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Please note, the Carabin Shaw Law Office has moved to 875 E Ashby # 1100 San Antonio, Texas 78212
Oil Field Injury Accidents Lawyers – Workers Comp
Profits, Profits Everywhere, but No Civil Claim Need be Paid (Thanks to Workers’ Comp)
Texas-based oil drilling companies don’t have to purchase workers’ comp insurance. Only half of them do and if they were smart, all of them would. But that’s beside the point. All workplace injury cases in Texas fall into one of two categories. Subscribers, obviously use workers’ comp to cover their employees from on-the-job accidents. Non-subscribers obviously don’t. So it must first be learned whether or not your employer is a subscriber or a non-subscriber before proceeding any further. This is because; depending on the answer to the above, subscriber and non-subscriber injury claims and cases require entirely different methods and strategies to resolve. More info on this website
Workers’ comp is a legislature-mandated program that provides universal, no-fault coverage for worker injuries through a “pool” of funds that are provided by participating private insurance carriers. In the insurance industry, this is called “umbrella coverage.” Workers’ comp subscribers are not only able to have their injury claims settled quickly, cheaply, with minimal muss and fuss, they are also protected from just about every civil injury lawsuit.
But there’s a downside to this program. And the workers are the ones who feel the pain from it. By denying workers the traditional civil venues of compensation as per workers’ comp state law, the rights of employees to be truly and fairly reimbursed are harshly conceded. Workers comp is great for someone who only needs their medical bills paid and will be back on the job in a few days. But for more substantial injuries, like those suffered on a drilling rig, those benefits lie far below fair-market compensation levels. As a result, these state-mandated “benefit caps” amounts that are awarded rarely, if ever, fully compensate petroleum employees involved in larger, and longer, workers’ comp-covered claims.
Now as we said, the program delivers a certain level of financial relief and admittedly, a little bit of convenience to drilling and pipeline employees injured on the job. This “no-fault” insurance covers workers, no matter how the oilfield accident occurred or whose fault it was. But as we said, the longer the worker is injured, the less workers’ comp serves his compensation needs.
But there’s another side of the workers’ comp coin. Many Texas drilling companies (and their subcontractors) are workers’ comp non-subscribers. And if you’re injured while working for a non-subscriber, that’s a “whole ‘nother story.” In order to receive compensation from a petro non-subscribing employer for your drilling rig injury, your only compensation avenue is to file a lawsuit. An experienced drilling accident attorney with our Law Office can get to the bottom of your company’s workers’ comp status, so you know what legal options are available.
Here’s one reason why you should call us quickly. Your serious injury means the odds have finally caught up with your non-subscribing employer. And sure as “T is the first letter in Texas,” once he learns you don’t have a good lawyer, and wants to further his false claim to you that he has workers’ comp, he’ll move quickly to avoid a lawsuit. He’ll show up at your hospital bed, patting you softly on the arm, telling you to heal quickly and get back “because we all miss ya.” And then he will, “oh by the way,” ask you to sign an official-looking form he represents as a “standard workers’ comp release” in order to further his fraud and dodge that lawsuit. He might even show up with your “first check.” But be careful. If you sign without calling an experienced drilling accident attorney first, your chance to get him to pay fairly for your injuries (and disability?) is toast!
Please note, the Carabin Shaw Law Office has moved to 875 E Ashby # 1100 San Antonio, Texas 78212
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