Personal Injury Law

Oil Rig Workers File Personal Injury Lawsuit After Explosion

By Michael

Three workers who survived a deadly explosion on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico reported in injury lawsuit filing papers that they were left floating in lifeboats for over 10 hours, in full view of the burning oil rig.

The personal injury lawsuit was filed in the Galveston, Texas area county court, and contains a request for unspecified damages for Louisiana residents and rig workers Joshua Kritzer, Nick Watson and Bill Johnson, according to the Associated Press.

The suit was also filed on behalf of the family of Aaron Dale Burkeen, one of 11 rig workers who remain missing and are believed to have died during or after the explosion, which happened on April 20 off the Gulf Coast. Burkeen left behind a wife and two children.

Houston?based personal injury attorney Kurt Arnold filed the injury lawsuit on behalf of the three workers and the Burkeen family, according to AP.

?After these guys were pulled off the rig, they were kept in lifeboats for over 10 hours and saw the whole thing burn. They knew their friends were still on that rig burning,? Arnold said. ?They couldn’t call anyone at home and say they were OK.?

But a spokesman for the company who owns the oil rig was quick to point out how many lives were saved by rescue efforts.

?One-hundred and fifteen people got off this rig alive,? said Guy Cantwell, spokesman for Transocean, Ltd.

At least two other wrongful death or injury lawsuits were filed by rig workers or their families against Transocean, British Petroleum and other companies that were involved in some way with the off-shore oil drilling effort.

Electronics technician Michael Williams was seriously injured in the explosion, and has filed a lawsuit requesting $6 million in damages, according to AP.

The explosion and subsequent sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig has led to an ecological disaster within Gulf waters.

The oil well, left uncapped by the explosion, is releasing about 200,000 gallons of oil a day into the ocean waters, creating a new threat against beaches, fish and other ocean-dwelling animals. About 50 potential class action lawsuits have been filed by fisherman, restaurateurs, resort companies, property owners and others who believe the oil spill will cause drastic economic losses.

While rig workers that were seriously injured were taken to area hospitals by helicopter, others were held up on lifeboats despite their injuries and stress.

Officials from Transocean and BP said the cause of the explosion is still unknown. Representatives from BP declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Full post as published by The Injury Blog on May 12, 2010 (boomark / email).