools, pipeline, crane, rigging, diving, catering, and helicopter services. When a service company employee is hurt offshore, the case almost always involves multiple potential defendants — and the contractual web of indemnity and insurance agreements between them. A Texas offshore contractor injury lawyer at McFarlane Law understands how to untangle that web.

Who Is a Third-Party Defendant in a Contractor Injury Case?

When you work for a service company and are injured offshore, your direct employer typically pays LHWCA or Jones Act-equivalent benefits. The additional recovery comes from third parties: the operator whose platform it was; the drilling contractor whose rig you were on; other service companies whose crews contributed to the hazard (e.g., the rig contractor’s floor crew who improperly handled pipe, the mud engineer who specified wrong fluid properties, the crane crew who dropped the load); equipment manufacturers; marine contractors running the supply vessel or crew boat; and helicopter operators. Identifying every responsible party requires understanding the operational flow, who was controlling what, and who owed duties to the worker at the time of injury.

Master Service Agreements and Indemnity Wars

Almost every offshore contractor relationship is governed by a Master Service Agreement (MSA) containing indemnity provisions. The operator typically requires the service company to indemnify the operator and its other contractors — a “knock-for-knock” or even “broader” indemnity structure. When a service company employee is injured and sues the operator, the operator tenders to the service company under the MSA, demanding defense and indemnity. The service company’s insurer may honor or contest the tender. Meanwhile, anti-indemnity statutes (Louisiana’s LOAIA, Texas’s TOAIA) may invalidate certain provisions. These contract battles happen in parallel with the underlying injury case and can dramatically change who ultimately pays the settlement. McFarlane Law positions the case to maximize the injured worker’s recovery regardless of how these contractor disputes shake out.

Multiple Insurance Policies Available

A well-run offshore contractor injury case produces access to multiple layers of insurance: the direct employer’s LHWCA carrier for LHWCA benefits; the direct employer’s general liability or marine employer’s liability for Jones Act benefits; the operator’s general liability and excess/umbrella policies; the drilling contractor’s GL and excess; the crane service company’s GL and excess; equipment manufacturers’ product liability policies; additional insured coverage the service company secured for the operator or driller; OEE (operator extra expense) coverage for well-control events; and more. Policy limits in offshore cases routinely total hundreds of millions of dollars. McFarlane Law maps each policy and each layer at the start of every offshore contractor injury case to ensure the settlement recovery reaches every available carrier.

Why Contractor Cases Produce Large Recoveries

Offshore contractor injury cases frequently produce the largest settlements and verdicts in the Gulf because (1) the worker’s wages are high, producing large earning-capacity damages; (2) multiple defendants with multiple insurance layers provide deep pockets; (3) indemnity structures often produce multiple layers of defense obligations; (4) the injuries are typically catastrophic; and (5) juries in Louisiana and Texas state and federal courts have long histories of substantial verdicts against offshore operators and contractors. Our firm has pursued contractor injury cases across the Gulf, from shallow-water state platforms to ultra-deepwater Gulf fields, and knows how to build these cases for maximum recovery.

Related Practice Areas

Related: OCSLA claims lawyer, Texas oil platform accident lawyer, oilfield contractor injury lawyer, Texas Jones Act lawyer. Hub: Texas offshore injury lawyer.

Talk to a Texas Injury Lawyer Today

If you were hurt as a service company contractor offshore in the Gulf, McFarlane Law can identify every third-party defendant and every applicable insurance layer. Free consult. Austin (512) 222-4900, Odessa (432) 803-5000.