Monthly Archives: March 2022

Baker Hughes Inc., the Houston- based oilfield services company, reported the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. rose by 12 this week to 1,754.

Of the more than 1,700 rigs, 1,383 were exploring for oil and 365 for gas. A year ago, there were 1,806 rigs. The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed at 488 in 1999.

This report was issued the same week the company suspended operations in Iraq following a weekend protest.

The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas increasing also brings an increase in injuries and fatalities. Every year hundreds of workers are injured; some are able to navigate the system and receive proper compensation and medical care while many are not.

Admiralty law is designed with provisions to take care of an injured seaman. Maintenance and cure is the doctrine of paying an injured seaman’s medical care while also ensuring long-term health while providing financial payment while he is unable to work. Vessel owners are required to provide maintenance and cure; injured seamen have legal recourse if this does not happen.  When a maritime employer’s negligence results in an injury, a seaman may also maintain a lawsuit under the Jones Act.  The Jones Act protects maritime families by providing an avenue for recovery of future medical expenses, lost wage earning capacity, and all of the emotional and family harms that result from an offshore injury.

For more information about the rights injured offshore workers have regarding unpaid medical costs, please click here.

Via scandoil.com and 4-traders.com

Doyle Dennis Avery LLP has filed a Jones Act lawsuit against Texas Crewboats on behalf of a seaman injured near Puerto Rico.

The plaintiff was a deckhand aboard the vessel when asked in the scope of his employment to perform tasks without the proper equipment and with insufficient assistance.  Due to the unseaworthiness of the vessel, he slipped resulting in a torn meniscus which requires surgical intervention. The plaintiff was working aboard an aluminum crew-supply vessel at the time of his injury.

Due to the injury, the plaintiff is owed maintenance and cure which he has not received. Texas Crewboats was responsible for the dangerous and defective condition of the vessel. Their negligence resulted in the plaintiff’s injury.

Doyle stands behind this offshore worker in their fight against a negligent company and the resulting lack of obligation to an injured seaman. If you or someone you love has been injured in an offshore incident, please contact the attorneys at Doyle.

Doyle Dennis Avery LLP has filed a Jones Act and general maritime lawsuit against CGG Land on behalf of an injured seaman. The seaman was injured while in the scope of his employment in the Gulf of Mexico offshore Galveston. He was employed by CGG.

On the date of the incident in question, the plaintiff was required to carry on his assigned duties with insufficient assistance and equipment, and as a result sustained serious injuries to his knee that eventually required surgical intervention.

CGG was the chartered operator of M/V SUPER T and was responsible for its dangerous and unseaworthy conditions (and of its fittings), which was a legal cause of the plaintiff’s injuries. The dangerous and defective condition of the vessel violated applicable laws and regulations of the United States of America for vessels, and accordingly CGG is liable for negligence, negligence per se, and in strict liability.

This case is also brought under the general maritime law to recover for willful, wanton, wrongful denial of maintenance and cure due and owing the plaintiff for his injury sustained onboard CGG’s vessel. CGG is fully liable for payment of maintenance and cure until the plaintiff reaches maximum medical cure for the injury sustained in the service of the vessel.

CGG Land has an obligation of safety and to the continued health of their employee. By allowing an unseaworthy vessel to be put out to sea, they placed their employees in danger and at risk of injuries.

If you or someone you love has been injured while working offshore, please contact the maritime lawyers at Doyle.

A Coast Guard helicopter rescued a supply ship crewmember whose foot was severed after it was caught in a line. The injured crewman was flown to a Lake Charles hospital.

The accident occurred five miles off the coast of Louisiana. The Coast Guard sent a Houston-based helicopter to medevac the crewmember. At this time, no updates on his condition have been made available.

Maritime and Jones Act laws protect seaman injured in situations like this. The laws guarantee injured offshore workers will be provided medical treatment and lost wages. For maritime law, this is called maintenance and cure.

If you or someone you love has been injured while aboard a rig or vessel and have been denied maintenance and cure, please contact the attorneys at Doyle.