Category Archives: Maritime & Offshore Injury

Doyle has filed a Jones Act suit against Kirby Marine on behalf of an injured seaman. The seaman was injured while on Kirby’s vessel offshore near the coast of Texas.

The case falls under the Jones Act and maritime law due to the employment of the injured party as a seaman permanently assigned to the vessel and/or fleets of vessels of his employers. The case is also brought under general maritime law for denial of maintenance and cure. Maintenance refers to the responsibility of a shipowner to provide medical care to an injured seaman until he has reached maximum medical care. Cure is the obligation of a shipowner to pay for medications and medical devices necessary to improve the injured seaman’s condition.

Kirby was negligent by failing to provide a safe working environment for their crew, which resulted in the dangerous conditions leading to the seaman’s injuries. Kirby’s vessel was unseaworthy due to the lack of non-skid surfacing on the vessel, which caused the seaman to fall down stairs.

Doyle stands with the injured seaman against Kirby to recover the maintenance and cure and other damages owed to the seaman.

The U.S. Coast Guard is reporting a fire this morning in the Gulf of Mexico south of Grand Isle off the Louisiana coast. Reports vary at this time but two deaths have been reported and as many as 11 workers airlifted to Baton Rouge. The platform is owned by Black Elk Energy of Houston.

Our thoughts are with the families of the platform workers.

Doyle has filed a maritime personal injury lawsuit against Florida Marine on behalf of a contractor who was injured while unloading a barge belonging to the company. The plaintiff was an employee of Accutrans at the time of injury. Accutrans was contracted by Florida Marine.

The plaintiff fell into a hatch while walking the barge. The hatch did not have nonskid coating and resulted in a serious and debilitating injury. The hatch was slippery, unprotected, defective, and unfit for its intended purposes.

Florida Marine is responsible for the safety aboard its vessels and was negligent in ensuring the safety of all of those aboard. The company also exhibited gross negligence by recklessly and dangerously failing to carry out its safety obligations in violation of many US laws.

The plaintiff is asking for past and future medical treatment to be paid along with compensation for loss of earning capacity. Doyle stands behind their client in the fight against Florida Marine’s negligence and gross negligence.

The Houston Chronicle published a story in their Sunday edition concerning the number of fatalities in the oil and gas industry. The story focused on the trend in Texas that workplace deaths are decreasing in all industries but the oilfield. Statistics show from 2007-2011 there were 197 workplace fatalities reported for energy related companies.

The Chronicle article told the story of a rig worker whose death prompted the largest OSHA fine in Texas history against Nabors Well Services and sister company Nabors Drilling USA LLC. These companies have the most recently reported OSHA deaths in Texas. The victim was struck in the head after an incorrectly placed metal attachment fell from a forklift. The driver of the forklift confused the levers and dropped the piece. Six serious violations were found by OSHA inspectors and a fine of $36,725 was levied.  The fine was later reduced.

The article cited examples of other oil companies being at fault for fatalities but paying low fines even though a death was involved. Unit Texas was fined $1,625 for the death of a worker in 2007.

Houston-based Express Energy has OSHA violations totaling $5,650 for two of three fatalities. A fatal accident in 2012 is still under review.

Nabors fatal accidents record also includes two electrocution deaths at East Texas drill sites in 2007 and 2010.

In response to these deaths, OSHA has increased the number of proactive inspections at oil exploration and production sites across the states. Nabors’ rigs in Beaumont and Liberty County were proactively inspected and proposed penalties of $152,100 were found. The company is currently contesting the fines.

The number of deaths occurring in the oilfield has prompted a different response from OSHA. They have asked oil and gas employers in Texas and four other states to temporary halt work in a voluntary “stand down” to draw attention to potentially life-threatening risks.

Doyle has represented many oil and gas workers injured by unsafe working conditions. In one example, we represented two clients injured during the pigging of oilfield tubing. Other clients have been involved in helicopter crashes while flying to an offshore oil rig  These accidents were preventable and resulted from a failure to comply with safety guidelines. We stand behind these victims and their families in the fight for safe oilfield work environments.