A $10.25 million settlement will fund a lifetime of care for a Central Texas oilfield worker whose leg was crushed when a joint of casing pipe rolled off a hydraulic catwalk.
AUSTIN, Texas — What began as an ordinary shift on a Central Texas drilling site ended with a Central Texas man injured when a joint of heavy casing pipe crushed his leg. A paramedic later warned he might lose it. Nearly four years later, he has not lost the leg — but he has lost much of the life he knew. He walks with a cane, needs help getting dressed, and lives with daily pain he describes as “electric” and “shocking.” Earlier this year, his case resolved for $10,250,000, much of which is earmarked for future medical care.
The incident happened in the fall of 2022, as the worker helped guide a joint of casing pipe from the rack onto a hydraulic catwalk. He had been instructed to climb on top of the stacked pipe, which he estimated was about 50 feet long and weighed 1,200 to 1,500 pounds per joint. When the catwalk’s indexers unexpectedly lowered, the casing joint rolled out of control off the catwalk, fell, and struck his lower left leg, crushing it. Emergency medical crews took over 30 minutes to reach the remote site. “You have a good chance you’re going to lose your leg,” he recalls being told before he was rushed into surgery.
A longtime manual laborer and heavy-equipment operator, he had spent his working life on job sites and behind the wheel of heavy machinery. Before the injury, he was independent and active. Today, simple tasks such as pulling on socks and shoes, stepping into a shower and standing for more than five minutes are things he can no longer do without help or pain.
“He was doing exactly what he was asked to do that day, the way any conscientious worker would,” said Christopher Carver, a board-certified personal injury trial lawyer and partner at Daniel Stark Injury Lawyers. “A worker should be able to trust that the worksite around him has been set up safely. When that trust breaks down, it’s the worker who pays. Unfortunately, our client will be paying for the rest of his life.”
The crush injury fractured his left leg, which surgeons stabilized through multiple surgeries. His recovery was complicated by complex regional pain syndrome, a chronic and progressive nerve-pain condition, along with nerve damage in the lower leg. Over the years that followed, he underwent additional surgeries and a long course of therapeutic nerve blocks to ease the pain. “I’m happy I’m alive,” he says, but adds that he is angry at “always being in pain.”
“Caught-between injuries like this one are among the most severe hazards in the oil and gas industry, and they are largely preventable,” Carver said. “When a job requires a person to be near suspended or stacked pipe, every foot of separation between that worker and the load matters. We hope this case encourages everyone on a rig to think twice about where people are standing when heavy steel is moving.”
Struck-by and caught-between hazards remain a leading cause of serious injury and death in oilfield work across Texas, the nation’s top oil-producing state. Workers can be exposed to those hazards from moving vehicles or equipment, falling equipment, high-pressure lines and, as this case shows, from the heavy pipe that is a fixture of every drilling operation.
Staying Safe Around Pipe on a Drilling Site
- Keep workers out of the line of fire — never position a person on top of, beneath, or between suspended or stacked tubulars.
- Use mechanized or automated pipe-handling equipment wherever possible to keep hands and bodies away from moving loads.
- Confirm that stacked pipe is properly secured and chocked so it cannot roll or shift.
- Establish clear signals and communication before any load is moved, and give every worker unquestioned stop-work authority.
- Perform a job safety analysis for every pipe-handling task, and re-check it when conditions change.
- Plan for remote sites: know that emergency medical help may be far away, and stage first aid and rescue resources accordingly.
While no settlement can restore the years, the mobility, or the ordinary days lost to this injury, the result provides the financial resources to fund a lifetime of care and a measure of stability for the client and his family.
For more information about the firm and its work on behalf of injured Texans, visit danielstark.com/news/.
Acerca de Daniel Stark, Abogados de Lesiones: Daniel Stark Injury Lawyers es un bufete de abogados de lesiones personales con sede en Texas, reconocido por proteger a sus clientes con dedicación y firmeza, destacando la historia única de cada uno para obtener la máxima compensación por sus lesiones. El equipo está comprometido con la promoción de la seguridad, la prevención de lesiones y el apoyo a las comunidades de todo Texas a través de iniciativas educativas, divulgación pública y programas de defensa.
El bufete se encarga de una amplia gama de casos de lesiones personales, incluidos accidentes de coche y camión, accidentes de motocicleta, lesiones catastróficas, lesiones laborales, demandas por homicidio culposo, lesiones por mordeduras de perro y otros asuntos de lesiones graves en todo Texas.
With more than 25 years of experience, Daniel Stark Injury Lawyers serves clients across the state, with offices in North and South Austin, Bryan-College Station, Killeen, Waco, and Tyler, while actively contributing to programs that strengthen roadway safety and benefit local communities.
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