Oil Field Injury: Who Is Liable?

This video features Grant Lawson, a Personal Injury attorney based in Wyoming.

Attorney Grant Lawson | 888-634-7366 | Free Consult

"In the oil field, we know that there are multiple layers of contracting and usually lots of different parties involved [These parties include] the contractors involved, and the companies who are doing specific parts of jobs and operations."

If someone sustains an oil field injury, who is liable?

Grant Lawson is an attorney with Metier Law Firm in Casper, Wyoming. In the above video, he explains how there are many parties who may bear varying degrees of responsibility in the case of an oil field accident.

To learn more, contact the attorney directly by calling 888-634-7366 or by submitting a contact form on this page. There is no charge for the consultation, and you never owe any out-of-pocket attorney fees.

Key Takeaways From Grant Lawson:

An accident may be the result of one or more errors from the dealings of the mineral rights holder on down to the contractors taking care of the services. But, to see the overall effect of an accident, it is necessary to know every step of the process. If you overlook an aspect of the process that was done by the rights holder or company, you could be missing an important piece of the where and why of an accident. This could lead to a party being mis-blamed or, alternatively, a party not being held accountable when they should have been.

There are many parties involved in oil field operations, so it is difficult to assign injury liability to just one party.

Typically, oil field operations don’t just involve one company and its employees, says Lawson. You usually first have the mineral right holder who owns the mineral rights in the field. The mineral right holder is the one who then hires or contracts out with an oil company. After this, the oil company sets up the job. They contract out to numerous other companies to do specific parts of the oil field operation, depending on what it is and what kinds of services they need. Because of this, most of the time there are numerous parties involved, numerous moving parts, and numerous steps in an operation. In order to know who is involved in a particular accident and who is responsible, you have got to have somebody looking into and completing the investigation of the entire operation to figure out what went wrong, where and why.

An attorney is a valuable resource when you wish to map out an oil field operation and figure out the causes and effects of an accident.

If you are recovering from an injury or dealing with a loss, it can be difficult to pursue a thorough investigation by yourself. Additionally, if you are attempting to extract information from all facets of an operation, representatives from each piece and level may be reluctant to speak to you or give you accurate information if they know that you are personally connected to a case. This is where an attorney can help.

An attorney is free to focus on every aspect of an accident and work with investigators to piece together bits of information to form a full picture. And, if the responsible party or parties refuse to acknowledge liability or provide information that may benefit you, an attorney can take the case to court. Even if the case does not go to court, an experienced attorney will be aware of the laws and regulations that help him or her obtain information and results you need in the aftermath of an accident.

There are different types of oil field operation injuries and—as in many industries—the complex nature of the operations can be an obstacle in getting necessary help, information, and compensation from the appropriate party or parties. However, even if you feel unequipped to investigate an action or initiate court proceedings by yourself, a prepared attorney who has experience in oil field accident cases can help ensure that the case is resolved accurately and that the parties responsible are held liable.

To learn more, contact the attorney directly by calling 888-634-7366 or by submitting a contact form on this page. There is no charge for the consultation, and you never owe any out-of-pocket attorney fees.

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