Is It Possible To Sue A County Or City?

Residents could not sue a city or county for personal injury in Texas before the Texas Tort Claims Act of 1969. Individuals who attempted to file suit against a government entity before the act were halted in their tracks as the state would protect the city or county in question by claiming “sovereign immunity.” Now, thanks to the Tort Claims Act, Texas residents can sue for damages caused by incidents that are the fault of the city, county, or state. It is necessary, however, to have a Texas personal injury attorney in your corner as three conditions are essential for a suit to be successful.

Condition #1: The government employee in question must have been operating within the scope of his job.
Suing a city or county worker for injuries incurred in a bar fight that one of its employees started after his shift concluded is not probable cause for a claim. While the ethics of the government worker may be on the line after a wild bar fight, his employer is not liable for his actions off the clock.

Condition #2: The at-fault government worker must not have been responding to an emergency call or acting in response to a first-response call.
Such conditions exclude police officers from suffering lawsuit if they collide with an innocent driver during a car pursuit. This measure also protects law enforcement from suit in the instance of a suspect suffering an injury while resisting arrest.

Condition #3: The claim must be filed shortly after the incident occurs.
Many residents do not understand that slacking off on a personal injury case in the Lone Star state could cost them big. A Texas personal injury lawyer cannot help clients who let the short window of time pass before filing suit.
With Texas laws concerning personal injury being so stringent, it is necessary to have an expert fighting for you. A Texas personal injury lawyer is who you need to survive and thrive in a government lawsuit.

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Fatal Accident. One Oilfield Worker Dies.

In April 2016, an equipment-related accident caused the death of an oilfield worker in West Texas. These deaths have increased as a result of the increase in fracking and oil extraction in U.S. oil producing states like Texas, Oklahoma, Montana, North and South Dakota, New Mexico, Utah, Louisiana, Wyoming, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska and Pennsylvania.

The Actual Number of Oilfield Deaths
According to OSHA, from 2003 to 2010, 823 oil and gas extraction workers were killed “on the job-a fatality rate seven times greater than the rate for all U.S. industries”.
In 2013, Texas reported 50 oil and gas industry related deaths. Most of the deaths are due to “cutting corners”. These kinds of accidents occur in Texas on an annual basis at the rate of 39 deaths per year. In 2003, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that Texas was in the top three states with oil and gas extraction industry fatalities.

How an Oilfield Accident Lawyer Helps
For families of loved one killed in these fatal oilfield accidents, an Oilfield Accident Lawyer possesses the knowledge and experience to help sort through legal issues and rights of family members. With the loss of a loved one to a workplace fatality, An Oilfield Accident Lawyer has the expertise to investigate each fatality. Also, an Oilfield Accident Lawyer carefully prepares the legal case that result in successful prosecution. Working in an oilfield imposes unusually high risk for workers as the statistics clearly indicate. It is important to have an experienced legal representation with a proven track record of success.
All employers are required by federal OSHA regulations to comply with laws regarding worker safety. When employers cut corners to save expenses and those results in fatalities, an Oilfield Accident Lawyer is the best legal expert to keep workers informed of their legal rights. Contact us today!

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What Should I Do If I Am Injured In An Oil Field Accident?

Oilfield accidents are common occurrences and many times the workers are injured while there is no immediate supervision around. Knowing what to do in the vent of an accident is always important in dangerous working conditions like those in oilfields, even if you are not the individual who is injured. Many times the injured worker is not capable of reporting themselves, but there is a specific protocol associated with workers compensation injury claims. Regardless of how the injury occurs or what transpired that caused the injury, it will be very important to contact an oilfield accident lawyer as soon as possible following an oilfield injury because evidence can evaporate quickly, especially in remote locations.

Notify Your Employer
Oilfield accidents are essentially worker’s compensation claim issues, but there can also be extenuating circumstances that could result in third parties being negligent and liable as well for additional litigation. The facts of how an accident occurs can be very important when the injured worker attempts collecting damages following an oilfield accident injury. It is the responsibility of the employer to file an accident report and submit the information to the worker’s compensation board. The problem is that many times an employer will act in bad faith or attempt to deny the claim from the very beginning. At least report the injury.

Seek Medical Treatment
Even when the employer fails to file an injury report, call 911 or go to an emergency treatment facility anyway. This can serve as documented evidence that an injury occurred and an official emergency report can provide information with respect to time, place, and causation. With injuries that manifest later, such as a back injury, it is vital to go ahead and seek medical treatment as soon as the injury is recognized, and then the injury should be reported to your employer as soon as possible.
It is always important to call an oilfield lawyer immediately following medical evaluation because they can conduct an independent investigation into what caused the accident or injury and if there are multiple negligent parties who can be pursued for damages.

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What You Need To Know About The Water Contamination In Corpus Christi

 

On Wednesday evening, December 14th, Corpus Christi residents were directed not to shower or drink the tap water after a chemical found it’s way to the city’s water supply.
The contaminant was from an emulsifying agent, Indulin AA86, of which anywhere from 3 to 24 gallons of the chemical got into the city’s water supply during a “back-flow incident” in an industrial area within Corpus, according to a press release from The City of Corpus Christi (which you can read here in it’s entirety).

They also cautioned against trying to de-contaminate the water by oneself by boiling or other means.
An emulsifier is a chemical that is designed to keep two chemicals together that would otherwise separate (oil and water for example).

What is Indulin AA86 and How Can It Affect You?
The contaminant that affected the Corpus Christi water supply, Indulin AA86, is a chemical whose name is trademarked by a company called Ingevity South Carolina LLC and is apparently used for a variety of commercial chemical applications. While there’s not a lot of information about the side effects of Indulin AA86, a Material Data Sheet on Oregon’s state website, shows us the following information regarding this fluid that has entered our water supply:

• It’s deemed a hazardous material by OSHA
• It’s corrosive to the respiratory system, to the skin and to the eyes.
• It causes burns to skin and eyes.
• Serious effects may be delayed following exposure
• It causes damage to the following organs: upper respiratory tract, skin, eyes, lens or cornea and may cause damage to the digestive system and the gastrointestinal tract.

It goes without saying that these symptoms are terrifying to our community and has put our collective health at risk. At the time of this writing, not much information is available to the exact cause of this public health scare, but we can be certain that there will be a tremendous amount of resources put into investigating what exactly caused this.