Texas Oil Platform Accident Lawyer

Oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico are industrial cities anchored to the sea floor — some rising more than 1,000 feet above the water, operating 24 hours a day, and housing dozens of workers who live aboard for weeks at a time. When a worker is hurt on a Gulf platform, the legal analysis is complicated: Is this a Jones Act case, a Longshore Act case, or an OCSLA case? Which company in the contracting web is legally responsible? Does Louisiana or Texas law apply? A Texas oil platform accident lawyer at McFarlane Law answers these questions, identifies every responsible party, and pursues the full compensation our clients deserve. We have recovered more than $100 million for injured Texans.

Common Oil Platform Accidents in the Gulf

Fixed and tension-leg platforms present a distinct set of hazards from drilling rigs. Falls from heights — from the helideck, the rig floor, catwalks, and boat landings — produce catastrophic injuries. Slips and trips on oily grating and stairs are constant hazards. Struck-by injuries involve falling tools, swinging loads from pedestal cranes, and shifting pipe and equipment. Crush injuries happen when workers are pinned between moving equipment and fixed structures. Fires and explosions from hydrocarbon leaks, H2S releases, and electrical faults can be catastrophic. Inhalation and skin exposure injuries from crude, drilling fluids, completion chemicals, and well servicing fluids produce both acute and chronic medical problems. Boat-and-platform interface injuries — during personnel transfer via swing rope, basket transfer, or gangway — are a major cause of Gulf fatalities.

OCSLA and the Choice of Law

Platform accidents on the Outer Continental Shelf (generally beyond three nautical miles from shore) are governed by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). OCSLA borrows the law of the adjacent state as surrogate federal law — Louisiana for central and eastern Gulf platforms, Texas for western Gulf platforms. The choice of law matters enormously: Louisiana has strict oilfield anti-indemnity rules, different comparative-fault doctrines, and different damages caps. Texas has its own anti-indemnity statute (TOAIA) and different tort rules. Whether your injury occurred on a platform off Louisiana or off Texas, and which companies’ master service agreements contain indemnity or defense provisions, can fundamentally shift who pays. McFarlane Law maps the choice-of-law picture for every offshore case at intake.

Multiple Contractors, Multiple Targets

A typical Gulf platform hosts contractors from half a dozen different companies. The platform operator (lease holder) usually contracts the drilling work to a drilling contractor, which in turn hires a dozen service contractors for directional drilling, casing and cementing, fluids, wireline, coiled tubing, and completions. A catering contractor feeds the crew. A marine contractor runs the supply vessel. A diving contractor handles subsea work. A crane service company maintains the pedestal cranes. When an injury happens, each contractor’s insurance carrier will try to deflect to another. McFarlane Law identifies every potentially responsible party and issues preservation letters to each, ensuring that vessel logs, daily drilling reports, Job Safety Analyses, toolbox-talk rosters, and incident reports are kept — and that indemnity defenses are evaluated before answers are filed.

Catastrophic Injuries and Lifetime Damages

Offshore injuries typically produce lifetime consequences. Traumatic brain injuries from falls and struck-by events leave cognitive deficits that end offshore careers. Spinal cord injuries from falls cause paraplegia or quadriplegia requiring lifelong care. Amputations from crush and caught-in-between events end manual-labor careers. Severe burns from hydrocarbon fires require multiple reconstructive surgeries and lifelong skin care. Chemical exposures produce chronic pulmonary and neurological conditions that may not manifest for years. Offshore wages are high — commonly $80,000 to $250,000+ for experienced hands — so lost earning capacity alone can drive a damages model into the seven figures. McFarlane Law builds full life-care plans with medical, economic, and vocational experts to support these large recoveries.

Related Practice Areas

Related: Texas offshore drilling rig injury lawyer, OCSLA claims, Texas Jones Act lawyer, Texas oilfield accident lawyer. Hub: Texas offshore injury lawyer.

Talk to a Texas Injury Lawyer Today

If you were hurt on a Gulf oil platform, call McFarlane Law. Free case evaluation; no fee unless we win. Austin (512) 222-4900, Odessa (432) 803-5000.